Master today's NYT crossword with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun. Perfect for crossword lovers who want that satisfying "aha!" moment.
Quick Navigation - Table of Contents
- Today's Puzzle Difficulty
- Across Clues Table (27 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (35 clues)
- Down Clues - Detailed Hints
- Expert Solving Strategies
- Today's Puzzle Statistics
Today's Puzzle Difficulty: Medium
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1A | 1. Breakfast bar item | 11 |
| 2A | 12. Summer picnic side dish | 13 |
| 3A | 14. Homo sapiens, e.g. | 15 |
| 4A | 16. Curio shop treasure | 6 |
| 5A | 17. Singer with the 2016 Grammy-winning soul ballad "Cranes in the Sky" | 7 |
| 6A | 18. Losing propositions? | 5 |
| 7A | 19. Keep-on-keeping-on quality | 4 |
| 8A | 21. Cause for getting stuck | 4 |
| 9A | 22. Not, colloquially | 4 |
| 10A | 23. Misdirect | 4 |
| 11A | 24. Airbnb inclusion, usually | 5 |
| 12A | 25. Some control buttons | 3 |
| 13A | 26. Like hand-to-hand fighting | 10 |
| 14A | 28. On the starting line | 9 |
| 15A | 29. Over/under and point spread | 10 |
| 16A | 31. Small squeeze from a tube | 3 |
| 17A | 34. Dome-shaped Buddhist shrine | 5 |
| 18A | 35. Fancy-schmancy | 4 |
| 19A | 36. Pronoun in Texas | 4 |
| 20A | 37. Instrument depicted in paintings by Hals and Caravaggio | 4 |
| 21A | 38. "OMG"-evoking deed | 4 |
| 22A | 39. Use for a yew | 5 |
| 23A | 40. As good as it gets | 7 |
| 24A | 42. Isle of Sappho | 6 |
| 25A | 43. They make low digits smaller | 15 |
| 26A | 46. What a pitcher tries to do | 13 |
| 27A | 47. Former e-book devices, until 2014 | 11 |
Across Clues - Strategic Hints
1A: "1. Breakfast bar item"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAFFLEMAKER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2A: "12. Summer picnic side dish"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MACARONISALAD
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3A: "14. Homo sapiens, e.g."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GENUSANDSPECIES
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4A: "16. Curio shop treasure"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that eccentricity that is not easily explained
- Similar words include: quirk, oddment, crotchet
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODDITY
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5A: "17. Singer with the 2016 Grammy-winning soul ballad "Cranes in the Sky""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOLANGE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6A: "18. Losing propositions?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a prescribed selection of foods
- Similar words include: diet, dieting
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIETS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7A: "19. Keep-on-keeping-on quality"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a hard coarse-grained siliceous sandstone
- Similar words include: sand, gumption, guts
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GRIT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8A: "21. Cause for getting stuck"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
- Similar words include: entangle, quag, grind to a halt
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIRE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9A: "22. Not, colloquially"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (used with singular count nouns) colloquial for `not a' or `not one' or `never a'
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NARY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10A: "23. Misdirect"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who lacks good judgment
- Similar words include: tomfool, mug, befool
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOOL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11A: "24. Airbnb inclusion, usually"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a fabric woven with fibers from the flax plant
- Similar words include: linen paper
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LINEN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12A: "25. Some control buttons"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ONS
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13A: "26. Like hand-to-hand fighting"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOSERANGE
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14A: "28. On the starting line"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: READYTOGO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15A: "29. Over/under and point spread"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPORTSBETS
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16A: "31. Small squeeze from a tube"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a light touch or stroke
- Similar words include: swab, splatter, swob
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAB
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17A: "34. Dome-shaped Buddhist shrine"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a dome-shaped shrine erected by buddhists
- Similar words include: tope
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUPA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "35. Fancy-schmancy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that elegant and fashionable; ; ; ; - julia child
- Similar words include: swish, classy
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POSH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "36. Pronoun in Texas"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YALL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20A: "37. Instrument depicted in paintings by Hals and Caravaggio"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a substance for packing a joint or coating a porous surface to make it impervious to gas or liquid
- Similar words include: luting
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LUTE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21A: "38. "OMG"-evoking deed"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a notable achievement
- Similar words include: effort, exploit
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEAT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22A: "39. Use for a yew"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a fence formed by a row of closely planted shrubs or bushes
- Similar words include: sidestep, hedging, elude
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEDGE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "40. As good as it gets"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that most desirable possible under a restriction expressed or implied
- Similar words include: optimum
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPTIMAL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24A: "42. Isle of Sappho"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an island of eastern greece in the eastern aegean sea; in antiquity it was famous for lyric poetry
- Similar words include: Lesvos, Mytilene
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LESBOS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "43. They make low digits smaller"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOENAILSCISSORS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26A: "46. What a pitcher tries to do"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RETIRETHESIDE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27A: "47. Former e-book devices, until 2014"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SONYREADERS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Down Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | 1. Can't keep on topic | 7 |
| 2D | 2. Sharpshooter's asset | 6 |
| 3D | 3. Preps for surgery, perhaps | 5 |
| 4D | 4. Wear out around the edges | 4 |
| 5D | 5. First name in Universal horror | 3 |
| 6D | 6. Seldom-used PC key | 3 |
| 7D | 7. Long shot practice | 11 |
| 8D | 8. "Save me ___!" | 5 |
| 9D | 9. Pauline ___, former New Yorker film critic | 4 |
| 10D | 10. Classic Chevy model | 8 |
| 11D | 11. Not fair, in a way | 7 |
| 12D | 12. Strip down the Interstate | 6 |
| 13D | 13. Student's goal | 6 |
| 14D | 14. "That can't possibly be right!" | 5 |
| 15D | 15. Enjoying recognition | 4 |
| 16D | 19. One of many in a bee, typically | 11 |
| 17D | 20. Reptile with a colorful name | 7 |
| 18D | 23. Having lost all its fizz | 4 |
| 19D | 24. Isn't keeping up | 4 |
| 20D | 26. Michael who plays Allan in "Barbie" | 4 |
| 21D | 27. "Divergent" author Veronica | 4 |
| 22D | 28. Ensnare for, as some undertakings | 8 |
| 23D | 29. A heavy drinker may be found in one | 6 |
| 24D | 30. Woolen leggings, as worn by W.W. I soldiers | 7 |
| 25D | 31. Physiques that have gone a little soft | 7 |
| 26D | 32. Former veep with a Nobel Prize | 6 |
| 27D | 33. "___ This Mess" | 5 |
| 28D | 34. Opening for a mail carrier | 4 |
| 29D | 36. Private reply | 6 |
| 30D | 38. One of Oberon's subjects | 5 |
| 31D | 39. Author of "Steppenwolf' | 5 |
| 32D | 41. Street ending at Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle | 4 |
| 33D | 42. Wrote fiction? | 4 |
| 34D | 44. Many a professional office: Abbr. | 3 |
| 35D | 45. The Hornets, on scoreboards | 3 |
Down Clues - Strategic Hints
1D: "1. Can't keep on topic"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- Similar words include: ramble, stray, rove
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WANDERS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. Sharpshooter's asset"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that sharpness of vision; the visual ability to resolve fine detail (usually measured by a snellen chart)
- Similar words include: sharp-sightedness, keenness, acuteness
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACUITY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Preps for surgery, perhaps"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that abstaining from food
- Similar words include: fasting, fast
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FASTS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Wear out around the edges"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a noisy fight
- Similar words include: disturbance, chafe, frazzle
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FRAY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. First name in Universal horror"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LON
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6D: "6. Seldom-used PC key"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that either extremity of something that has length
- Similar words include: cease, closing, close
- Opposite of: begin, beginning
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: END
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. Long shot practice"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MISSILETEST
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8D: "8. "Save me ___!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASPOT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9D: "9. Pauline ___, former New Yorker film critic"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KAEL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Classic Chevy model"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELCAMINO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11D: "11. Not fair, in a way"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that precipitate as rain
- Similar words include: rain, rain down
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAINING
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12D: "12. Strip down the Interstate"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the value below which 50% of the cases fall
- Similar words include: average, median value, medial
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEDIAN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13D: "13. Student's goal"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality
- Similar words include: point, grade, arcdegree
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEGREE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "14. "That can't possibly be right!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GODNO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15D: "15. Enjoying recognition"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
- Similar words include: visualize, meet, encounter
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEEN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "19. One of many in a bee, typically"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOODSPELLER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17D: "20. Reptile with a colorful name"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROSYBOA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18D: "23. Having lost all its fizz"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a level tract of land
- Similar words include: apartment, 2-dimensional, categorical
- Opposite of: natural, contrasty
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLAT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19D: "24. Isn't keeping up"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the act of slowing down or falling behind
- Similar words include: incarcerate, gaol, interim
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAGS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "26. Michael who plays Allan in "Barbie""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CERA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21D: "27. "Divergent" author Veronica"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states writer whose novels portray middle-class jewish life (born in 1933)
- Similar words include: Philip Roth, Philip Milton Roth
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROTH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22D: "28. Ensnare for, as some undertakings"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROPEINTO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "29. A heavy drinker may be found in one"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
- Similar words include: grogginess, semiconsciousness, shock
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUPOR
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24D: "30. Woolen leggings, as worn by W.W. I soldiers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a strip of cloth wound around the leg to form legging; used by soldiers in world war i
- Similar words include: puttee
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PUTTEES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "31. Physiques that have gone a little soft"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DADBODS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "32. Former veep with a Nobel Prize"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALGORE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27D: "33. "___ This Mess""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that give a benediction to
- Similar words include: sign, sanctify, consecrate
- Opposite of: curse, desecrate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLESS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "34. Opening for a mail carrier"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a position in a grammatical linguistic construction in which a variety of alternative units are interchangeable
- Similar words include: one-armed bandit, expansion slot, time slot
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLOT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29D: "36. Private reply"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YESSIR
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30D: "38. One of Oberon's subjects"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
- Similar words include: pansy, faggot, poof
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FAIRY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31D: "39. Author of "Steppenwolf'"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that swiss writer (born in germany) whose novels and poems express his interests in eastern spiritual values (1877-1962)
- Similar words include: Hermann Hesse
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HESSE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "41. Street ending at Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any very large body of (salt) water
- Similar words include: master, independent, chief
- Opposite of: dependent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAIN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33D: "42. Wrote fiction?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a german art song of the 19th century for voice and piano
- Similar words include: lie down, lie in, lie
- Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIED
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34D: "44. Many a professional office: Abbr."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35D: "45. The Hornets, on scoreboards"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Expert Solving Strategies
Start Smart
Begin with fill-in-the-blank clues and short 3-4 letter words. These are your foundation.
Decode the Clues
Question marks indicate wordplay or puns. "Maybe" suggests multiple interpretations.
Use Cross-References
Let intersecting letters guide you. One correct answer unlocks several others.
Build Vocabulary
Common crossword words repeat. Learning them speeds up future solving.
Today's Puzzle Stats
27 Across Clues
35 Down Clues
62 Total Clues
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