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Saturday, April 18, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers April 18, 2026 | Expert Breakdown & Tips

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: Moderate

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. "The Jeffersons" or "The Simpsons," notably 7
2A 8. Team with the mascot Big Al, familiarly 4
3A 12. In time 13
4A 14. Dish purportedly invented in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo neighborhood 14
5A 15. New York's ___ Valley 6
6A 16. Thawing 7
7A 17. Treat 6
8A 18. New outfit or accessory for a character, in video game-speak 3
9A 19. Things that shouldn't be hidden 4
10A 20. Non-eco-friendly refrigerant 5
11A 21. Term in the bedroom, maybe 8
12A 23. Unite 3
13A 24. Two-pronged 4
14A 26. Metros in the 1990s 4
15A 27. "Wait just a sec" 9
16A 29. Cowboy's friend, informally 4
17A 30. Name that spiked in popularity following a 2013 Disney movie 4
18A 31. Finalized 3
19A 34. "You've got nothing to worry about" 8
20A 36. All-time scoring leader for the Miami Heat, familiarly 5
21A 38. Routine surfaces 4
22A 39. Browns, on a scoreboard 3
23A 40. Mathematics writer Gardner 6
24A 41. Words of endorsement 7
25A 43. Arrived 6
26A 44. Make-believe sorrow 14
27A 46. Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe 13
28A 47. Daredevil's calculation 4
29A 48. Some fairy tale characters 7

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. "The Jeffersons" or "The Simpsons," notably"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPINOFF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "8. Team with the mascot Big Al, familiarly"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BAMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "12. In time"

13 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOONERORLATER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Dish purportedly invented in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo neighborhood"

14 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CALIFORNIAROLL

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5A: "15. New York's ___ Valley"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a new york river; flows southward into new york bay; explored by henry hudson early in the 17th century
  • Similar words include: Hudson River, W. H. Hudson, William Henry Hudson
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HUDSON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Thawing"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the easing of tensions or strained relations (especially between nations)
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DETENTE

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7A: "17. Treat"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a licensed medical practitioner
  • Similar words include: restore, doc, doctor up
  • Opposite of: break
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOCTOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. New outfit or accessory for a character, in video game-speak"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a british teenager or young adult in the 1960s; noted for their clothes consciousness and opposition to the rockers
  • Similar words include: modernistic, modern
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "19. Things that shouldn't be hidden"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a fixed charge for a privilege or for professional services
  • Similar words include: tip, bung, fee
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "20. Non-eco-friendly refrigerant"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any one or more chlorofluorocarbons (or related compounds) that are used as an aerosol propellant, organic solvent, or refrigerant
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FREON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "21. Term in the bedroom, maybe"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAFEWORD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "23. Unite"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fourth day of the week; the third working day
  • Similar words include: espouse, Wednesday, splice
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "24. Two-pronged"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that consisting of or involving two parts or components usually in pairs
  • Similar words include: two-fold, threefold, twofold
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DUAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "26. Metros in the 1990s"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GEOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "27. "Wait just a sec""

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HANGTIGHT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "29. Cowboy's friend, informally"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "30. Name that spiked in popularity following a 2013 Disney movie"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "31. Finalized"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used
  • Similar words include: rigid, set up, fructify
  • Opposite of: rise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "34. "You've got nothing to worry about""

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RESTEASY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "36. All-time scoring leader for the Miami Heat, familiarly"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DWADE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "38. Routine surfaces"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a thick flat pad used as a floor covering
  • Similar words include: matte, Master of Arts in Teaching, tangle
  • Opposite of: disentangle, unsnarl
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MATS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "39. Browns, on a scoreboard"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "40. Mathematics writer Gardner"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that french bishop who is a patron saint of france (died in 397)
  • Similar words include: Mary Martin, Dean Martin, Steve Martin
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MARTIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "41. Words of endorsement"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMFORIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "43. Arrived"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MADEIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "44. Make-believe sorrow"

14 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CROCODILETEARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "46. Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe"

13 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROOKIEMISTAKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "47. Daredevil's calculation"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the likelihood of a thing occurring rather than not occurring
  • Similar words include: betting odds
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "48. Some fairy tale characters"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a young unmarried woman
  • Similar words include: damozel, damsel, damosel
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAMSELS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Did business with, in a way 6
2D 2. Blowgun projectile 10
3D 3. Words before "a penny" or "a treat" 5
4D 4. Fifth-most abundant element in the universe 4
5D 5. Lieutenant in "Catch-22" 3
6D 6. Into 6
7D 7. Breakfast dish that might go over well? 9
8D 8. How people get into a swimming pool, typically 8
9D 9. Yom Kippur observers 7
10D 10. Like the cheese in fondue 6
11D 11. Backdrop for many van Gogh paintings 5
12D 12. Blitzed 6
13D 13. ___ pull-downs (exercise) 3
14D 14. Item in a list on the fridge, maybe 5
15D 17. Texas air hub, for short 3
16D 18. Silky-haired toy 7
17D 21. Start to give 3
18D 22. "Hey, no backing out now!" 10
19D 25. Still waffling 9
20D 27. Relatives of ottomans 8
21D 28. Texter's affectionate sign-off 3
22D 29. It's not fit for human consumption 7
23D 31. Cutting stuff 6
24D 32. Cuts a line? 5
25D 33. It takes two hands to show 3
26D 34. Musketeer's tool 6
27D 35. Nissan model 6
28D 37. Brings about, as havoc 6
29D 38. Less than milli-, more than nano- 5
30D 40. Paint option 5
31D 42. Metric for a venture capitalist, in brief 3
32D 43. Play (with) 4
33D 45. Calc. calculation 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Did business with, in a way"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOLDTO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Blowgun projectile"

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POISONDART

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Words before "a penny" or "a treat""

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INFOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Fifth-most abundant element in the universe"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum tube; one of the six inert gasses; occurs in the air in small amounts
  • Similar words include: atomic number 10, Ne
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Lieutenant in "Catch-22""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that canadian hockey player (born 1948)
  • Similar words include: Robert Orr, Bobby Orr
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Into"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FONDOF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Breakfast dish that might go over well?"

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FRIEDEGGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. How people get into a swimming pool, typically"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that without shoes
  • Similar words include: shoeless, barefooted
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BAREFOOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Yom Kippur observers"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATONERS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Like the cheese in fondue"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating
  • Similar words include: melt down, mellow, dissolve
  • Opposite of: unmelted
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MELTED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Backdrop for many van Gogh paintings"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that money given by a buyer to a seller to bind a contract
  • Similar words include: earnest money
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARLES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Blitzed"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that behave saucily or impudently towards
  • Similar words include: sauce
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAUCED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. ___ pull-downs (exercise)"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a broad flat muscle on either side of the back
  • Similar words include: latissimus dorsi
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. Item in a list on the fridge, maybe"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee
  • Similar words include: job, task
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "17. Texas air hub, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DFW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "18. Silky-haired toy"

7 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a native or inhabitant of malta
  • Similar words include: Malti, Maltese language, Maltese dog
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MALTESE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "21. Start to give"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a shape that sags
  • Similar words include: swag, droop, flag
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "22. "Hey, no backing out now!""

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WEHADADEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "25. Still waffling"

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not brought to a conclusion; subject to further thought
  • Similar words include: open, unresolved, on the fence
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNDECIDED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Relatives of ottomans"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that thick cushion used as a seat
  • Similar words include: pouffe, pouf, hassock
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HASSOCKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "28. Texter's affectionate sign-off"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ILY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "29. It's not fit for human consumption"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that food prepared for animal pets
  • Similar words include: pet food, pet-food
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PETFOOD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "31. Cutting stuff"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that witty language used to convey insults or scorn; ; ; --jonathan swift
  • Similar words include: caustic remark, sarcasm, irony
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SATIRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "32. Cuts a line?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting
  • Similar words include: edit, blue-pencil, edit out
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDITS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "33. It takes two hands to show"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
  • Similar words include: ten-spot, x, decade
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "34. Musketeer's tool"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rod used to ram the charge into a muzzle-loading firearm
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAMROD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "35. Nissan model"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALTIMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "37. Brings about, as havoc"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
  • Similar words include: play, make for, wreak
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WREAKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "38. Less than milli-, more than nano-"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that extremely small in scale or scope or capability
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MICRO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "40. Paint option"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mixture of sulfides that forms when sulfide metal ores are smelted
  • Similar words include: matted, matt-up, mat
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MATTE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "42. Metric for a venture capitalist, in brief"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (corporate finance) the amount, expressed as a percentage, that is earned on a company's total capital calculated by dividing the total capital into earnings before interest, taxes, or dividends are paid
  • Similar words include: return on invested capital, return on investment
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "43. Play (with)"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state of confusion and disorderliness
  • Similar words include: mass, kettle of fish, muss
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "45. Calc. calculation"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIM

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

29 Across Clues
33 Down Clues
62 Total Clues

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Last updated: April 18, 2026 at 05:22 AM

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