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Friday, October 9, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers October 09, 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. Mensches 9
2A 10. "Super Dry" brewer 5
3A 15. Visual aid with a three-dimensional aspect 9
4A 16. Persona non grata 5
5A 17. By an even stronger argument, at law 9
6A 18. Stars to gaze up at 5
7A 19. Not mad 4
8A 20. Squishy projectile 8
9A 22. Cackling carnivores 6
10A 25. World's third-largest river by discharge, after the Amazon and the Congo 7
11A 27. Miserly sorts, informally 8
12A 30. Rift 3
13A 31. Like a certain artery 8
14A 32. Mango leftovers 4
15A 33. The astronomer Tycho Brahe, for one 4
16A 34. Org. concerned with screenings 3
17A 35. Wine leftovers 4
18A 36. ___ Kar-wai, acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker behind 1994's "Chungking Express" 4
19A 37. Hounds that can run up to 35 m.p.h. 8
20A 39. It's mine, all mine! 3
21A 40. NPR program since 1987 8
22A 41. Two aces, say 7
23A 43. Kind of roll 6
24A 47. Comfortable 8
25A 50. "Do I ___ to eat a peach?": T.S. Eliot 4
26A 51. Record of the year? 5
27A 52. Drawing on another's life 9
28A 55. Handle 5
29A 56. Much-anticipated rivalry game in soccer's La Liga 9
30A 57. Hidden element of FedEx's logo 5
31A 58. Extremely difficult and ultimately futile 9

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Mensches"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "10. "Super Dry" brewer"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "15. Visual aid with a three-dimensional aspect"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "16. Persona non grata"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person afflicted with leprosy
  • Similar words include: lazar
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEPER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "17. By an even stronger argument, at law"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "18. Stars to gaze up at"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a material effigy that is worshipped
  • Similar words include: matinee idol, perfection, idol
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDOLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "19. Not mad"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that mentally healthy; free from mental disorder
  • Similar words include: reasonable
  • Opposite of: insane
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Squishy projectile"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "22. Cackling carnivores"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that doglike nocturnal mammal of africa and southern asia that feeds chiefly on carrion
  • Similar words include: hyena, hyaena
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HYENAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "25. World's third-largest river by discharge, after the Amazon and the Congo"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a south american river 1,500 miles long; flows into the south atlantic
  • Similar words include: Orinoco River
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORINOCO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "27. Miserly sorts, informally"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend
  • Similar words include: niggard, scrooge, churl
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCROOGES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "30. Rift"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures
  • Similar words include: spread, break, col
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "31. Like a certain artery"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that obstruction of blood flow in a coronary artery by a blood clot (thrombus)
  • Similar words include: coronary thrombosis
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CORONARY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "32. Mango leftovers"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sizeable hole (usually in the ground)
  • Similar words include: quarry, cavity, pit
  • Opposite of: Heaven
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PITS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "33. The astronomer Tycho Brahe, for one"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a native or inhabitant of denmark
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "34. Org. concerned with screenings"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency established in 2001 to safeguard united states transportation systems and insure safe air travel
  • Similar words include: Transportation Security Administration
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "35. Wine leftovers"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage
  • Similar words include: Spike Lee, Gypsy Rose Lee, Henry Lee
  • Opposite of: windward
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "36. ___ Kar-wai, acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker behind 1994's "Chungking Express""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. Hounds that can run up to 35 m.p.h."

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that small slender dog of greyhound type developed in england
  • Similar words include: whippet
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WHIPPETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "39. It's mine, all mine!"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others
  • Similar words include: self, egotism, self-importance
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "40. NPR program since 1987"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "41. Two aces, say"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "43. Kind of roll"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the title of the holy roman emperors or the emperors of austria or of germany until 1918
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KAISER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "47. Comfortable"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "50. "Do I ___ to eat a peach?": T.S. Eliot"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy
  • Similar words include: defy, presume, daring
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "51. Record of the year?"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "52. Drawing on another's life"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that relating to or caused by parasites
  • Similar words include: parasitical, bloodsucking, epenthetic
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARASITIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "55. Handle"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "56. Much-anticipated rivalry game in soccer's La Liga"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "57. Hidden element of FedEx's logo"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mark to indicate a direction or relation
  • Similar words include: pointer
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARROW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "58. Extremely difficult and ultimately futile"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of or relating to sisyphus
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SISYPHEAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Hit the hay hard 5
2D 2. Morgan ___, sorceress in King Arthur stories 5
3D 3. Not having company 5
4D 4. What Odysseus' crew waxed on about? 9
5D 5. Mahjong grouping 3
6D 6. Org. concerned with screenings 3
7D 7. "Really?!" 4
8D 8. Zero out, in a way 4
9D 9. Device geared to draw rotationally symmetrical shapes 10
10D 10. Accounts for checking? 6
11D 11. Compact, maybe 5
12D 12. "My mistake" 9
13D 13. Some Navy aircraft during W.W. II 8
14D 14. Org. requiring crypto disclosures beginning in 2025 3
15D 21. Glenn who co-founded the Eagles 4
16D 23. A lot of lot 4
17D 24. Broadway show inits. 3
18D 26. Psy-___ 3
19D 28. Near failure, colloquially 10
20D 29. Fertile place 5
21D 31. Swiss Army knife component 9
22D 32. Aid for someone studying a culture 9
23D 33. One who regularly takes a best friend out? 8
24D 35. Princess who says "Governor Tarkin! I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board" 4
25D 36. Like some noodles and martinis 3
26D 37. Habeas corpus, e.g. 4
27D 38. Cricket's Men in Green, on scoreboards 3
28D 40. Dormant 6
29D 42. Student of Socrates 5
30D 44. "Gymnopédies" composer 5
31D 45. Jong who wrote "Fear of Flying" 5
32D 46. Scouting trip 5
33D 48. Artist with an absurdist humor book all about his mustache 4
34D 49. Sauron's soldiers in "The Lord of the Rings" 4
35D 51. ___ team 3
36D 53. Gymnast Raisman 3
37D 54. Enervate 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Hit the hay hard"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a loud resonant repeating noise
  • Similar words include: collapse, doss down, ram
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CRASH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Morgan ___, sorceress in King Arthur stories"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Not having company"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that isolated from others
  • Similar words include: exclusively, lonely, solitary
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. What Odysseus' crew waxed on about?"

9 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Mahjong grouping"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Org. concerned with screenings"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. "Really?!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Zero out, in a way"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an adjustment made for the weight of the packaging in order to determine the net weight of the goods
  • Similar words include: darnel, bearded darnel, Lolium temulentum
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Device geared to draw rotationally symmetrical shapes"

10 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a measuring instrument for recording the depth and rapidity of breathing movements
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPIROGRAPH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Accounts for checking?"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question
  • Similar words include: self-justification, alibi, excuse
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALIBIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Compact, maybe"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a car that is closed and that has front and rear seats and two or four doors
  • Similar words include: sedan chair, saloon
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEDAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. "My mistake""

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an expression of regret at having caused trouble for someone
  • Similar words include: apology, excuse, apologia
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APOLOGIES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Some Navy aircraft during W.W. II"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a malicious woman with a fierce temper
  • Similar words include: vixen, harpy, hellcat
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HELLCATS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. Org. requiring crypto disclosures beginning in 2025"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bureau of the treasury department responsible for tax collections
  • Similar words include: Internal Revenue Service
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Glenn who co-founded the Eagles"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (norse mythology) god of earth's fertility and peace and prosperity; son of njorth and brother of freya; originally of the vanir; later with the aesir
  • Similar words include: Freyr
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FREY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. A lot of lot"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of area (4840 square yards) used in english-speaking countries
  • Similar words include: Akko, Akka, Accho
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Broadway show inits."

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Psy-___"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (roman mythology) goddess of abundance and fertility; wife of saturn; counterpart of greek rhea and cybele of ancient asia minor
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "28. Near failure, colloquially"

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "29. Fertile place"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a fertile tract in a desert (where the water table approaches the surface)
  • Similar words include: haven
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OASIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. Swiss Army knife component"

9 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. Aid for someone studying a culture"

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. One who regularly takes a best friend out?"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "35. Princess who says "Governor Tarkin! I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "36. Like some noodles and martinis"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wetness caused by water
  • Similar words include: besotted, pie-eyed, soaked
  • Opposite of: dry
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "37. Habeas corpus, e.g."

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (law) a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer
  • Similar words include: judicial writ
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WRIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "38. Cricket's Men in Green, on scoreboards"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "40. Dormant"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FALLOW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "42. Student of Socrates"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that ancient athenian philosopher; pupil of socrates; teacher of aristotle (428-347 bc)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLATO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "44. "Gymnopédies" composer"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that french composer noted for his experimentalism and rejection of romanticism (1866-1925)
  • Similar words include: Erik Satie, Erik Alfred Leslie Satie
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SATIE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "45. Jong who wrote "Fear of Flying""

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any plant of the genus erica
  • Similar words include: true heath
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERICA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "46. Scouting trip"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "48. Artist with an absurdist humor book all about his mustache"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that surrealist spanish painter (1904-1989)
  • Similar words include: Salvador Dali
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DALI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "49. Sauron's soldiers in "The Lord of the Rings""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "51. ___ team"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "53. Gymnast Raisman"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "54. Enervate"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a watery solution of sugars, salts, and minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant
  • Similar words include: muggins, run down, tire
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAP

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

31 Across Clues
37 Down Clues
68 Total Clues

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Last updated: October 09, 2026 at 10:45 AM

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