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 (36 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (40 clues)
- Down Clues - Detailed Hints
- Expert Solving Strategies
- Today's Puzzle Statistics
Today's Puzzle Difficulty: Tricky
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. ___ classic ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Pulp Fiction," e.g.) | 4 |
| 2A | 5. Spongy wetlands | 4 |
| 3A | 9. Titleholder | 5 |
| 4A | 14. Engrave | 4 |
| 5A | 15. Dirt pie ingredient | 4 |
| 6A | 16. Greek goddesses of the seasons | 5 |
| 7A | 17. Optional mission in a video game | 9 |
| 8A | 19. Gradually eat away | 5 |
| 9A | 20. Selfless sort | 8 |
| 10A | 21. Shindig for someone to announce whether they're having a boy or a girl | 6 |
| 11A | 22. – | 6 |
| 12A | 23. Lie next to | 4 |
| 13A | 25. Show on which Tina Fey and Seth Meyers have worked as head writers, in brief | 3 |
| 14A | 26. Tropical cocktail with bananas, strawberries, rum and coconut cream | 8 |
| 15A | 31. Go downhill fast | 3 |
| 16A | 34. Feedbag contents | 4 |
| 17A | 36. Shindig for someone settling into a new home | 5 |
| 18A | 37. – | 7 |
| 19A | 40. Flips, say | 7 |
| 20A | 42. Skirt, as an issue | 5 |
| 21A | 43. Jennifer who wrote "A Visit From the Goon Squad" | 4 |
| 22A | 45. Auction unit | 3 |
| 23A | 46. Cowboy's kerchief | 8 |
| 24A | 48. Show stoppers? | 3 |
| 25A | 51. Goes bad | 4 |
| 26A | 52. Shindig for someone who's about to tie the knot | 6 |
| 27A | 56. – | 6 |
| 28A | 60. Like a dish of veal or chicken dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried in butter | 8 |
| 29A | 62. Surfers ride them | 5 |
| 30A | 63. Lunchroom | 9 |
| 31A | 64. Wolf in "The Jungle Book" | 5 |
| 32A | 65. Initials on a map until 1991 | 4 |
| 33A | 66. Shindig for the cast and crew after filming is done ... with a hint to entering this answer and three others in the grid | 4 |
| 34A | 67. – | 5 |
| 35A | 68. Boxing stats | 4 |
| 36A | 69. Jazz singer Sylvia | 4 |
Across Clues - Strategic Hints
1A: "1. ___ classic ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Pulp Fiction," e.g.)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices
- Similar words include: fad, rage, cultus
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2A: "5. Spongy wetlands"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp; soil is unfit for cultivation but can be cut and dried and used for fuel
- Similar words include: bog, bog down, peat bog
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3A: "9. Titleholder"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who has won first place in a competition
- Similar words include: chomp, title-holder, champion
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4A: "14. Engrave"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that make an etching of
- Similar words include: engrave
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5A: "15. Dirt pie ingredient"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that chocolate cookie with white cream filling
- Similar words include: oreo cookie
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6A: "16. Greek goddesses of the seasons"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7A: "17. Optional mission in a video game"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8A: "19. Gradually eat away"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that become ground down or deteriorate
- Similar words include: gnaw, wear away, eat away
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9A: "20. Selfless sort"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who makes charitable donations intended to increase human well-being
- Similar words include: philanthropist
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10A: "21. Shindig for someone to announce whether they're having a boy or a girl"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in indo-european languages it is usually based on sex or animateness
- Similar words include: sex, sexuality, grammatical gender
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11A: "22. –"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that make visible
- Similar words include: discover, let out, unwrap
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12A: "23. Lie next to"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
- Similar words include: butt, butt on, adjoin
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13A: "25. Show on which Tina Fey and Seth Meyers have worked as head writers, in brief"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14A: "26. Tropical cocktail with bananas, strawberries, rum and coconut cream"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15A: "31. Go downhill fast"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that narrow wood or metal or plastic runners used in pairs for gliding over snow
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16A: "34. Feedbag contents"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that annual grass of europe and north africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')
- Similar words include: oat
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17A: "36. Shindig for someone settling into a new home"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
- Similar words include: theatre, firm, planetary house
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "37. –"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the process of becoming warmer; a rising temperature
- Similar words include: heating, thaw, thawing
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "40. Flips, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that sell (something) again after having bought it
- Similar words include: resell
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20A: "42. Skirt, as an issue"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something
- Similar words include: deflect, stave off, head off
- Opposite of: validate, confront
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21A: "43. Jennifer who wrote "A Visit From the Goon Squad""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22A: "45. Auction unit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
- Similar words include: hatful, spate, batch
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "46. Cowboy's kerchief"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that large and brightly colored handkerchief; often used as a neckerchief
- Similar words include: bandana
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24A: "48. Show stoppers?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a public promotion of some product or service
- Similar words include: advertizing, advertisement, advertizement
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "51. Goes bad"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
- Similar words include: buncombe, decomposition, molder
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26A: "52. Shindig for someone who's about to tie the knot"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that archaic terms for a wedding or wedding feast
- Similar words include: espousal, spousal, nuptial
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27A: "56. –"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a plumbing fixture that sprays water over you
- Similar words include: exhibitor, shower bath, rain shower
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28A: "60. Like a dish of veal or chicken dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried in butter"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a native or inhabitant of milan
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29A: "62. Surfers ride them"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
- Similar words include: Wave, flourish, waving
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30A: "63. Lunchroom"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a restaurant where you serve yourself and pay a cashier
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31A: "64. Wolf in "The Jungle Book""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32A: "65. Initials on a map until 1991"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a former communist country in eastern europe and northern asia; established in 1922; included russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (ukraine and byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 december 1991
- Similar words include: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Soviet Union, Russia
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33A: "66. Shindig for the cast and crew after filming is done ... with a hint to entering this answer and three others in the grid"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cloak that is folded or wrapped around a person
- Similar words include: enwrap, twine, wrapping
- Opposite of: unwind, unwrap
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34A: "67. –"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an organization to gain political power
- Similar words include: political party, company
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35A: "68. Boxing stats"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a knockout declared by the referee who judges one boxer unable to continue
- Similar words include: TKO, technical knockout
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
36A: "69. Jazz singer Sylvia"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Down Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | 1. ___ Millan, celebrity dog trainer | 5 |
| 2D | 2. Handy | 5 |
| 3D | 3. High-def flat screen, for short | 5 |
| 4D | 4. "Ay, ___ the rub" | 6 |
| 5D | 5. Broth that might come from a dissolved cube | 8 |
| 6D | 6. Magnetite and bauxite | 4 |
| 7D | 7. Whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, from the German | 7 |
| 8D | 8. Barfly | 3 |
| 9D | 9. Spotted African sprinters | 8 |
| 10D | 10. Car's honker | 4 |
| 11D | 11. Longtime Yankee slugger, familiarly | 4 |
| 12D | 12. Earned | 4 |
| 13D | 13. Member of a jury | 4 |
| 14D | 18. Ke Huy ___, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" actor | 4 |
| 15D | 21. Boss, in Britain | 3 |
| 16D | 24. Major Iraqi port city | 5 |
| 17D | 27. Adversary | 3 |
| 18D | 28. Quiet period | 4 |
| 19D | 29. Scandinavian capital | 4 |
| 20D | 30. Toward sunset | 4 |
| 21D | 31. Mop, as the deck | 4 |
| 22D | 32. Polynesian brew | 4 |
| 23D | 33. Smooth out, as a wrinkled shirt | 4 |
| 24D | 35. Talent broker | 5 |
| 25D | 38. Mediocre, in modern slang | 3 |
| 26D | 39. "'Tis entirely likely" | 8 |
| 27D | 41. Those going along with others' unhealthy habits | 8 |
| 28D | 44. Item worn with a hazmat suit | 7 |
| 29D | 47. Negative connector | 3 |
| 30D | 49. "Curses!" | 4 |
| 31D | 50. Fibrous connecting tissues | 6 |
| 32D | 53. Second-largest city in Northern Ireland | 5 |
| 33D | 54. "Take me ___" | 5 |
| 34D | 55. Bounds | 5 |
| 35D | 56. Substitute | 4 |
| 36D | 57. Ceremonial Maori dance | 4 |
| 37D | 58. Done | 4 |
| 38D | 59. Mark left by a whip | 4 |
| 39D | 61. "Should that be true ..." | 4 |
| 40D | 63. Word before "one's losses" or "both ways" | 3 |
Down Clues - Strategic Hints
1D: "1. ___ Millan, celebrity dog trainer"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. Handy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that being of use or service
- Similar words include: useful
- Opposite of: useless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. High-def flat screen, for short"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. "Ay, ___ the rub""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a location other than here; that place
- Similar words include: there
- Opposite of: here
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. Broth that might come from a dissolved cube"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a clear seasoned broth
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6D: "6. Magnetite and bauxite"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be mined
- Similar words include: ore
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. Whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, from the German"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8D: "8. Barfly"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a chronic drinker
- Similar words include: drunk, wino, rummy
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9D: "9. Spotted African sprinters"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that long-legged spotted cat of africa and southwestern asia having nonretractile claws; the swiftest mammal; can be trained to run down game
- Similar words include: chetah, cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Car's honker"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it
- Similar words include: tusk, trump, car horn
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11D: "11. Longtime Yankee slugger, familiarly"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12D: "12. Earned"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that give certain properties to something
- Similar words include: progress to, create, cause
- Opposite of: unmake, unmade
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13D: "13. Member of a jury"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who is of equal standing with another in a group
- Similar words include: match, compeer, equal
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "18. Ke Huy ___, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" actor"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15D: "21. Boss, in Britain"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "24. Major Iraqi port city"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the second largest city in iraq; an oil port in southern iraq
- Similar words include: Basia
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17D: "27. Adversary"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
- Similar words include: foeman, opposition, enemy
- Opposite of: friend
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18D: "28. Quiet period"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a pause during which things are calm or activities are diminished
- Similar words include: quiet, calm down, still
- Opposite of: agitate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19D: "29. Scandinavian capital"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the capital and largest city of norway; the country's main port; located at the head of a fjord on norway's southern coast
- Similar words include: capital of Norway, Christiania
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "30. Toward sunset"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the countries of (originally) europe and (now including) north america and south america
- Similar words include: Occident, western United States, Rebecca West
- Opposite of: east
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21D: "31. Mop, as the deck"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that implement consisting of a small piece of cotton that is used to apply medication or cleanse a wound or obtain a specimen of a secretion
- Similar words include: mop, dab, swob
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22D: "32. Polynesian brew"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kava shrub
- Similar words include: kavakava
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "33. Smooth out, as a wrinkled shirt"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood
- Similar words include: cast-iron, Fe, atomic number 26
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24D: "35. Talent broker"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect
- Similar words include: broker, federal agent, factor
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "38. Mediocre, in modern slang"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that used in combination to denote the middle
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "39. "'Tis entirely likely""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27D: "41. Those going along with others' unhealthy habits"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "44. Item worn with a hazmat suit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a protective mask with a filter; protects the face and lungs against poisonous gases
- Similar words include: gas helmet, respirator
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29D: "47. Negative connector"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30D: "49. "Curses!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31D: "50. Fibrous connecting tissues"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment
- Similar words include: tendon, brawniness, muscularity
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "53. Second-largest city in Northern Ireland"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33D: "54. "Take me ___""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34D: "55. Bounds"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
- Similar words include: jump, jump off, bound
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35D: "56. Substitute"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an equal exchange
- Similar words include: switch, barter, swop
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
36D: "57. Ceremonial Maori dance"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
37D: "58. Done"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (cricket) the division of play during which six balls are bowled at the batsman by one player from the other team from the same end of the pitch
- Similar words include: concluded, complete, ended
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
38D: "59. Mark left by a whip"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions
- Similar words include: flog, weal, strap
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
39D: "61. "Should that be true ...""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
40D: "63. Word before "one's losses" or "both ways""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a share of the profits
- Similar words include: mown, excision, cold shoulder
- Opposite of: uncut, untrimmed
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
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
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