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Friday, October 23, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers October 23, 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: 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. Have serious plans 8
2A 9. One of the fam 5
3A 14. Annual appraisal statement 9
4A 15. Positioned to win 5
5A 16. Track event won by the fastest four legs 9
6A 17. Marvel Comics villain with an explosive superpower 5
7A 18. American court org. 4
8A 19. Ensemble piece 9
9A 21. Some sous-chef scraps 5
10A 23. Three-time Olympic figure skating champion 5
11A 24. A.M. cupfuls 3
12A 26. Band at a Jimmy Buffett concert? 3
13A 28. "America's Largest Classroom" 3
14A 29. Cinch 4
15A 30. With whom one pools pounds for quarters 8
16A 33. Copy 5
17A 34. Count to 10, perhaps 7
18A 35. Opposite of proud 7
19A 37. Get past a paywall, say 5
20A 38. Boundaries between areas with different amounts of coverage 8
21A 40. Healing agent 4
22A 41. Hardly worth mentioning 3
23A 42. Counterpoint segue 3
24A 43. One who's left at the polls, informally? 3
25A 44. Bobby ___, first recipient of the Best New Artist Grammy Award (1960) 5
26A 46. Plague that precedes lice in Exodus 5
27A 50. "Let go of unrealistic expectations," e.g. 9
28A 53. Fabled example of poor competition strategy 4
29A 54. Actress Amanda of "Easy A" 5
30A 55. Penalty for exceeding a payroll threshold, in sports lingo 9
31A 57. Cartoonish bouncing sound 5
32A 58. "Hang on a sec" 9
33A 59. They can help one get a leg up, informally 5
34A 60. What all the buzz is about? 8

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Have serious plans"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "9. One of the fam"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that informal terms for a mother
  • Similar words include: mommy, mammy, ma
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOMMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "14. Annual appraisal statement"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "15. Positioned to win"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having the leading position or higher score in a contest
  • Similar words include: in the lead, onwards, out front
  • Opposite of: back, backward
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AHEAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "16. Track event won by the fastest four legs"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "17. Marvel Comics villain with an explosive superpower"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "18. American court org."

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Ensemble piece"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that clothing that is worn or carried, but not part of your main clothing
  • Similar words include: accouterment, accoutrement, auxiliary
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACCESSORY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. Some sous-chef scraps"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that british politician (1788-1850)
  • Similar words include: flake off, pare, peel
  • Opposite of: dress
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEELS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "23. Three-time Olympic figure skating champion"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "24. A.M. cupfuls"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "26. Band at a Jimmy Buffett concert?"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that flower arrangement consisting of a circular band of foliage or flowers for ornamental purposes
  • Similar words include: chaplet, leu, coronal
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "28. "America's Largest Classroom""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a solution containing a phosphate buffer
  • Similar words include: PB, Pb, atomic number 82
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PBS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. Cinch"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of catching an object with the hands
  • Similar words include: snarl, cracking, lose it
  • Opposite of: inelasticity
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. With whom one pools pounds for quarters"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an associate who shares an apartment with you
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLATMATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Copy"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who is almost identical to another
  • Similar words include: ringer, clon, knockoff
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Count to 10, perhaps"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. Opposite of proud"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that feeling shame or guilt or embarrassment or remorse
  • Opposite of: unashamed
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASHAMED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. Get past a paywall, say"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "38. Boundaries between areas with different amounts of coverage"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "40. Healing agent"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that succulent plants having rosettes of leaves usually with fiber like hemp and spikes of showy flowers; found chiefly in africa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "41. Hardly worth mentioning"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "42. Counterpoint segue"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that up to the present time
  • Similar words include: all the same, nonetheless, so far
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "43. One who's left at the polls, informally?"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "44. Bobby ___, first recipient of the Best New Artist Grammy Award (1960)"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "46. Plague that precedes lice in Exodus"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species
  • Similar words include: frog, anuran, batrachian
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FROGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. "Let go of unrealistic expectations," e.g."

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "53. Fabled example of poor competition strategy"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that swift timid long-eared mammal larger than a rabbit having a divided upper lip and long hind legs; young born furred and with open eyes
  • Similar words include: rabbit
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "54. Actress Amanda of "Easy A""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "55. Penalty for exceeding a payroll threshold, in sports lingo"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "57. Cartoonish bouncing sound"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "58. "Hang on a sec""

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "59. They can help one get a leg up, informally"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of four children born at the same time from the same pregnancy
  • Similar words include: quadriceps femoris, space, quadrangle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: QUADS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "60. What all the buzz is about?"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. ___ days (times past) 5
2D 2. Emma ___, protagonist of "A Woman of Substance" 5
3D 3. "Don't believe one word of that!" 10
4D 4. "I'm afraid not, laddie" 3
5D 5. Actress Sedgwick 4
6D 6. Word with comb or towel 5
7D 7. "Your offer is too good to refuse" 7
8D 8. Minestrone morsel 9
9D 9. Dwelling for clergy 5
10D 10. "The most beautiful river on earth," per Thomas Jefferson 4
11D 11. One may sit near a bench marking time 9
12D 12. Strap-and-buckle shoes named for a comic strip character who wore them 9
13D 13. Bother 3
14D 14. Beat but good 4
15D 20. Daughter of one's 9-Across 3
16D 22. Firmly committed to 5
17D 25. Beat a map app's arrival time estimate, say 4
18D 27. Global fiscal policy org. 3
19D 29. Poetic device with inexact sound-alikes 10
20D 30. "Ha! Betcha didn't see that coming!" 9
21D 31. Abnormal talkativeness 9
22D 32. Lingering aura of success 9
23D 33. Most important 5
24D 34. "Thou art fairer than the evening air ___ in the beauty of a thousand stars": Marlowe 4
25D 36. Said with a wink, say 3
26D 39. Reddish fish sometimes served tartare 7
27D 41. "Dang!" 3
28D 44. Pieces in the game Othello 5
29D 45. Scraps 5
30D 47. Writer of the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" 5
31D 48. Funds for research 5
32D 49. Cellphone hot line? 4
33D 51. Care for 4
34D 52. Remedy for deflation 4
35D 54. Kind of joint associated with smoking, informally 3
36D 56. Pulitzer-winning biographer Chernow 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. ___ days (times past)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Emma ___, protagonist of "A Woman of Substance""

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states writer noted for his stories about life during the california gold rush (1836-1902)
  • Similar words include: Bret Harte
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARTE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. "Don't believe one word of that!""

10 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. "I'm afraid not, laddie""

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Actress Sedgwick"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Word with comb or towel"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEACH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. "Your offer is too good to refuse""

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Minestrone morsel"

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Dwelling for clergy"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large and imposing house
  • Similar words include: mansion, mansion house, residence
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MANSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. "The most beautiful river on earth," per Thomas Jefferson"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a midwestern state in north central united states in the great lakes region
  • Similar words include: Buckeye State, Ohio River, OH
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OHIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. One may sit near a bench marking time"

9 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that clicking pendulum indicates the exact tempo of a piece of music
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: METRONOME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Strap-and-buckle shoes named for a comic strip character who wore them"

9 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Bother"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rapid active commotion
  • Similar words include: hustle, bustle, flurry
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. Beat but good"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "20. Daughter of one's 9-Across"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a female person who has the same parents as another person
  • Similar words include: International System, Systeme International d'Unites, silicon
  • Opposite of: brother
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Firmly committed to"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states religious leader who was the first person born in the united states to be canonized (1774-1821)
  • Similar words include: Mother Seton, Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, Elizabeth Seton
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SETON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. Beat a map app's arrival time estimate, say"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that move faster
  • Similar words include: step on it, race, belt along
  • Opposite of: decelerate, linger
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "27. Global fiscal policy org."

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a united nations agency to promote trade by increasing the exchange stability of the major currencies
  • Similar words include: International Monetary Fund
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "29. Poetic device with inexact sound-alikes"

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "30. "Ha! Betcha didn't see that coming!""

9 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. Abnormal talkativeness"

9 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that pathologically excessive (and often incoherent) talking
  • Similar words include: logorrhea
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOGOMANIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. Lingering aura of success"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a glow sometimes seen in the sky after sunset
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFTERGLOW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Most important"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who is in charge
  • Similar words include: top dog, master, headman
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHIEF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. "Thou art fairer than the evening air ___ in the beauty of a thousand stars": Marlowe"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that provide with clothes or put clothes on
  • Similar words include: robe, garment, drape
  • Opposite of: undress, unclothed
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "36. Said with a wink, say"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by skill in deception
  • Similar words include: cunning, slick, guileful
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Reddish fish sometimes served tartare"

7 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. "Dang!""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
  • Similar words include: humanity, world, mankind
  • Opposite of: civilian, woman
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "44. Pieces in the game Othello"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something with a round shape resembling a flat circular plate
  • Similar words include: saucer, record, harrow
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DISKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "45. Scraps"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a quantity of no importance
  • Similar words include: zilch, nada, nix
  • Opposite of: permit, allow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NIXES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "47. Writer of the story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?""

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that english conspirator who claimed that there was a jesuit plot to assassinate charles ii (1649-1705)
  • Similar words include: Joyce Carol Oates, Titus Oates
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OATES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "48. Funds for research"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any monetary aid
  • Similar words include: accord, concede, deed over
  • Opposite of: deny
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GRANT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. Cellphone hot line?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fourth of the seven canonical hours; about noon
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEXT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "51. Care for"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined
  • Similar words include: incline, be given, lean
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "52. Remedy for deflation"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mechanical device that moves fluid or gas by pressure or suction
  • Similar words include: ticker, heart
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PUMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "54. Kind of joint associated with smoking, informally"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "56. Pulitzer-winning biographer Chernow"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chadic language spoken in northern nigeria
  • Similar words include: Bokkos, Daffo
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RON

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

34 Across Clues
36 Down Clues
70 Total Clues

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Last updated: October 23, 2026 at 08:42 AM

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