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Showing posts sorted by date for query AROMA. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Monday, September 21, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers September 21, 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. Where Mongolia is 4
2A 5. Scaredy-cat 4
3A 9. Leafs (through) 5
4A 14. Album for which Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize 4
5A 15. Berry at a smoothie shop 4
6A 16. Company behind the game Pong 5
7A 17. Mentally pooped 15
8A 20. 1960s service site, informally 3
9A 21. Common injury site for a basketball player, informally 3
10A 22. Thick, as plant growth 4
11A 23. Deliberately give instruction in a way that targets an exam 14
12A 28. Commercial that may come with a jingle 7
13A 29. Took a chair 3
14A 30. Eager 4
15A 31. Hair parter 4
16A 34. Continue a subscription 5
17A 38. Barely passing grade 3
18A 39. Decade of W.W. II ... or a homophonic hint to 17-, 23-, 50- and 57-Across 7
19A 41. Around 18, typically, for a high school graduate 3
20A 42. Sometimes-floral organic compound 5
21A 44. Draped Indian garment 4
22A 45. ___-X (computer command to cut text) 4
23A 46. Crosses (out) 3
24A 48. Conjures up, say 7
25A 50. "If I'm being honest ..." 14
26A 54. Cook, in a way, as ahi tuna 4
27A 55. Opposite of 'neath 3
28A 56. Fools' mo. 3
29A 57. "A fight requires more than one person" 15
30A 63. "I'm available to help" 5
31A 64. Modern note-taking aid 4
32A 65. Plant in a marsh 4
33A 66. Spanish babies 5
34A 67. What a paper airplane icon may indicate 4
35A 68. Thing in a grove 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Where Mongolia is"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population; it is joined to europe on the west to form eurasia; it is the site of some of the world's earliest civilizations
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Scaredy-cat"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who lacks confidence, is irresolute and wishy-washy
  • Similar words include: chicken, weakly interacting massive particle, crybaby
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WIMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Leafs (through)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains
  • Similar words include: varlet, foliate, Thomas Nelson Page
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAGES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Album for which Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something of little value
  • Similar words include: darn, curse, infernal
  • Opposite of: bless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAMN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Berry at a smoothie shop"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Company behind the game Pong"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Mentally pooped"

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOOTIREDTOTHINK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. 1960s service site, informally"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. Common injury site for a basketball player, informally"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Thick, as plant growth"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually
  • Similar words include: alky, boozer, alcoholic
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LUSH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Deliberately give instruction in a way that targets an exam"

14 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "28. Commercial that may come with a jingle"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "29. Took a chair"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the sabbath by jews and some christians
  • Similar words include: Sabbatum, posture, pose
  • Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "30. Eager"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (often followed by `for') ardently or excessively desirous
  • Similar words include: zealous, esurient, greedy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Hair parter"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a flat device with narrow pointed teeth on one edge; disentangles or arranges hair
  • Similar words include: comb out, disentangle, ransack
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COMB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "34. Continue a subscription"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that reestablish on a new, usually improved, basis or make new or like new
  • Similar words include: regenerate, reincarnate
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RENEW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "38. Barely passing grade"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "39. Decade of W.W. II ... or a homophonic hint to 17-, 23-, 50- and 57-Across"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the time of life between 40 and 50
  • Similar words include: 40, mid-forties, 1940s
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FORTIES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "41. Around 18, typically, for a high school graduate"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that how long something has existed
  • Similar words include: long time, maturate, geezerhood
  • Opposite of: rejuvenate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Sometimes-floral organic compound"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that formed by reaction between an acid and an alcohol with elimination of water
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESTER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "44. Draped Indian garment"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a dress worn primarily by hindu women; consists of several yards of light material that is draped around the body
  • Similar words include: saree
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SARI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "45. ___-X (computer command to cut text)"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "46. Crosses (out)"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a colorless odorless inert gaseous element occurring in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts
  • Similar words include: xenon, disco biscuit, cristal
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: XES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "48. Conjures up, say"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make or cause to be or to become
  • Similar words include: produce, create, make
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CREATES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "50. "If I'm being honest ...""

14 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "54. Cook, in a way, as ahi tuna"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make very hot and dry
  • Similar words include: blacken, singe, char
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "55. Opposite of 'neath"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "56. Fools' mo."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the month following march and preceding may
  • Similar words include: April
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "57. "A fight requires more than one person""

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAKESTWOTOTANGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "63. "I'm available to help""

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "64. Modern note-taking aid"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "65. Plant in a marsh"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera arundo and phragmites
  • Similar words include: vibrating reed, John Reed, beating-reed instrument
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "66. Spanish babies"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "67. What a paper airplane icon may indicate"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to go somewhere
  • Similar words include: air, transmit, send off
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "68. Thing in a grove"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
  • Similar words include: shoetree, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, tree diagram
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TREE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Big letters in home security 3
2D 2. ___ Paulo, Brazil 3
3D 3. Comment that might follow "None for me, thanks" 9
4D 4. Relief for an upset stomach 7
5D 5. Simple two-player card game 3
6D 6. Drink cooler 3
7D 7. Angry with 5
8D 8. Throw from a mound 5
9D 9. Butter square 3
10D 10. Any Olympian 7
11D 11. First name of Julius Caesar 5
12D 12. Artist Max 5
13D 13. Worshiper in a turban 4
14D 18. Texter's qualifier 4
15D 19. Cries in a fΓΊtbol stadium 4
16D 23. Barter 5
17D 24. Roof overhangs 5
18D 25. It may have a hard or soft shell 4
19D 26. Things indicated by squiggly lines in cartoons 5
20D 27. Paves the way? 4
21D 32. N.Y.C. subway letters 3
22D 33. Hardwood whose bark is sometimes used as paper 5
23D 35. Leader of an 1831 revolt against slavery 9
24D 36. Spearfishing bird 5
25D 37. People of SW Britain 5
26D 39. Without charge 4
27D 40. The Emerald Isle 4
28D 43. Like skydiving or cliff-diving 7
29D 45. Dashboard or bumper 7
30D 47. Place to put a coin 4
31D 49. Coup d'___ 4
32D 50. Joke with 5
33D 51. Like some wine barrels 5
34D 52. ___ and Clark 5
35D 53. Familiar narrative device 5
36D 54. Leave dumbfounded 4
37D 58. French possessive 3
38D 59. Catch some rays 3
39D 60. Bizarre 3
40D 61. "Golly!" 3
41D 62. Poetic tribute 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Big letters in home security"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. ___ Paulo, Brazil"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Comment that might follow "None for me, thanks""

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Relief for an upset stomach"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agent that counteracts or neutralizes acidity (especially in the stomach)
  • Similar words include: alkalizer, gastric antacid, antiacid
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTACID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Simple two-player card game"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
  • Similar words include: warfare, state of war
  • Opposite of: make peace, peace
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Drink cooler"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that water frozen in the solid state
  • Similar words include: frappe, methamphetamine hydrochloride, glass
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ICE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Angry with"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Throw from a mound"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration
  • Similar words include: cant over, flip, cant
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PITCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Butter square"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sound made by a gentle blow
  • Similar words include: glib, rap, dab
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Any Olympian"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person trained to compete in sports
  • Similar words include: jock
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATHLETE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. First name of Julius Caesar"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that roman emperor who succeeded tiberius and whose uncontrolled passions resulted in manifest insanity; noted for his cruelty and tyranny; was assassinated (12-41)
  • Similar words include: Caligula, Gaius Caesar
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAIUS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Artist Max"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that painter (born in germany, resident of france and the united states) who was a cofounder of dadaism; developed the technique of collage (1891-1976)
  • Similar words include: Max Ernst
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERNST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Worshiper in a turban"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an adherent of sikhism
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIKH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Texter's qualifier"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "19. Cries in a fΓΊtbol stadium"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Barter"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
  • Similar words include: trade in, switch, craft
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRADE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Roof overhangs"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the overhang at the lower edge of a roof
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EAVES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. It may have a hard or soft shell"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of mexican descent
  • Similar words include: greaser, wetback
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TACO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Things indicated by squiggly lines in cartoons"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any property detected by the olfactory system
  • Similar words include: smell, olfactory property, aroma
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODORS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Paves the way?"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue
  • Similar words include: seaman, pitch, tar
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. N.Y.C. subway letters"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "33. Hardwood whose bark is sometimes used as paper"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hard close-grained wood of any of various birch trees; used especially in furniture and interior finishes and plywood
  • Similar words include: birchen, birken, birch tree
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BIRCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Leader of an 1831 revolt against slavery"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "36. Spearfishing bird"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various usually white herons having long plumes during breeding season
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EGRET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "37. People of SW Britain"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a native or resident of wales
  • Similar words include: Cambrian, welch, Cymric
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WELSH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Without charge"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that people who are free
  • Similar words include: relinquish, gratis, liberate
  • Opposite of: confine, lodge
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FREE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "40. The Emerald Isle"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a republic consisting of 26 of 32 counties comprising the island of ireland; achieved independence from the united kingdom in 1921
  • Similar words include: Republic of Ireland, Irish Republic, Ireland
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EIRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "43. Like skydiving or cliff-diving"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the furthest or highest degree of something
  • Similar words include: utmost, extremum, extreme point
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXTREME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "45. Dashboard or bumper"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "47. Place to put a coin"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a position in a grammatical linguistic construction in which a variety of alternative units are interchangeable
  • Similar words include: time slot, expansion slot, one-armed bandit
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "49. Coup d'___"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "50. Joke with"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone given to teasing (as by mocking or stirring curiosity)
  • Similar words include: cod, fluff, pester
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEASE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "51. Like some wine barrels"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that consisting of or made of wood of the oak tree
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAKEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "52. ___ and Clark"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states rock star singer and pianist (born in 1935)
  • Similar words include: Frederick Carleton Lewis, Carl Lewis, C. S. Lewis
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEWIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "53. Familiar narrative device"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
  • Similar words include: figure of speech, image, figure
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TROPE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "54. Leave dumbfounded"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow
  • Similar words include: daze, stupefy, sandbag
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "58. French possessive"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a toxic nonmetallic element related to sulfur and tellurium; occurs in several allotropic forms; a stable grey metallike allotrope conducts electricity better in the light than in the dark and is used in photocells; occurs in sulfide ores (as pyrite)
  • Similar words include: sulfur, reciprocal ohm, southward
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "59. Catch some rays"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun
  • Similar words include: sunburn, suntan, burn
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "60. Bizarre"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not divisible by two
  • Similar words include: uneven, unmatched, queer
  • Opposite of: even
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "61. "Golly!""

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of force equal to the force exerted by gravity; used to indicate the force to which a body is subjected when it is accelerated
  • Similar words include: g, g-force
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "62. Poetic tribute"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODE

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

35 Across Clues
41 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

Looking for more puzzle solutions? Check out our comprehensive archive of NYT crossword hints and answers. We update daily with expert analysis and solving strategies.

Disclaimer: Crossword clues and grid © The New York Times. This site provides hints and educational content for puzzle enthusiasts. XWordHint is not affiliated with The New York Times.

Last updated: September 21, 2026 at 09:08 AM

Friday, September 11, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers September 11, 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. Impediments to collaboration 4
2A 5. It's the thing 4
3A 9. Motion on a screen 5
4A 14. Anchor's spot 4
5A 15. "I've had enough of this!" 10
6A 17. People who worshiped the rain god Illapa 4
7A 18. Unexpected twists 10
8A 19. Singer/actress Carrere 3
9A 20. U.S. senators Warnock and Duckworth, for two 4
10A 21. How often blue moons occur 6
11A 22. Track-and-field challenges 7
12A 24. Nods at a lot? 4
13A 25. Barrel (along) 5
14A 26. Big name in 23-Down 4
15A 27. Lentils prepared with ghee, perhaps 3
16A 30. Jazz Age Disney princess 5
17A 31. Drives for money? 9
18A 33. Actor Elba 5
19A 34. A long time follower? 3
20A 35. Expert in worldwide fulfillment and distribution operations? 5
21A 36. "I'll wait for your update" 9
22A 38. Attire for a high-pressure job? 5
23A 39. Put down 3
24A 40. Pad 4
25A 41. Ramadan, e.g. 5
26A 42. Particles in a particle accelerator 4
27A 43. Comforts 7
28A 45. Fairly low-risk investment 6
29A 48. Chip source, informally 4
30A 49. Guard at the gates of Mordor 3
31A 50. Tool for adding sparkle to lackluster prose? 10
32A 52. Tiger ___ (spiky houseplant) 4
33A 53. Steered too close to the shoreline, say 10
34A 54. How one might feel at a support group meeting 4
35A 55. "Ergo ..." 5
36A 56. Wraps 4
37A 57. [Look at me!] 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Impediments to collaboration"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. It's the thing"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a distinct part that can be specified separately in a group of things that could be enumerated on a list
  • Similar words include: particular, detail, token
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Motion on a screen"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sweeping stroke or blow
  • Similar words include: filch, purloin, pilfer
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWIPE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Anchor's spot"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a piece of furniture with a writing surface and usually drawers or other compartments
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DESK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. "I've had enough of this!""

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "17. People who worshiped the rain god Illapa"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a ruler of the incas (or a member of his family)
  • Similar words include: Incan, Inka
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INCA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "18. Unexpected twists"

10 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Singer/actress Carrere"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that brief episode in which the brain gets insufficient blood supply; symptoms depend on the site of the blockage
  • Similar words include: transient ischemic attack
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. U.S. senators Warnock and Duckworth, for two"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a doctorate usually based on at least 3 years graduate study and a dissertation; the highest degree awarded graduate study
  • Similar words include: PhD, Ph.D.
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PHDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. How often blue moons occur"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Similar words include: seldom
  • Opposite of: often
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RARELY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. Track-and-field challenges"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a footrace in which contestants must negotiate a series of hurdles
  • Similar words include: hurdle, vault, hurdle race
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HURDLES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Nods at a lot?"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an authoritative direction or instruction to do something
  • Similar words include: offer, tender, call
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BIDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Barrel (along)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that distance travelled per unit time
  • Similar words include: hasten, quicken, hotfoot
  • Opposite of: linger, decelerate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPEED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "26. Big name in 23-Down"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (new testament) disciple of jesus; traditionally considered to be the author of the first gospel
  • Similar words include: St. Matthew, St. Matthew the Apostle, Matthew
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEVI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "27. Lentils prepared with ghee, perhaps"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a metric unit of volume or capacity equal to 10 liters
  • Similar words include: dkl, dekaliter, dekalitre
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "30. Jazz Age Disney princess"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "31. Drives for money?"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "33. Actor Elba"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "34. A long time follower?"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that gone by; or in the past
  • Similar words include: agone
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "35. Expert in worldwide fulfillment and distribution operations?"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the legendary patron saint of children; an imaginary being who is thought to bring presents to children at christmas
  • Similar words include: Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kriss Kringle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SANTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "36. "I'll wait for your update""

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "38. Attire for a high-pressure job?"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "39. Put down"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a narrative song with a recurrent refrain
  • Similar words include: ballad, dwell, secular
  • Opposite of: arise, stand
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "40. Pad"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an excavation for ore or precious stones or for archaeology
  • Similar words include: barb, toil, apprehend
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "41. Ramadan, e.g."

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
  • Similar words include: calendar month
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MONTH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "42. Particles in a particle accelerator"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a particle that is electrically charged (positive or negative); an atom or molecule or group that has lost or gained one or more electrons
  • Similar words include: ion
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IONS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "43. Comforts"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that give moral or emotional strength to
  • Similar words include: soothe, solace, comfort
  • Opposite of: irritate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOOTHES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "45. Fairly low-risk investment"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "48. Chip source, informally"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an edible tuber native to south america; a staple food of ireland
  • Similar words include: murphy, tater, potato
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPUD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "49. Guard at the gates of Mordor"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "50. Tool for adding sparkle to lackluster prose?"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "52. Tiger ___ (spiky houseplant)"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

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!

33A: "53. Steered too close to the shoreline, say"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "54. How one might feel at a support group meeting"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
  • Similar words include: meet, determine, go steady
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "55. "Ergo ...""

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "56. Wraps"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that either extremity of something that has length
  • Similar words include: final stage, remainder, closing
  • Opposite of: begin, beginning
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "57. [Look at me!]"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. ___ Ann (classic Lily Tomlin character) 5
2D 2. "That's brilliant!" 10
3D 3. Hollywood post-broadcast fete 10
4D 4. Export from Jamaica 3
5D 5. Had a hankering 6
6D 6. Sounds of fall? 5
7D 7. Sound wave amplifiers 4
8D 8. Network debut of 1981 3
9D 9. Assessment of something enjoyed ironically 12
10D 10. Sports 5
11D 11. Part of a key chain 4
12D 12. Prop in "The Matrix" 4
13D 13. "Keep Commerce Human" website 4
14D 16. Infer (from) 6
15D 20. "I'll be sad if you leave" 12
16D 23. Fabric related to chambray 5
17D 24. Down under 5
18D 26. Bricks used in some castles 5
19D 27. Timbits from Tim Hortons, e.g. 10
20D 28. Flawed protagonists 10
21D 29. Trial that an attorney may not remember fondly? 4
22D 30. Cash register part 4
23D 31. Blue ___ (coral reef swimmers like Pixar's Dory) 5
24D 32. Lacks 5
25D 37. More compassionate 6
26D 41. Candy bar in the jingle that begins "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't" 6
27D 42. Ptolemy III? 5
28D 43. Welcome advice from a financial planner 5
29D 44. Lavender or lilac 5
30D 45. City where Shah Jahan built a monument to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal 4
31D 46. Film composer Silvestri 4
32D 47. Pickle 4
33D 48. Like silk or yarn 4
34D 51. Pseudonym cited repeatedly in the 2022 Dobbs decision 3
35D 52. "The pretty worm of Nilus," per Shakespeare's Cleopatra 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. ___ Ann (classic Lily Tomlin character)"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. "That's brilliant!""

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Hollywood post-broadcast fete"

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Export from Jamaica"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Had a hankering"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that scrape or rub as if to relieve itching
  • Similar words include: scratch, spoil, itch
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITCHED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Sounds of fall?"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a heavy dull sound (as made by impact of heavy objects)
  • Similar words include: thumping, crump, clunk
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THUDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Sound wave amplifiers"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
  • Similar words include: pinna, capitulum, auricle
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Network debut of 1981"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Assessment of something enjoyed ironically"

12 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOBADITSGOOD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Sports"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that impairment resulting from long use
  • Similar words include: fall apart, don, have on
  • Opposite of: refresh
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WEARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Part of a key chain"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small island
  • Similar words include: islet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Prop in "The Matrix""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something that resembles a tablet of medicine in shape or size
  • Similar words include: tab, anovulatory drug, lozenge
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PILL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. "Keep Commerce Human" website"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "16. Infer (from)"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that reason by deduction; establish by deduction
  • Similar words include: deduct, come, descend
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DERIVE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "20. "I'll be sad if you leave""

12 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLEASEDONTGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Fabric related to chambray"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (usually plural) close-fitting trousers of heavy denim for manual work or casual wear
  • Similar words include: dungaree, blue jean, jean
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DENIM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Down under"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in or to a place that is lower
  • Similar words include: at a lower place, infra, downstairs
  • Opposite of: above, upstairs
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BELOW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Bricks used in some castles"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (trademark) a child's plastic construction set for making mechanical models
  • Similar words include: Lego, Lego set
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEGOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. Timbits from Tim Hortons, e.g."

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "28. Flawed protagonists"

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protagonist who lacks the characteristics that would make him a hero (or her a heroine)
  • Similar words include: antihero
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTIHEROES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "29. Trial that an attorney may not remember fondly?"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "30. Cash register part"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together
  • Similar words include: trough, boulder clay, public treasury
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TILL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "31. Blue ___ (coral reef swimmers like Pixar's Dory)"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tart spicy quality
  • Similar words include: savor, Tang dynasty, flavour
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TANGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "32. Lacks"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "37. More compassionate"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior
  • Similar words include: kind, tolerant, genial
  • Opposite of: unkind
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KINDER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "41. Candy bar in the jingle that begins "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't""

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (baseball) the slight elevation on which the pitcher stands
  • Similar words include: agglomerate, pitcher's mound, pitcher
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOUNDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. Ptolemy III?"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tiny or scarcely detectable amount
  • Similar words include: iota, scintilla, shred
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IOTAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "43. Welcome advice from a financial planner"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that pass time in a specific way
  • Similar words include: pass, drop, expend
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPEND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "44. Lavender or lilac"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a distinctive odor that is pleasant
  • Similar words include: fragrance, odorize, aroma
  • Opposite of: deodourise, deodorize
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCENT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "45. City where Shah Jahan built a monument to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a city in northern india; former capital of the mogul empire; site of the taj mahal
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGRA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "46. Film composer Silvestri"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "47. Pickle"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something that hinders as if with bonds
  • Similar words include: attach, obligate, tie up
  • Opposite of: untie, unbind
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BIND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "48. Like silk or yarn"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that revolve quickly and repeatedly around one's own axis
  • Similar words include: whirl, gyrate, twirl
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPUN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "51. Pseudonym cited repeatedly in the 2022 Dobbs decision"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fish eggs or egg-filled ovary; having a grainy texture
  • Similar words include: hard roe
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "52. "The pretty worm of Nilus," per Shakespeare's Cleopatra"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of southern europe; similar to but smaller than the adder
  • Similar words include: Naja haje, Egyptian cobra, Vipera aspis
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASP

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

37 Across Clues
35 Down Clues
72 Total Clues

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Last updated: September 11, 2026 at 08:10 AM