Master the NYT crossword from January 13, 1990 with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun.
Puzzle Difficulty: Challenging
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Strategic Hints (36 clues)
1A: "1. Syncopated drumbeats"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the sound of a drum (especially a snare drum) beaten rapidly and continuously
- Similar words include: roll, drum roll
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PARADIDDLE
2A: "11. Pass catcher Collinsworth"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CRIS
3A: "15. One-sided"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that involving only one part or side
- Similar words include: one-sided
- Opposite of: multilateral
Click to reveal answer
Answer: UNILATERAL
4A: "16. A Rodgers partner"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states playwright who collaborated with george s. kaufman (1904-1961)
- Similar words include: Lorenz Hart, Moss Hart, stag
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HART
5A: "17. Deliverers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who releases people from captivity or bondage
- Similar words include: liberator
- Opposite of: captor
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LIBERATORS
6A: "18. Hungary's Nagy"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IMRE
7A: "19. As written: Mus."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STA
8A: "20. Alt."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELEV
9A: "21. Axilla"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the hollow under the arm where it is joined to the shoulder
- Similar words include: axillary cavity, axilla, axillary fossa
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARMPIT
10A: "23. Young Guthrie"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARLO
11A: "25. Musical tones"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a widely distributed system consisting of all the cells able to ingest bacteria or colloidal particles etc, except for certain white blood cells
- Similar words include: rhenium, ray, reticuloendothelial system
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RES
12A: "27. "Deirdre" dramatist"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that irish poet and dramatist (1865-1939)
- Similar words include: William Butler Yeats, W. B. Yeats
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: YEATS
13A: "28. Communicates à la sparks"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that medium for communication
- Similar words include: radiocommunication, radio set, radio receiver
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RADIOS
14A: "31. Plexus"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a network of intersecting blood vessels or intersecting nerves or intersecting lymph vessels
- Similar words include: plexus
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RETE
15A: "33. Noted Indian novelist"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAO
16A: "34. ___-faire"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAISSEZ
17A: "36. Abbr. on an envelope"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATTN
18A: "37. Egypt's ___ stone"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ROSETTA
19A: "40. Author Gay and family"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TALESES
20A: "42. Footless"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: APOD
21A: "43. Theater cries"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an extra or repeated performance; usually given in response to audience demand
- Similar words include: encore
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENCORES
22A: "45. Alouette's bill"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEC
23A: "46. It is, in Ibiza"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ESTA
24A: "47. Two jiggers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a disrespectful laugh
- Similar words include: hiss, razz, raspberry
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SNORTS
25A: "51. Dropped a fly"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that to make a mistake or be incorrect
- Similar words include: mistake, stray, err
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERRED
26A: "53. Goal"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that either extremity of something that has length
- Similar words include: last, close, remainder
- Opposite of: beginning, begin
Click to reveal answer
Answer: END
27A: "55. Ding or dong"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a deep prolonged sound (as of thunder or large bells)
- Similar words include: roll, ring, pealing
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PEAL
28A: "56. Crude shelter"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEANTO
29A: "58. Former Venezuelan mining town"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AROA
30A: "61. He, to Louis"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LUI
31A: "62. Aleutian island"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATTU
32A: "63. Return a P.O.W. to his native land"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who has returned to the country of origin or whose citizenship has been restored
- Opposite of: expatriate
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REPATRIATE
33A: "66. Via's kin"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ITER
34A: "67. Crackles"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that make a crackling sound
- Similar words include: crackle, crepitate
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CREPITATES
35A: "68. Ltr. enclosure"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SASE
36A: "69. Rating"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth
- Similar words include: appraisal, judgement, judgment
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ASSESSMENT
Down Clues - Strategic Hints (38 clues)
1D: "1. Neutron star"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a degenerate neutron star; small and extremely dense; rotates very fast and emits regular pulses of polarized radiation
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PULSAR
2D: "2. "Peer Gynt" temptress"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ANITRA
3D: "3. Gross"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a ribald person; someone who uses vulgar and offensive language
- Similar words include: bawdy, off-color
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RIBALD
4D: "4. Porter relative"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the united states an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALE
5D: "5. Venture"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a challenge to do something dangerous or foolhardy
- Similar words include: make bold, presume, defy
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DARE
6D: "6. Romance lang."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ITAL
7D: "7. Hold back"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that try to prevent; show opposition to
- Similar words include: discourage, dissuade
- Opposite of: persuade
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DETER
8D: "8. Herdsmen"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who drives a herd
- Similar words include: herdsman, drover, herder
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DROVERS
9D: "9. Gibbon"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAR
10D: "10. Lionized lion"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELSA
11D: "11. Voice of Grandfather Time?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned bells that are struck with a hammer; used as an orchestral instrument
- Similar words include: gong, bell
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CHIME
12D: "12. What we watched o'er"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
- Similar words include: bulwark, wall, rampart
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAMPARTS
13D: "13. Irk"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
- Similar words include: get at, nettle, rag
- Opposite of: soothe
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IRRITATE
14D: "14. Texans' toppers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a hat made of felt with a creased crown
- Similar words include: felt hat, trilby, fedora
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STETSONS
15D: "22. Bodies' meeting place in Scotland?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the seed of the cereal grass
- Similar words include: rye whisky, Secale cereale, rye whiskey
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RYE
16D: "24. Lubed the limo"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cover with oil, as if by rubbing
- Similar words include: anele, inunct, oil
- Opposite of: unoiled
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OILED
17D: "26. Mind"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEETO
18D: "29. Cereal grass"
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')
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OAT
19D: "30. Where to build houses"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the piece of land on which something is located (or is to be located)
- Similar words include: sit down, situation, place
- Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SITES
20D: "32. Autocratic rulers: Var."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a male monarch or emperor (especially of russia prior to 1917)
- Similar words include: tzar, czar, tsar
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TZARS
21D: "35. Last word in French toast"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SANTE
22D: "36. Fabulist"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that greek author of fables (circa 620-560 bc)
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AESOP
23D: "37. Alcofribas Nasier's real name"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that author of satirical attacks on medieval scholasticism (1494-1553)
- Similar words include: Francois Rabelais
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RABELAIS
24D: "38. "The Mikado," for one"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a short amusing opera
- Similar words include: light opera
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OPERETTA
25D: "39. Plato was his pupil"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that ancient athenian philosopher; teacher of plato and xenophon (470-399 bc)
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SOCRATES
26D: "41. Author Deighton"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEN
27D: "44. Hors d'oeuvres"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an appetizer consisting usually of a thin slice of bread or toast spread with caviar or cheese or other savory food
- Similar words include: canape
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CANAPES
28D: "46. N.Y. time in June"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EDT
29D: "48. Tell"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that make a logical or causal connection
- Similar words include: associate, touch on, interrelate
- Opposite of: dissociate
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RELATE
30D: "49. Become uptight"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that become taut or tauter
- Similar words include: firm
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TAUTEN
31D: "50. Most foxy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that marked by skill in deception
- Similar words include: dodgy, foxy, knavish
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SLIEST
32D: "52. Harden"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENURE
33D: "54. Hang"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window)
- Similar words include: curtain, clothe, cloak
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DRAPE
34D: "57. Grampus"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas
- Similar words include: killer whale, sea wolf, killer
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ORCA
35D: "59. Regretful Miss, in a song"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states inventor who manufactured the first elevator with a safety device (1811-1861)
- Similar words include: genus Otis, Elisha Graves Otis
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OTIS
36D: "60. Crafts' companion"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills)
- Similar words include: prowess, fine art, humanities
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARTS
37D: "64. Hesitation sounds"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs with yttrium
- Similar words include: emergency room, atomic number 68, Er
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERS
38D: "65. Wee, small hr."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IAM
Puzzle Stats
36 Across
38 Down
74 Total
