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

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers September 29, 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: 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. Big ones can be difficult to manage 4
2A 5. Urge 4
3A 9. British John 5
4A 14. Nincompoop 4
5A 15. Surrounding glow 4
6A 16. Who "wants to be defeated" in "Beat It" 5
7A 17. Where some monster home runs land 9
8A 19. Language of the Vikings 5
9A 20. Rich deposits of ore 5
10A 21. Home of the Buckeyes, for short 3
11A 23. Muslim holiday, informally 3
12A 24. Scoped out with intent to rob 5
13A 25. Pretty long time, in an idiom 9
14A 28. Battery fill 4
15A 29. Capital of Yemen 5
16A 30. Copied 4
17A 31. "You ___!" ("Absolutely!") 3
18A 32. Terse 4
19A 33. "I ___ U" (candy heart message) 3
20A 35. Another plateful from the buffet, say 13
21A 40. Deposit/withdrawal site, in brief 3
22A 41. Board appointee, for short 4
23A 42. Work unit 3
24A 44. Chief god of Valhalla 4
25A 47. European viper 5
26A 49. Greek goddess of the earth 4
27A 50. Position of Rickey Henderson in M.L.B. 9
28A 52. Storage units 5
29A 53. Dad on "Black-ish" 3
30A 54. Pablo Neruda's "___ to My Socks" 3
31A 55. Indie rock singer ___ O 5
32A 56. Couch 5
33A 58. Wedding officiant's directive ... or what both halves of 17-, 25-, 35- and 50-Across do? 9
34A 62. Unconcealed 5
35A 63. Toll unit on some roads 4
36A 64. Tour de France entry 4
37A 65. "Cooties" 5
38A 66. Hitch up on a farm 4
39A 67. Ice cream brand that's a cousin of Dreyer's 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Big ones can be difficult to manage"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Urge"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a verbalization that encourages you to attempt something
  • Similar words include: egg on, goading, poke at
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PROD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. British John"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Nincompoop"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that street names for marijuana
  • Similar words include: cola, pot, sens
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOPE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Surrounding glow"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sensation (as of a cold breeze or bright light) that precedes the onset of certain disorders such as a migraine attack or epileptic seizure
  • Similar words include: glory, halo, gloriole
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AURA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Who "wants to be defeated" in "Beat It""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Where some monster home runs land"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Language of the Vikings"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an inhabitant of scandinavia
  • Similar words include: Scandinavian language, Norseman, Northman
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NORSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Rich deposits of ore"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a deposit of valuable ore occurring within definite boundaries separating it from surrounding rocks
  • Similar words include: lode, load
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LODES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Home of the Buckeyes, for short"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Muslim holiday, informally"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Scoped out with intent to rob"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that look over, usually with the intention to rob
  • Similar words include: encase, incase, incased
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CASED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Pretty long time, in an idiom"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Battery fill"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various water-soluble compounds having a sour taste and capable of turning litmus red and reacting with a base to form a salt
  • Similar words include: Zen, acidulent, bitter
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "29. Capital of Yemen"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the capital and largest city of yemen; on the central plateau
  • Similar words include: Sana, Sana'a
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SANAA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "30. Copied"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that imitate uncritically and in every aspect
  • Similar words include: ape, caricature
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "31. "You ___!" ("Absolutely!")"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the money risked on a gamble
  • Similar words include: stake, wager, count
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "32. Terse"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by rude or peremptory shortness
  • Similar words include: terse, crisp, brusque
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CURT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "33. "I ___ U" (candy heart message)"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "35. Another plateful from the buffet, say"

13 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SECONDHELPING

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "40. Deposit/withdrawal site, in brief"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of pressure: the pressure that will support a column of mercury 760 mm high at sea level and 0 degrees centigrade
  • Similar words include: automatic teller machine, automatic teller, automated teller
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "41. Board appointee, for short"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the chief executive department of the united states government
  • Similar words include: White House
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXEC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "42. Work unit"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cgs unit of work or energy; the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "44. Chief god of Valhalla"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (norse mythology) ruler of the aesir; supreme god of war and poetry and knowledge and wisdom (for which he gave an eye) and husband of frigg; identified with the teutonic wotan
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "47. European viper"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who adds numbers
  • Similar words include: common viper, Vipera berus
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADDER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "49. Greek goddess of the earth"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) goddess of the earth and mother of cronus and the titans in ancient mythology
  • Similar words include: Ge, Gaia
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. Position of Rickey Henderson in M.L.B."

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the piece of ground in the outfield on the catcher's left
  • Similar words include: left, left field
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEFTFIELD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "52. Storage units"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sequence of 8 bits (enough to represent one character of alphanumeric data) processed as a single unit of information
  • Similar words include: byte
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BYTES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "53. Dad on "Black-ish""

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "54. Pablo Neruda's "___ to My Socks""

3 letters Category: Common Word

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!

31A: "55. Indie rock singer ___ O"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the tibeto-burman language spoken in the thailand and burmese borderlands
  • Similar words include: Karenic
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KAREN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "56. Couch"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long backless sofa (usually with pillows against a wall)
  • Similar words include: diwan
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIVAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "58. Wedding officiant's directive ... or what both halves of 17-, 25-, 35- and 50-Across do?"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "62. Unconcealed"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that open and observable; not secret or hidden
  • Similar words include: open
  • Opposite of: covert
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVERT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "63. Toll unit on some roads"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a shaft on which a wheel rotates
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AXLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "64. Tour de France entry"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cooperative unit (especially in sports)
  • Similar words include: team up, squad
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEAM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "65. "Cooties""

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that anything that provides inspiration for later work
  • Similar words include: germ, source, seed
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GERMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "66. Hitch up on a farm"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fabric comprising a fitted part at the top of a garment
  • Similar words include: coupling, couplet, link
  • Opposite of: unyoke
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YOKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "67. Ice cream brand that's a cousin of Dreyer's"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Address ending that's not .com, .org or .gov 3
2D 2. Reach great heights in life 8
3D 3. Like black and white 8
4D 4. Numbered in a tournament bracket 6
5D 5. Always at the pharmacy? 4
6D 6. Regret 3
7D 7. Middle-earth foe 3
8D 8. ___ Territory, 1861-89 6
9D 9. Ho-hum feeling 5
10D 10. British john 3
11D 11. Ripped to pieces 6
12D 12. Like not-work-from-home days 6
13D 13. Had to have 6
14D 18. Visibly embarrassed, say 3
15D 22. Like subcompacts vis-à-vis compacts 7
16D 24. What can travel a fare distance? 3
17D 25. Brain-busting 4
18D 26. Just between us 7
19D 27. Blue race in "Avatar" 4
20D 29. Raisin brand whose containers feature a girl in a red bonnet 7
21D 32. Hotel request 3
22D 34. Scanned lines, for short 3
23D 36. "If you ___ stand the heat ..." 4
24D 37. Crossed (out) 4
25D 38. Made nice? 8
26D 39. Band with the 6x platinum album "American Idiot" 8
27D 43. Pit stop refill 3
28D 44. Subject of a saying about new tricks 6
29D 45. Infer (from) 6
30D 46. Perhaps not at all 6
31D 48. Spinner of tunes 6
32D 49. Move like Shakira in her "Hips Don't Lie" video 6
33D 51. Courier and Century Gothic, for two 5
34D 52. "Nuts!" 3
35D 55. Achy joint for a floor installer, perhaps 4
36D 57. Pitcher's asset 3
37D 59. Kitchen brand that could be an unsuccessful tic-tac-toe line 3
38D 60. Sort 3
39D 61. Texting format, for short 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Address ending that's not .com, .org or .gov"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Reach great heights in life"

8 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Like black and white"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a word that expresses a meaning opposed to the meaning of another word, in which case the two words are antonyms of each other
  • Similar words include: antonym, inverse, paired
  • Opposite of: synonym, alternate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPPOSITE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Numbered in a tournament bracket"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that go to seed; shed seeds
  • Similar words include: seed, sow, sown
  • Opposite of: unseeded
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEEDED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Always at the pharmacy?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge
  • Similar words include: domiciliation, digs, embroider
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PADS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Regret"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that european strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
  • Similar words include: repent, regret, ruefulness
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Middle-earth foe"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. ___ Territory, 1861-89"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of the siouan people of the northern mississippi valley; commonly called the sioux
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAKOTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Ho-hum feeling"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the feeling of being bored by something tedious
  • Similar words include: boredom, tedium
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENNUI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. British john"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a toilet in britain
  • Similar words include: water closet, W.C., closet
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Ripped to pieces"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Like not-work-from-home days"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Had to have"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that require as useful, just, or proper
  • Similar words include: want, require, necessitate
  • Opposite of: obviate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEEDED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Visibly embarrassed, say"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
  • Similar words include: bolshy, violent, red-faced
  • Opposite of: gain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Like subcompacts vis-à-vis compacts"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that small or little relative to something else
  • Similar words include: humble, littler, pocket-sized
  • Opposite of: large, big
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMALLER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. What can travel a fare distance?"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a compartment at the front of a motor vehicle or locomotive where driver sits
  • Similar words include: cabriolet, taxi, taxicab
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. Brain-busting"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
  • Similar words include: laborious, grueling, tough
  • Opposite of: easy, voiced
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Just between us"

7 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. Blue race in "Avatar""

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "29. Raisin brand whose containers feature a girl in a red bonnet"

7 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. Hotel request"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sheath worn to protect a finger
  • Similar words include: camp bed, fingerstall, crib
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. Scanned lines, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. "If you ___ stand the heat ...""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition
  • Similar words include: bevel, slang, vernacular
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CANT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. Crossed (out)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Made nice?"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that put (things or places) in order
  • Similar words include: straighten, square away, neaten
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEATENED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Band with the 6x platinum album "American Idiot""

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "43. Pit stop refill"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of matter distinguished from the solid and liquid states by: relatively low density and viscosity; relatively great expansion and contraction with changes in pressure and temperature; the ability to diffuse readily; and the spontaneous tendency to become distributed uniformly throughout any container
  • Similar words include: gun, bluster, flatulence
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "44. Subject of a saying about new tricks"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "45. Infer (from)"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Perhaps not at all"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "48. Spinner of tunes"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. Move like Shakira in her "Hips Don't Lie" video"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that to wind or move in a spiral course
  • Similar words include: reel, spiral, coil
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GYRATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "51. Courier and Century Gothic, for two"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a specific size and style of type within a type family
  • Similar words include: baptistry, baptismal font, case
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FONTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "52. "Nuts!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "55. Achy joint for a floor installer, perhaps"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
  • Similar words include: human knee, knee joint, articulatio genus
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KNEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "57. Pitcher's asset"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a human limb; technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb
  • Similar words include: limb, sleeve, fortify
  • Opposite of: disarm
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "59. Kitchen brand that could be an unsuccessful tic-tac-toe line"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "60. Sort"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a kind of person
  • Similar words include: like
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ILK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "61. Texting format, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a grey lustrous metallic element of the rare earth group; is used in special alloys; occurs in monazite and bastnasite
  • Similar words include: SM, atomic number 62, Master of Science
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMS

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

39 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
78 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 29, 2026 at 09:59 AM

Thursday, May 21, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 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. Gossiped-about duo 4
2A 5. River whose southernmost source is found in Burundi 4
3A 9. Animal that expresses anger by spitting 5
4A 14. Curbside call 4
5A 15. Egg's outline 4
6A 16. Traditional Vietnamese garment whose name means "long shirt" 5
7A 17. 2000 Eminem single with lines from his "biggest fan" 4
8A 18. St. Benedict, for one 4
9A 19. Central meeting points 5
10A 20. timiL 12
11A 23. 50¢ or $1: Abbr. 3
12A 24. Fish more formally known as a batomorph 3
13A 25. Capital of Portugal, to natives 6
14A 29. Crown of jewels 6
15A 31. Penultimate Greek letter 3
16A 33. One of four seen on Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" 3
17A 34. Goat's cry 3
18A 35. Golfer's suppor- 9
19A 38. Move like a fox 5
20A 40. Get a lode of this! 3
21A 41. John from Britain 5
22A 42. Evade 9
23A 44. "Bad" beginning 3
24A 45. Like news that everyone already knows 3
25A 46. Legal boundaries? 3
26A 47. Kind of cat with a black-and-white coat 6
27A 50. More melted, as a marshmallow 6
28A 53. Tree alongside a ski run 3
29A 54. Bro, e.g. 3
30A 55. P | u | n | c | h | e | s 12
31A 59. Sound of a perfect basketball shot 5
32A 62. "Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden 4
33A 63. Ordered 4
34A 64. Increase, as interest 5
35A 65. German Ms. 4
36A 66. Pupil's surroundings 4
37A 67. Environmentalist Adams 5
38A 68. Site for many stars? 4
39A 69. Sounds of disapproval 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Gossiped-about duo"

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: point, particular, detail
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. River whose southernmost source is found in Burundi"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the world's longest river (4150 miles); flows northward through eastern africa into the mediterranean; the nile river valley in egypt was the site of the world's first great civilization
  • Similar words include: Nile River
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NILE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Animal that expresses anger by spitting"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wild or domesticated south american cud-chewing animal related to camels but smaller and lacking a hump
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LLAMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Curbside call"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
  • Similar words include: cab, hack, taxicab
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAXI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Egg's outline"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it
  • Similar words include: ovoid, elliptical, ovate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Traditional Vietnamese garment whose name means "long shirt""

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. 2000 Eminem single with lines from his "biggest fan""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. St. Benedict, for one"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male religious living in a cloister and devoting himself to contemplation and prayer and work
  • Similar words include: Thelonious Sphere Monk, Thelonious Monk, monastic
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MONK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "19. Central meeting points"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a connecting point at which several lines come together
  • Similar words include: client, node, knob
  • Opposite of: antinode
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NODES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "20. timiL"

12 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. 50¢ or $1: Abbr."

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Fish more formally known as a batomorph"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a column of light (as from a beacon)
  • Similar words include: shaft of light, irradiation, light beam
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Capital of Portugal, to natives"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that capital and largest city and economic and cultural center of portugal; a major port in western portugal on tagus river where it broadens and empties into the atlantic
  • Similar words include: Lisbon, capital of Portugal
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LISBOA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. Crown of jewels"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an ornamental jeweled headdress signifying sovereignty
  • Similar words include: crown
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIADEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Penultimate Greek letter"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of pressure
  • Similar words include: pounds per square inch
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. One of four seen on Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a human limb; technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb
  • Similar words include: build up, sleeve, gird
  • Opposite of: disarm
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Goat's cry"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. Golfer's suppor-"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "38. Move like a fox"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
  • Similar words include: malinger, lurk
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SKULK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "40. Get a lode of this!"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be mined
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. John from Britain"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "42. Evade"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very short skirt
  • Similar words include: mini
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MINISKIRT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "44. "Bad" beginning"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "45. Like news that everyone already knows"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old')
  • Similar words include: sometime, former, one-time
  • Opposite of: young, new
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OLD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "46. Legal boundaries?"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that angular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial object)
  • Similar words include: EL, elevated railway, elevated
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "47. Kind of cat with a black-and-white coat"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that semiformal evening dress for men
  • Similar words include: dinner jacket, black tie, tux
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUXEDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. More melted, as a marshmallow"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that soft and sticky
  • Similar words include: icky, gooey
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOOIER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "53. Tree alongside a ski run"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that nonresinous wood of a fir tree
  • Similar words include: fir tree, true fir
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "54. Bro, e.g."

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person's brother or sister
  • Similar words include: blood relation, blood relative, cognate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "55. P | u | n | c | h | e | s"

12 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "59. Sound of a perfect basketball shot"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a brushing or rustling sound
  • Similar words include: lap, swoosh, posh
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWISH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "62. "Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a feeling of intense anger
  • Similar words include: fierceness, madness, hysteria
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FURY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "63. Ordered"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chadic language spoken in northern nigeria
  • Similar words include: bid, entreat, press
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BADE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "64. Increase, as interest"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tightly woven fabric with raised cords
  • Similar words include: temper, irritation, offend
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIQUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "65. German Ms."

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a german courtesy title or form of address for an adult woman
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FRAU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "66. Pupil's surroundings"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
  • Similar words include: fleur-de-lis, sword lily, iris diaphragm
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "67. Environmentalist Adams"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "68. Site for many stars?"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sharp high-pitched cry (especially by a dog)
  • Similar words include: yelping, yap, yip
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YELP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "69. Sounds of disapproval"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that utter `tsk,' `tut,' or `tut-tut,' as in disapproval
  • Similar words include: tut, tut-tut, tsk
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Short negative review 6
2D 2. Floor covering in a Japanese tearoom 6
3D 3. "Bingo!" 11
4D 4. Stole material 4
5D 5. Southern denial 6
6D 6. Something tickled on a piano 5
7D 7. "Buy ___. They're not making it anymore" (old saying) 4
8D 8. Philanthropic group with a clock face in its logo 4
9D 9. The so-called "Pineapple Isle" 5
10D 10. Goes around and around 5
11D 11. Make sense, with "up" 3
12D 12. "Maggie ___," classic folk song covered by the Beatles 3
13D 13. ChatGPT, Claude, etc. 3
14D 21. Inflicts 6
15D 22. Muse of history 4
16D 26. Lasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically 11
17D 27. Milkshake flavor 4
18D 28. Gospel shout 4
19D 30. "Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes" painter, 1945 4
20D 31. Contented sounds 5
21D 32. "Changed my mind," in editing notation 4
22D 35. Curl 4
23D 36. Hip-knee connectors 6
24D 37. Source of linseed oil 4
25D 38. It's all a haze 4
26D 39. Drug bust unit 4
27D 43. Model Miranda 4
28D 47. Make neat 6
29D 48. Large-eyed African antelope with a duplicative name 6
30D 49. Fixate 6
31D 51. Give out 5
32D 52. Neighbor of Ricky and Lucy, on 1950s TV 5
33D 53. Far from house-trained 5
34D 56. Dodgy 4
35D 57. 100% 4
36D 58. End piece? 4
37D 59. Belinda's business on "The White Lotus" 3
38D 60. Prevail 3
39D 61. Some test figs. 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Short negative review"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Floor covering in a Japanese tearoom"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. "Bingo!""

11 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXACTAMUNDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Stole material"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the expensive fur of a mink
  • Similar words include: mink coat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MINK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Southern denial"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Something tickled on a piano"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hard smooth ivory colored dentine that makes up most of the tusks of elephants and walruses
  • Similar words include: pearl, tusk, bone
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IVORY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. "Buy ___. They're not making it anymore" (old saying)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the land on which real estate is located
  • Similar words include: realm, down, commonwealth
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Philanthropic group with a clock face in its logo"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large northern deer with enormous flattened antlers in the male; called `elk' in europe and `moose' in north america
  • Similar words include: Cervus elaphus, Alces alces, Cervus elaphus canadensis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. The so-called "Pineapple Isle""

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island of central hawaii; a pineapple-growing area
  • Similar words include: Lanai Island
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LANAI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Goes around and around"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fastener consisting of a metal ring for lining a small hole to permit the attachment of cords or lines
  • Similar words include: iteration, intertwine, loop topology
  • Opposite of: open circuit, uncoil
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOOPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Make sense, with "up""

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders
  • Similar words include: minimal brain damage, append, sum
  • Opposite of: subtract, take away
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. "Maggie ___," classic folk song covered by the Beatles"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. ChatGPT, Claude, etc."

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency of the united states army responsible for providing timely and relevant and accurate and synchronized intelligence to tactical and operational and strategic level commanders
  • Similar words include: Army Intelligence, three-toed sloth, artificial insemination
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "21. Inflicts"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
  • Similar words include: wreak, work, play
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WREAKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Muse of history"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) the muse of history
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "26. Lasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically"

11 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BATTLESCARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "27. Milkshake flavor"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that chocolate cookie with white cream filling
  • Similar words include: oreo cookie
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OREO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. Gospel shout"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a primeval egyptian personification of air and breath; worshipped especially at thebes
  • Similar words include: Amun, Amon
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "30. "Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes" painter, 1945"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "31. Contented sounds"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a low vibrating sound typical of a contented cat
  • Similar words include: birr, whir, whiz
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PURRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. "Changed my mind," in editing notation"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that printing: cancel, as of a correction or deletion
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "35. Curl"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
  • Similar words include: scroll, curlicue, gyre
  • Opposite of: uncoil
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. Hip-knee connectors"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the longest and thickest bone of the human skeleton; extends from the pelvis to the knee
  • Similar words include: thighbone, femoris, femur
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEMURS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. Source of linseed oil"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fiber of the flax plant that is made into thread and woven into linen fabric
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLAX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. It's all a haze"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that air pollution by a mixture of smoke and fog
  • Similar words include: smogginess
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Drug bust unit"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one thousand grams; the basic unit of mass adopted under the systeme international d'unites
  • Similar words include: kg, kilogram
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KILO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "43. Model Miranda"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "47. Make neat"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "48. Large-eyed African antelope with a duplicative name"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "49. Fixate"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that haunt like a ghost; pursue
  • Similar words include: haunt, ghost
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBSESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "51. Give out"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an important question that is in dispute and must be settled
  • Similar words include: topic, egress, subject
  • Opposite of: recall
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISSUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "52. Neighbor of Ricky and Lucy, on 1950s TV"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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33D: "53. Far from house-trained"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wild and menacing
  • Similar words include: ferine, savage
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FERAL

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34D: "56. Dodgy"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that subject to accident or chance or change
  • Similar words include: fluky, flukey, chancy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IFFY

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35D: "57. 100%"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that free of extraneous elements of any kind
  • Similar words include: everlasting, thoroughgoing, sodding
  • Opposite of: unsaturated, impure
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PURE

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36D: "58. End piece?"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a notice of someone's death; usually includes a short biography
  • Similar words include: necrology, obituary
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBIT

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37D: "59. Belinda's business on "The White Lotus""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
  • Similar words include: health spa, watering hole, resort hotel
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPA

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38D: "60. Prevail"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a victory (as in a race or other competition)
  • Similar words include: bring home the bacon, acquire, advance
  • Opposite of: fall back, losings
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WIN

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39D: "61. Some test figs."

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a measure of a person's intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test; the ratio of a person's mental age to their chronological age (multiplied by 100)
  • Similar words include: IQ, intelligence quotient, I.Q.
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IQS

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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

39 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

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Last updated: May 21, 2026 at 07:05 AM