Master today's NYT crossword with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun. Perfect for crossword lovers who want that satisfying "aha!" moment.
Quick Navigation - Table of Contents
- Today's Puzzle Difficulty
- Across Clues Table (37 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (35 clues)
- Down Clues - Detailed Hints
- Expert Solving Strategies
- Today's Puzzle Statistics
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"
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"
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"
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"
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
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5A: "15. "I've had enough of this!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THATDOESIT
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6A: "17. People who worshiped the rain god Illapa"
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
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7A: "18. Unexpected twists"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CURVEBALLS
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8A: "19. Singer/actress Carrere"
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"
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"
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"
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
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12A: "24. Nods at a lot?"
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)"
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
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14A: "26. Big name in 23-Down"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIANA
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17A: "31. Drives for money?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TELETHONS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "33. Actor Elba"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDRIS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "34. A long time follower?"
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?"
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""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LETMEKNOW
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22A: "38. Attire for a high-pressure job?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GSUIT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "39. Put down"
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"
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."
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AABOND
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29A: "48. Chip source, informally"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORC
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31A: "50. Tool for adding sparkle to lackluster prose?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GLITTERPEN
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32A: "52. Tiger ___ (spiky houseplant)"
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"
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"
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 ...""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANDSO
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36A: "56. Wraps"
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!]"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSST
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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)"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDITH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. "That's brilliant!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GENIUSIDEA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Hollywood post-broadcast fete"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OSCARPARTY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Export from Jamaica"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SKA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. Had a hankering"
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?"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MTV
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9D: "9. Assessment of something enjoyed ironically"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOBADITSGOOD
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Sports"
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"
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""
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETSY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "16. Infer (from)"
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""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLEASEDONTGO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "23. Fabric related to chambray"
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"
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"
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."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DONUTHOLES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "28. Flawed protagonists"
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?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LSAT
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22D: "30. Cash register part"
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)"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HASNT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "37. More compassionate"
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""
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?"
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"
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALAN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "47. Pickle"
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"
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"
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"
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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