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

Thursday, July 16, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers July 16, 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. Smart 4
2A 5. Sensation 5
3A 10. Acquisition on the big day 5
4A 15. "That's a good one!" 4
5A 16. Galápagos island that was home to Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his subspecies 5
6A 17. Who knows what preceded the Big Bang 5
7A 18. *Yes — three arduous ones 16
8A 21. February 14, informally 4
9A 22. Scratch that! 4
10A 23. El ___ 3
11A 24. Like novices 5
12A 26. Spoil 6
13A 28. Preceder of how, way or where 3
14A 29. *Yes — sometimes more than 1,000 9
15A 31. Patooties 5
16A 33. Little dipper? 3
17A 34. "Tout à fait!" 3
18A 35. Tire 4
19A 37. *Yes — exactly one, in common usage 12
20A 42. First line on many a form 4
21A 43. Common garnish in a chirashi bowl 3
22A 44. Had at present? 3
23A 47. Article of lab wear 5
24A 50. *No — but it does have three feet 9
25A 53. Elizabethan curse 3
26A 54. Country that las islas Canarias are part of 6
27A 57. Important blood line 5
28A 58. "___ is the proper task of life": Nietzsche 3
29A 59. Business whose rewards program gives "Stackholder Perks" 4
30A 60. Raving 4
31A 61. Question during a brainstorming session ... or of the answers to the starred clues 16
32A 67. Popular Japanese brew 5
33A 68. Alcohol, slangily 5
34A 69. Literary heroine who says "I would always rather be happy than dignified" 4
35A 70. Its capital is Sanaa 5
36A 71. Heavens 5
37A 72. Debugging component? 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Smart"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that elegant and fashionable; ; ; ; - julia child
  • Similar words include: classy, swish
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POSH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Sensation"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a vigorous blow
  • Similar words include: break, bash, crush
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMASH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Acquisition on the big day"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "15. "That's a good one!""

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "16. Galápagos island that was home to Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his subspecies"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "17. Who knows what preceded the Big Bang"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "18. *Yes — three arduous ones"

16 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRONMANTRIATHLON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "21. February 14, informally"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "22. Scratch that!"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a contagious skin infection caused by the itch mite; characterized by persistent itching and skin irritation
  • Similar words include: urge, spoil, itching
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "23. El ___"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the united states army's principal law enforcement agency responsible for the conduct of criminal investigations for all levels of the army anywhere in the world
  • Similar words include: Criminal Investigation Command
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "24. Like novices"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that green color or pigment; resembling the color of growing grass
  • Similar words include: unripe, common, gullible
  • Opposite of: ripe
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GREEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "26. Spoil"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a narrow pass (especially one between mountains)
  • Similar words include: corrupt, befoul, sully
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEFILE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "28. Preceder of how, way or where"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one or some or every or all without specification
  • Similar words include: whatever, whatsoever
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. *Yes — sometimes more than 1,000"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous herbivorous nonpoisonous arthropods having a cylindrical body of 20 to 100 or more segments most with two pairs of legs
  • Similar words include: milliped, millepede
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MILLIPEDE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Patooties"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that thick end of the handle
  • Similar words include: backside, stooge, behind
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BUTTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Little dipper?"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of the digits of the foot
  • Similar words include: toenail
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. "Tout à fait!""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. Tire"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design
  • Similar words include: iris, ease up, sag
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLAG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. *Yes — exactly one, in common usage"

12 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. First line on many a form"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a language unit by which a person or thing is known
  • Similar words include: figure, public figure, identify
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Common garnish in a chirashi bowl"

3 letters 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!

22A: "44. Had at present?"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (astronomy) the angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing; the right ascension for an observer at a particular location and time of day
  • Similar words include: give, experience, throw
  • Opposite of: lack, abstain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "47. Article of lab wear"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a loose coverall (coat or frock) reaching down to the ankles
  • Similar words include: gaberdine, duster, gabardine
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMOCK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "50. *No — but it does have three feet"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a measure or standard used for comparison
  • Similar words include: yard measure
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YARDSTICK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "53. Elizabethan curse"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a common venereal disease caused by the treponema pallidum spirochete; symptoms change through progressive stages; can be congenital (transmitted through the placenta)
  • Similar words include: syphilis, lues, lues venerea
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "54. Country that las islas Canarias are part of"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a parliamentary monarchy in southwestern europe on the iberian peninsula; a former colonial power
  • Similar words include: Spain, Kingdom of Spain
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESPANA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "57. Important blood line"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the large trunk artery that carries blood from the left ventricle of the heart to branch arteries
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AORTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "58. "___ is the proper task of life": Nietzsche"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the products of human creativity; works of art collectively
  • Similar words include: artistry, artistic production, graphics
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ART

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "59. Business whose rewards program gives "Stackholder Perks""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "60. Raving"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "61. Question during a brainstorming session ... or of the answers to the starred clues"

16 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ________________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOESTHISHAVELEGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "67. Popular Japanese brew"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "68. Alcohol, slangily"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that flavorful relish or dressing or topping served as an accompaniment to food
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAUCE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "69. Literary heroine who says "I would always rather be happy than dignified""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a shallow salt lake in south central australia about 35 feet below sea level; the largest lake in the country and the lowest point on the continent
  • Similar words include: Lake Eyre
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EYRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "70. Its capital is Sanaa"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a republic on the southwestern shores of the arabian peninsula on the indian ocean; formed in 1990
  • Similar words include: Republic of Yemen
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YEMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "71. Heavens"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies
  • Similar words include: aether, ethyl ether, quintessence
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETHER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "72. Debugging component?"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Letter after upsilon 3
2D 2. Trireme tool 3
3D 3. Cleared, as snow 8
4D 4. "Messiah" composer 6
5D 5. Neuter 4
6D 6. What a big hand indicates: Abbr. 3
7D 7. Its colony can be considered one superorganism 3
8D 8. Struggle 6
9D 9. World's most populous Creole-speaking country 5
10D 10. Pretty much assured 8
11D 11. Japanese drama 3
12D 12. Feline in a 2000s meme 6
13D 13. Dub ... or rub 6
14D 14. Fast-food restaurant that sells Frostys 6
15D 19. ___-pedi 4
16D 20. Oft-injured part of the knee, for short 3
17D 24. Clock-setting std. 3
18D 25. ___ Bravo (México/Tejas border) 3
19D 26. Certain tie score 5
20D 27. Mince words? 4
21D 30. Frost piece 4
22D 32. Sound of dissatisfaction 3
23D 35. Botanist's study 5
24D 36. Told stories 4
25D 38. Business ending 3
26D 39. Roll in dough 8
27D 40. Actress/union leader Drescher 4
28D 41. Symbol of spiritual insight, in Hinduism 8
29D 45. Class ___ 3
30D 46. Music genre with "walking" bass lines 3
31D 47. Steamy occasion? 6
32D 48. Lugubrious 6
33D 49. Pioneers' prairie pullers 6
34D 50. Harangues 6
35D 51. Store 4
36D 52. Worked sufferingly 6
37D 55. "Pipe down!" 3
38D 56. Composure 5
39D 60. Attest 4
40D 62. ___-goat 3
41D 63. "Wait ... really?" 3
42D 64. One of a kind 3
43D 65. Test for future Ph.D.s 3
44D 66. Not needing anything else 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Letter after upsilon"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the 21st letter of the greek alphabet
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PHI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Trireme tool"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an implement used to propel or steer a boat
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Cleared, as snow"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that dig with or as if with a shovel
  • Similar words include: shovel
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHOVELED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. "Messiah" composer"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a prolific british baroque composer (born in germany) remembered best for his oratorio messiah (1685-1759)
  • Similar words include: George Frideric Handel, George Frederick Handel, Georg Friedrich Handel
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HANDEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Neuter"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that remove the ovaries of
  • Similar words include: alter, neuter, castrate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. What a big hand indicates: Abbr."

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
  • Similar words include: Amoy, Taiwanese, Hokkianese
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Its colony can be considered one superorganism"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers
  • Similar words include: pismire, emmet
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Struggle"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lack of agreement or harmony
  • Similar words include: discord
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STRIFE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. World's most populous Creole-speaking country"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a republic in the west indies on the western part of the island of hispaniola; achieved independence from france in 1804; the poorest and most illiterate nation in the western hemisphere
  • Similar words include: Republic of Haiti, Hispaniola, Hayti
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAITI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Pretty much assured"

8 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Japanese drama"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Feline in a 2000s meme"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Dub ... or rub"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that choose by or as if by divine intervention
  • Similar words include: embrocate, anele, inunct
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANOINT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. Fast-food restaurant that sells Frostys"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "19. ___-pedi"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "20. Oft-injured part of the knee, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Clock-setting std."

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the local time at the 0 meridian passing through greenwich, england; it is the same everywhere
  • Similar words include: Greenwich Mean Time, UT, Greenwich Time
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GMT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. ___ Bravo (México/Tejas border)"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the former capital and 2nd largest city of brazil; chief brazilian port; famous as a tourist attraction
  • Similar words include: Rio de Janeiro
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Certain tie score"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tie in tennis or table tennis that requires winning two successive points to win the game
  • Similar words include: dickens, two, devil
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEUCE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Mince words?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting
  • Similar words include: edit out, blue-pencil, delete
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "30. Frost piece"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines
  • Similar words include: verse form
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. Sound of dissatisfaction"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Botanist's study"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that all the plant life in a particular region or period
  • Similar words include: plant life, vegetation, botany
  • Opposite of: fauna
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLORA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "36. Told stories"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a german art song of the 19th century for voice and piano
  • Similar words include: lie in, dwell, consist
  • Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Business ending"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a heterogeneous collection of groups united in their opposition to saddam hussein's government of iraq; formed in 1992 it is comprised of sunni and shiite arabs and kurds who hope to build a new government
  • Similar words include: Iraqi National Congress
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Roll in dough"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "40. Actress/union leader Drescher"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "41. Symbol of spiritual insight, in Hinduism"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "45. Class ___"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body
  • Similar words include: routine, human activity, do
  • Opposite of: refrain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Music genre with "walking" bass lines"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "47. Steamy occasion?"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "48. Lugubrious"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that showing a brooding ill humor; ; ; ; ; ; - bruce bliven
  • Similar words include: glowering, glum, saturnine
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOROSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "49. Pioneers' prairie pullers"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "50. Harangues"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "51. Store"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (sports) the act of preventing the opposition from scoring
  • Similar words include: write, keep, make unnecessary
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAVE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "52. Worked sufferingly"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Similar words include: moil, labor, dig
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOILED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "55. "Pipe down!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "56. Composure"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cgs unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimeter; the viscosity of a fluid in which a force of one dyne per square centimeter maintains a velocity of 1 centimeter per second
  • Similar words include: cool, aplomb, assuredness
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POISE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "60. Attest"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that report or maintain
  • Similar words include: affirm, assert, say
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "62. ___-goat"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "63. "Wait ... really?""

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

42D: "64. One of a kind"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
  • Similar words include: genius, wiz, wizard
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

43D: "65. Test for future Ph.D.s"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

44D: "66. Not needing anything else"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used
  • Similar words include: do, circle, fix
  • Opposite of: rise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SET

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
44 Down Clues
81 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: July 16, 2026 at 05:58 AM

Monday, June 8, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers June 08, 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. Deer sir? 4
2A 5. Free trial version 4
3A 9. Caspian or Mediterranean 3
4A 12. Designer ___ Boss 4
5A 13. Typographical embellishment 5
6A 14. Go across 4
7A 15. "Su-u-ure" 4
8A 16. Something green in a greenhouse 5
9A 17. Half ___ (when the minute hand points down) 4
10A 18. Popular board game adapted from India [1] 9
11A 20. They quickly spread online 5
12A 21. "Soldier, stop!" 4
13A 22. Page (through) 4
14A 23. Challenge for student drivers [2] 15
15A 30. Metals in mines 4
16A 31. Actor Stonestreet of "Modern Family" 4
17A 32. Apt zodiac sign for Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion 3
18A 33. Vitality 3
19A 34. Scoundrel's deeds 7
20A 37. A pair 3
21A 38. Card game whose name is something players cry 3
22A 39. Assistant 4
23A 40. Anthropologist Margaret 4
24A 41. Never stop having fun [3] 15
25A 46. "___ the night before Christmas ..." 4
26A 47. Word repeated in "___ ye, ___ ye!" 4
27A 48. Cube maker Erno 5
28A 50. Of the highest importance ... or, when parsed differently, what each bracketed number in the clues indicates? 9
29A 55. World's largest country with a four-letter name 4
30A 56. Underpinning 5
31A 57. Home of Columbus 4
32A 58. A single time 4
33A 59. Up in the air 5
34A 60. Zero 4
35A 61. "What a shame!" 3
36A 62. Test the weight of 4
37A 63. Backyard storage space 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Deer sir?"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male deer, especially an adult male red deer
  • Similar words include: hart, betray, grass
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Free trial version"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a visual presentation showing how something works
  • Similar words include: exhibit, demonstration, demonstrate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Caspian or Mediterranean"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
  • Similar words include: ocean
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "12. Designer ___ Boss"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that french poet and novelist and dramatist; leader of the romantic movement in france (1802-1885)
  • Similar words include: Victor Hugo, Victor-Marie Hugo
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HUGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "13. Typographical embellishment"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a short line at the end of the main strokes of a character
  • Similar words include: seriph
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SERIF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "14. Go across"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the complete duration of something
  • Similar words include: couple, sweep, cross
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "15. "Su-u-ure""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "16. Something green in a greenhouse"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that buildings for carrying on industrial labor
  • Similar words include: engraft, implant, flora
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLANT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "17. Half ___ (when the minute hand points down)"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the time that has elapsed
  • Similar words include: by, past tense, preceding
  • Opposite of: present, future
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "18. Popular board game adapted from India [1]"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a modern board game based on pachisi
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARCHEESI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "20. They quickly spread online"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one person to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation)
  • Similar words include: meme
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEMES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "21. "Soldier, stop!""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of inactivity following an interruption
  • Similar words include: check, game, hold
  • Opposite of: start
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HALT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "22. Page (through)"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants
  • Similar words include: flick, foliage, folio
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEAF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "23. Challenge for student drivers [2]"

15 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Metals in mines"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be mined
  • Similar words include: ore
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. Actor Stonestreet of "Modern Family""

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "32. Apt zodiac sign for Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in leo
  • Similar words include: Lion, Leo the Lion
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "33. Vitality"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that liveliness and energy
  • Similar words include: ginger, peppiness
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "34. Scoundrel's deeds"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing
  • Similar words include: dishonesty
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KNAVERY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "37. A pair"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
  • Similar words include: 2, deuce, ii
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TWO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "38. Card game whose name is something players cry"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "39. Assistant"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer
  • Similar words include: auxiliary, adjutant, aide-de-camp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIDE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "40. Anthropologist Margaret"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states anthropologist noted for her claims about adolescence and sexual behavior in polynesian cultures (1901-1978)
  • Similar words include: Margaret Mead, George Herbert Mead
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "41. Never stop having fun [3]"

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "46. "___ the night before Christmas ...""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "47. Word repeated in "___ ye, ___ ye!""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
  • Similar words include: try, learn, listen
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "48. Cube maker Erno"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "50. Of the highest importance ... or, when parsed differently, what each bracketed number in the clues indicates?"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having superior power and influence
  • Similar words include: preponderant, predominate, preponderating
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARAMOUNT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "55. World's largest country with a four-letter name"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a theocratic islamic republic in the middle east in western asia; iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as persia until 1935; rich in oil
  • Similar words include: Persia, Islamic Republic of Iran
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "56. Underpinning"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a relation that provides the foundation for something
  • Similar words include: cornerstone, base, fundament
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BASIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "57. Home of Columbus"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "58. A single time"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that on one occasion
  • Similar words include: erstwhile, formerly, in one case
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ONCE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "59. Up in the air"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that at or on or to the masthead or upper rigging of a ship
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALOFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "60. Zero"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a canonical hour that is the ninth hour of the day counting from sunrise
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "61. "What a shame!""

3 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
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "62. Test the weight of"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the property of being large in mass
  • Similar words include: heave up, ponderousness, heftiness
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "63. Backyard storage space"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an outbuilding with a single story; used for shelter or storage
  • Similar words include: slough, throw off, cast
  • Opposite of: persistent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Steamer or cruiser 4
2D 2. Oom-pah instrument 4
3D 3. Follower of New or teen 4
4D 4. Hidden snags 7
5D 5. Key to the right of "+" and "=" on a Mac keyboard 6
6D 6. What Taylor Swift calls the stages of her career 4
7D 7. 5x5-square crossword 4
8D 8. Frequently, in poetry 3
9D 9. Email winnower 10
10D 10. Effortlessness 4
11D 11. Tiny hill builders 4
12D 13. Characterize? 5
13D 14. Orate 5
14D 19. Nickname akin to Harry 3
15D 20. Compassion 5
16D 22. Den 4
17D 23. Short-term kind of store 5
18D 24. Sports locale 5
19D 25. Give a debriefing (to) 10
20D 26. Prime use for a crowbar 5
21D 27. Opposite of post- 3
22D 28. Starting to learn 5
23D 29. "Oh boy!" 5
24D 34. Watercraft for an Inuit 5
25D 35. Small bites 4
26D 36. Accessibility law inits. 3
27D 40. Leaves stranded 7
28D 42. Strong string 5
29D 43. What misers take to an extreme 6
30D 44. Bread maker's supply 5
31D 45. ___ Beesly, character who has the last line in the finale of "The Office" 3
32D 48. Civil uprising 4
33D 49. Caterer's containers 4
34D 50. Whitish 4
35D 51. Starting, timewise 4
36D 52. "This looks like trouble!" 4
37D 53. Number in a nonet 4
38D 54. Follower of pointy or pigeon 4
39D 56. Expression of contempt 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Steamer or cruiser"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a vessel that carries passengers or freight
  • Similar words include: embark, transport, send
  • Opposite of: disembark
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Oom-pah instrument"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the lowest brass wind instrument
  • Similar words include: bass horn, sousaphone
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUBA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Follower of New or teen"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Hidden snags"

7 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Key to the right of "+" and "=" on a Mac keyboard"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that remove or make invisible
  • Similar words include: cancel, blue-pencil, edit
  • Opposite of: record
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DELETE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. What Taylor Swift calls the stages of her career"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
  • Similar words include: geological era, epoch, earned run average
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. 5x5-square crossword"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very short skirt
  • Similar words include: miniskirt
  • Opposite of: midi
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MINI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Frequently, in poetry"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that many times at short intervals
  • Similar words include: frequently, ofttimes, often
  • Opposite of: infrequently, rarely
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Email winnower"

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Effortlessness"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort
  • Similar words include: still, relieve, alleviate
  • Opposite of: difficulty
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EASE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Tiny hill builders"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers
  • Similar words include: ant, pismire, emmet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "13. Characterize?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation
  • Similar words include: turn, magical spell, spell out
  • Opposite of: unspell
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPELL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "14. Orate"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that express in speech
  • Similar words include: verbalize, address, mouth
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPEAK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "19. Nickname akin to Harry"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "20. Compassion"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice
  • Similar words include: mercifulness, clemency
  • Opposite of: mercilessness
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MERCY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Den"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the habitation of wild animals
  • Similar words include: den
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "23. Short-term kind of store"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "24. Sports locale"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a particular environment or walk of life
  • Similar words include: stadium, orbit, sphere
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARENA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "25. Give a debriefing (to)"

10 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "26. Prime use for a crowbar"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rigid bar pivoted about a fulcrum
  • Similar words include: prise, pry, jimmy
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEVER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "27. Opposite of post-"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "28. Starting to learn"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "29. "Oh boy!""

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something considered choice to eat
  • Similar words include: kickshaw, dainty, treat
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOODY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. Watercraft for an Inuit"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small canoe consisting of a light frame made watertight with animal skins; used by eskimos
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KAYAK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "35. Small bites"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small drink of liquor
  • Similar words include: squeeze, twinge, tanginess
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NIPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "36. Accessibility law inits."

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an enzyme found in mammals that can catalyze the deamination of adenosine into inosine and ammonia
  • Similar words include: adenosine deaminase
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "40. Leaves stranded"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who is stranded (as on an island)
  • Similar words include: strand, maroon
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAROONS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "42. Strong string"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lightweight cord
  • Similar words include: entwine, enlace, interlace
  • Opposite of: untwine, untwist
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TWINE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "43. What misers take to an extreme"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous sun-loving low-growing evergreens of the genus armeria having round heads of pink or white flowers
  • Similar words include: parsimony, parsimoniousness, penny-pinching
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THRIFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "44. Bread maker's supply"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whiskey
  • Similar words include: barm
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YEAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "45. ___ Beesly, character who has the last line in the finale of "The Office""

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "48. Civil uprising"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a public act of violence by an unruly mob
  • Similar words include: howler, debauchery, orgy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "49. Caterer's containers"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
  • Similar words include: urn
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: URNS

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34D: "50. Whitish"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a wooden strip forming part of a fence
  • Similar words include: picket, wan, pallid
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PALE

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35D: "51. Starting, timewise"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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36D: "52. "This looks like trouble!""

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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37D: "53. Number in a nonet"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of eight and one
  • Similar words include: niner, club, IX
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NINE

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38D: "54. Follower of pointy or pigeon"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that walk so that the toes assume an indicated position or direction
  • Similar words include: toe, toenail
  • Opposite of: toeless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOED

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39D: "56. Expression of contempt"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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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

37 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

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Last updated: June 08, 2026 at 08:28 AM