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 (31 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (31 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. They might be settled atop stools | 7 |
| 2A | 8. Shell, say | 5 |
| 3A | 13. Places to put fliers | 8 |
| 4A | 15. Surgical specialty, informally | 5 |
| 5A | 16. A boxer's might knock you out | 9 |
| 6A | 18. Substitute for "etc." | 5 |
| 7A | 19. Begrudges | 6 |
| 8A | 20. Old auto company based in Lansing, Mich. | 3 |
| 9A | 22. Jazz drummer DeRosa | 4 |
| 10A | 23. One of the seven depicted in the 1995 thriller "Se7en" | 5 |
| 11A | 24. Daytime regulars | 9 |
| 12A | 26. What some prisoners earn, in brief | 4 |
| 13A | 27. Old black-and-white police autos, to Brits | 9 |
| 14A | 28. ___ weekend | 3 |
| 15A | 29. Walk on water? | 9 |
| 16A | 30. Top that screams "Look at me!" | 9 |
| 17A | 31. Clay-and-calcium-carbonate mix used in cement making | 9 |
| 18A | 32. "Lovely!" | 3 |
| 19A | 35. Chess puzzle challenge, maybe | 9 |
| 20A | 36. Make do | 4 |
| 21A | 37. Many an epithet | 9 |
| 22A | 38. Common con game | 5 |
| 23A | 39. Petite ___ (certain French partner) | 4 |
| 24A | 40. Epithet lead-in | 3 |
| 25A | 41. Bit of back-and-forth | 6 |
| 26A | 42. Farrow with a Pulitzer for his investigative journalism | 5 |
| 27A | 44. Eerie substance faked in 19th-century ghost hoaxes | 9 |
| 28A | 46. Bygone leaders | 5 |
| 29A | 47. Tourist nickname for a Southern mecca, to the chagrin of many locals | 8 |
| 30A | 48. Until, in Uruguay | 5 |
| 31A | 49. Destination for wagons, once | 7 |
Across Clues - Strategic Hints
1A: "1. They might be settled atop stools"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that small brightly colored stout-billed tropical bird having short weak wings
- Similar words include: barbet
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BARBETS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2A: "8. Shell, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that protective covering made of metal and used in combat
- Similar words include: armour
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARMOR
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3A: "13. Places to put fliers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a building where birds are kept
- Similar words include: volary, aviary, bird sanctuary
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVIARIES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4A: "15. Surgical specialty, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEURO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5A: "16. A boxer's might knock you out"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOGBREATH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6A: "18. Substitute for "etc.""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YADDA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7A: "19. Begrudges"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a feeling of grudging admiration and desire to have something that is possessed by another
- Similar words include: begrudge, enviousness, envy
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENVIES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8A: "20. Old auto company based in Lansing, Mich."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9A: "22. Jazz drummer DeRosa"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLEM
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10A: "23. One of the seven depicted in the 1995 thriller "Se7en""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves
- Similar words include: avaritia, avarice, rapacity
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GREED
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11A: "24. Daytime regulars"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOAPSTARS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12A: "26. What some prisoners earn, in brief"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GEDS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13A: "27. Old black-and-white police autos, to Brits"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PANDACARS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14A: "28. ___ weekend"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
- Similar words include: health club, watering hole, health spa
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15A: "29. Walk on water?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a temporary bridge for getting on and off a vessel at dockside
- Similar words include: gangboard, gangway
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GANGPLANK
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16A: "30. Top that screams "Look at me!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOUDSHIRT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17A: "31. Clay-and-calcium-carbonate mix used in cement making"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that metamorphic rock with approximately the same composition as marl
- Similar words include: marlite
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MARLSTONE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "32. "Lovely!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that extremely pleasing
- Similar words include: fabulous
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FAB
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "35. Chess puzzle challenge, maybe"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MATEINONE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20A: "36. Make do"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that brick that is laid sideways at the top of a wall
- Similar words include: header, make out, get by
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COPE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21A: "37. Many an epithet"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIRTYNAME
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22A: "38. Common con game"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a gambling card game of spanish origin; 3 or 4 cards are dealt face up and players bet that one of them will be matched before the others as the cards are dealt from the pack one at a time
- Similar words include: four-card monte, three-card monte
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MONTE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "39. Petite ___ (certain French partner)"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMIE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24A: "40. Epithet lead-in"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AKA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "41. Bit of back-and-forth"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that light teasing repartee
- Similar words include: jolly, josh, kid
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BANTER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26A: "42. Farrow with a Pulitzer for his investigative journalism"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RONAN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27A: "44. Eerie substance faked in 19th-century ghost hoaxes"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (spiritualism) a substance supposed to emanate from the body of the medium during a trance
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ECTOPLASM
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28A: "46. Bygone leaders"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a male monarch or emperor (especially of russia prior to 1917)
- Similar words include: czar, tzar, tsar
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSARS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29A: "47. Tourist nickname for a Southern mecca, to the chagrin of many locals"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOTLANTA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30A: "48. Until, in Uruguay"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HASTA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31A: "49. Destination for wagons, once"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THEWEST
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Down Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | 1. No-goodniks | 7 |
| 2D | 2. Sales job that Forbes magazine once dubbed "the original side hustle," informally | 7 |
| 3D | 3. Ancient collection of Hindu hymns | 7 |
| 4D | 4. Pampers | 6 |
| 5D | 5. Handled something poorly, say | 5 |
| 6D | 6. Gets even with? | 4 |
| 7D | 7. Tac preceder | 3 |
| 8D | 8. At least one | 3 |
| 9D | 9. Substance that undergoes change, as in a lab | 8 |
| 10D | 10. Magpie lookalike with black-and-white plumage | 7 |
| 11D | 11. Bosses (around) | 6 |
| 12D | 12. Gads about | 5 |
| 13D | 14. Figurative ability to withstand almost anything | 13 |
| 14D | 17. Canal blocker? | 9 |
| 15D | 21. Milky and iridescent | 7 |
| 16D | 24. Lizard predator of Africa | 9 |
| 17D | 25. Close call | 5 |
| 18D | 27. Swedish American model Porizkova | 7 |
| 19D | 29. Edward who wrote and illustrated "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" | 5 |
| 20D | 30. Foam designs, perhaps | 8 |
| 21D | 31. Berth places | 7 |
| 22D | 32. 19th-century German novelist Theodor | 7 |
| 23D | 33. Stressors for some H.S. seniors | 7 |
| 24D | 34. Accessory on a pub counter | 7 |
| 25D | 35. Brunch beverage | 6 |
| 26D | 36. Standard 1L course, informally | 6 |
| 27D | 37. Title for some fictional lords | 5 |
| 28D | 38. Sugar ___ | 5 |
| 29D | 41. Choice for the undecided | 4 |
| 30D | 43. Org. with a "Cryptographic Support Services" page on its website | 3 |
| 31D | 45. Little squirt | 3 |
Down Clues - Strategic Hints
1D: "1. No-goodniks"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BADEGGS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. Sales job that Forbes magazine once dubbed "the original side hustle," informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVONREP
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Ancient collection of Hindu hymns"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIGVEDA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Pampers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
- Similar words include: baby, child, babe
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BABIES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. Handled something poorly, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that to make a mistake or be incorrect
- Similar words include: stray, slip, drift
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERRED
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6D: "6. Gets even with?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that neckwear consisting of a long narrow piece of material worn (mostly by men) under a collar and tied in knot at the front
- Similar words include: connect, wed, link
- Opposite of: untie, disconnect
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. Tac preceder"
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!
8D: "8. At least one"
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!
9D: "9. Substance that undergoes change, as in a lab"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a chemical substance that is present at the start of a chemical reaction
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REACTANT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Magpie lookalike with black-and-white plumage"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MUDLARK
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11D: "11. Bosses (around)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed
- Similar words include: society, regulate, orderliness
- Opposite of: deregulate, disorder
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORDERS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12D: "12. Gads about"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- Similar words include: rove, stray, wander
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROAMS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13D: "14. Figurative ability to withstand almost anything"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STRONGSTOMACH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "17. Canal blocker?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that electro-acoustic transducer for converting electric signals into sounds; it is held over or inserted into the ear
- Similar words include: earphone, earpiece, phone
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEADPHONE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15D: "21. Milky and iridescent"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that having a play of lustrous rainbow colors
- Similar words include: opalescent, nacreous, iridescent
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPALINE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "24. Lizard predator of Africa"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SANDSNAKE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17D: "25. Close call"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events
- Similar words include: daunt, scare off, dash
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCARE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18D: "27. Swedish American model Porizkova"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAULINA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19D: "29. Edward who wrote and illustrated "The Gashlycrumb Tinies""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOREY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "30. Foam designs, perhaps"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LATTEART
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21D: "31. Berth places"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a fancy dock for small yachts and cabin cruisers
- Similar words include: marina
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MARINAS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22D: "32. 19th-century German novelist Theodor"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FONTANE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "33. Stressors for some H.S. seniors"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APTESTS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24D: "34. Accessory on a pub counter"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEERMAT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "35. Brunch beverage"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that evergreen australasian tree having white or silvery bark and young leaves and yellow flowers
- Similar words include: silver wattle, buck's fizz, Acacia dealbata
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIMOSA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "36. Standard 1L course, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CONLAW
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27D: "37. Title for some fictional lords"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DARTH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "38. Sugar ___"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that wood of any of various maple trees; especially the hard close-grained wood of the sugar maple; used especially for furniture and flooring
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAPLE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29D: "41. Choice for the undecided"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (used with count nouns) two considered together; the two
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOTH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30D: "43. Org. with a "Cryptographic Support Services" page on its website"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the united states cryptologic organization that coordinates and directs highly specialized activities to protect united states information systems and to produce foreign intelligence information
- Similar words include: National Security Agency
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NSA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31D: "45. Little squirt"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a small amount (especially of a drink)
- Similar words include: tot up, bambino, add
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOT
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
31 Across Clues
31 Down Clues
62 Total Clues
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