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 (29 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (45 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. 8' 4" | 7 |
| 2A | 8. 250,000 sheets | 6 |
| 3A | 14. Short piece of classical music | 8 |
| 4A | 15. Accessory for SpongeBob SquarePants | 6 |
| 5A | 16. Long-tongued animal | 8 |
| 6A | 17. Laudanum, e.g. | 6 |
| 7A | 18. Calif. M.L.B. team, on scoreboards | 3 |
| 8A | 19. Happening | 5 |
| 9A | 21. Collectively, the reigns of all English monarchs named George | 11 |
| 10A | 26. Grill, informally | 3 |
| 11A | 29. Bit of mining equipment | 7 |
| 12A | 30. It's not pretty | 7 |
| 13A | 32. Walt Disney's middle name | 5 |
| 14A | 34. Like a plane, informally | 4 |
| 15A | 35. System in which XL is smaller than L ... or a hint to interpreting the answers to the italicized clues | 13 |
| 16A | 40. Malarkey | 4 |
| 17A | 41. "Stompin' at the ___" (Benny Goodman standard) | 5 |
| 18A | 42. "Based on my research ..." | 7 |
| 19A | 46. ___ Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow | 7 |
| 20A | 50. Vibe (with) | 3 |
| 21A | 51. Superhuman strength, mind-reading, invisibility and four dozen other powers | 11 |
| 22A | 53. Vexing | 5 |
| 23A | 54. Title for a certain union member? | 3 |
| 24A | 55. Like cats and dogs | 6 |
| 25A | 58. Stall, e.g. | 8 |
| 26A | 63. Charge, in a way | 6 |
| 27A | 64. Loose, as floorboards | 8 |
| 28A | 65. ☐☐☐☐☐ ☐☐☐☐☐ | 6 |
| 29A | 66. Total on a chiliagon | 7 |
Across Clues - Strategic Hints
1A: "1. 8' 4""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any undertaking that is easy to do
- Similar words include: cinch, girth, picnic
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CINCHES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2A: "8. 250,000 sheets"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep
- Similar words include: aspiration, dream, pipe dream
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DREAMS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3A: "14. Short piece of classical music"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a short and simple sonata
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SONATINA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4A: "15. Accessory for SpongeBob SquarePants"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REDTIE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5A: "16. Long-tongued animal"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that toothless mammal of southern africa and asia having a body covered with horny scales and a long snout for feeding on ants and termites
- Similar words include: aardvark, echidna, pangolin
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTEATER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6A: "17. Laudanum, e.g."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a narcotic drug that contains opium or an opium derivative
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPIATE
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7A: "18. Calif. M.L.B. team, on scoreboards"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAA
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8A: "19. Happening"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that traveling by foot
- Similar words include: underway
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFOOT
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9A: "21. Collectively, the reigns of all English monarchs named George"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VIKINGSHIPS
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10A: "26. Grill, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BBQ
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11A: "29. Bit of mining equipment"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORECART
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12A: "30. It's not pretty"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that something very ugly and offensive
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EYESORE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13A: "32. Walt Disney's middle name"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that english essayist (1775-1834)
- Similar words include: Elia, Lamb, Charles Lamb
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELIAS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14A: "34. Like a plane, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TWOD
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15A: "35. System in which XL is smaller than L ... or a hint to interpreting
the answers to the italicized clues"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROMANNUMERALS
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16A: "40. Malarkey"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz
- Similar words include: swing, swing music
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JIVE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17A: "41. "Stompin' at the ___" (Benny Goodman standard)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a geographical region of historical importance; a former duchy in what is now southwestern france, western switzerland, and northwestern italy
- Similar words include: savoy cabbage
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAVOY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "42. "Based on my research ...""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ICANSAY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "46. ___ Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NATASHA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20A: "50. Vibe (with)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a colloid in a more solid form than a sol
- Similar words include: colloidal gel, mousse, gelatin
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GEL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21A: "51. Superhuman strength, mind-reading, invisibility and four dozen other powers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that anything that is owed to someone else
- Similar words include: indebtedness, liability, financial obligation
- Opposite of: asset
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIABILITIES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22A: "53. Vexing"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that causing irritation or annoyance
- Similar words include: pestiferous, vexatious, plaguey
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PESKY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "54. Title for a certain union member?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a form of address for a married woman
- Similar words include: Mrs., Mister, Mr
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MRS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24A: "55. Like cats and dogs"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the form of a word that is used to denote more than one
- Similar words include: plural form
- Opposite of: singular
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLURAL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "58. Stall, e.g."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAINTIME
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26A: "63. Charge, in a way"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that become converted into ions
- Similar words include: ionise
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IONIZE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27A: "64. Loose, as floorboards"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNNAILED
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28A: "65. ☐☐☐☐☐
☐☐☐☐☐"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: XBOXES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29A: "66. Total on a chiliagon"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that clothes dryer for drying and ironing laundry by passing it between two heavy heated rollers
- Similar words include: mangle, maul, cut up
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MANGLES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Down Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | 1. Nicolas Cage film set on a plane | 6 |
| 2D | 2. Amount measured in calories | 6 |
| 3D | 3. Highland refusal | 3 |
| 4D | 4. Org. that runs the "L" | 3 |
| 5D | 5. Alternative to a walk | 3 |
| 6D | 6. 67.5 deg. on a compass | 3 |
| 7D | 7. ___ Connor, the Terminator's target in "The Terminator" | 5 |
| 8D | 8. Wilted | 6 |
| 9D | 9. Peaceful state | 6 |
| 10D | 10. Make some alterations | 4 |
| 11D | 11. ___ minimum | 3 |
| 12D | 12. Cambridge sch. | 3 |
| 13D | 13. Get | 3 |
| 14D | 14. Sudden attack | 5 |
| 15D | 20. "Bah!" | 3 |
| 16D | 22. Workers who sing the opening number in "Frozen" | 6 |
| 17D | 23. Queen of the Pride Lands | 4 |
| 18D | 24. Friendly look | 4 |
| 19D | 25. Ending of seven country names | 4 |
| 20D | 26. Poke ___ | 4 |
| 21D | 27. Dudes | 4 |
| 22D | 28. End of a proof | 3 |
| 23D | 31. Patronize, as an Airbnb | 6 |
| 24D | 33. Questionable, in slang | 3 |
| 25D | 35. Side dish eaten with curry | 4 |
| 26D | 36. Roundish, say | 4 |
| 27D | 37. Salon job, informally | 4 |
| 28D | 38. Assessment, informally | 4 |
| 29D | 39. Side dish eaten with curry | 4 |
| 30D | 40. Some fancy footwork | 3 |
| 31D | 43. Dirtbag | 6 |
| 32D | 44. Parts of naves | 6 |
| 33D | 45. Animal in some traditional Tibetan races | 3 |
| 34D | 47. Like a fish out of water, e.g. | 6 |
| 35D | 48. Mercury's mythological counterpart | 6 |
| 36D | 49. Half-___ (subpar, in slang) | 5 |
| 37D | 52. "Dagnabbit!" | 5 |
| 38D | 53. Grand ___ | 4 |
| 39D | 55. Shots, informally | 3 |
| 40D | 56. Toss up? | 3 |
| 41D | 57. One, south of the border | 3 |
| 42D | 59. "Ballerina" star ___ de Armas | 3 |
| 43D | 60. You can stop right there! | 3 |
| 44D | 61. Remind too often | 3 |
| 45D | 62. Up to | 3 |
Down Clues - Strategic Hints
1D: "1. Nicolas Cage film set on a plane"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CONAIR
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. Amount measured in calories"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the process of taking food into the body through the mouth (as by eating)
- Similar words include: breathing in, inlet, uptake
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INTAKE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Highland refusal"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Org. that runs the "L""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CTA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. Alternative to a walk"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (baseball) a successful stroke in an athletic contest (especially in baseball)
- Similar words include: hitting, bump off, off
- Opposite of: miss
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HIT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6D: "6. 67.5 deg. on a compass"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the compass point midway between northeast and east
- Similar words include: east northeast
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. ___ Connor, the Terminator's target in "The Terminator""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (old testament) the wife of abraham and mother of isaac
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SARAH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8D: "8. Wilted"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that hanging down (as from exhaustion or weakness)
- Similar words include: sagging, drooping
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DROOPY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9D: "9. Peaceful state"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that freedom from activity (work or strain or responsibility)
- Similar words include: recumb, reside, lay
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REPOSE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Make some alterations"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting
- Similar words include: cut, edit out, blue-pencil
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDIT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11D: "11. ___ minimum"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12D: "12. Cambridge sch."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an engineering university in cambridge
- Similar words include: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13D: "13. Get"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located
- Similar words include: construe, control, image
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "14. Sudden attack"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an outburst resembling the discharge of firearms or the release of bombs
- Similar words include: burst, fusillade, volley
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SALVO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15D: "20. "Bah!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "22. Workers who sing the opening number in "Frozen""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who cuts and delivers ice
- Similar words include: hatchet man, iceman
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ICEMEN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17D: "23. Queen of the Pride Lands"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NALA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18D: "24. Friendly look"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
- Similar words include: smiling, smile, grinning
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GRIN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19D: "25. Ending of seven country names"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "26. Poke ___"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a round vessel that is open at the top; used chiefly for holding food or liquids
- Similar words include: stadium, bowling ball, pipe bowl
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOWL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21D: "27. Dudes"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BROS
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22D: "28. End of a proof"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a relativistic quantum theory of the electromagnetic interactions of photons and electrons and muons
- Similar words include: quantum electrodynamics
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: QED
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "31. Patronize, as an Airbnb"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAYAT
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24D: "33. Questionable, in slang"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that type genus of the suidae
- Similar words include: genus Sus
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SUS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "35. Side dish eaten with curry"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that grains used as food either unpolished or more often polished
- Similar words include: Elmer Reizenstein, Sir Tim Rice, Elmer Rice
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RICE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "36. Roundish, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it
- Similar words include: ovoid, oviform, prolate
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVAL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27D: "37. Salon job, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MANI
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "38. Assessment, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVAL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29D: "39. Side dish eaten with curry"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROTI
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30D: "40. Some fancy footwork"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that music in three-four time for dancing a jig
- Similar words include: gigue
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JIG
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31D: "43. Dirtbag"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar
- Similar words include: cheapness, tat, tackiness
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLEAZE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "44. Parts of naves"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a long narrow passage (as in a cave or woods)
- Similar words include: gangway, aisle
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AISLES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33D: "45. Animal in some traditional Tibetan races"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that large long-haired wild ox of tibet often domesticated
- Similar words include: yakety-yak, yack, chatter
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YAK
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34D: "47. Like a fish out of water, e.g."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with `like' or `as')
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIMILE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35D: "48. Mercury's mythological counterpart"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (greek mythology) messenger and herald of the gods; god of commerce and cunning and invention and theft; identified with roman mercury
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HERMES
Remember this word for future puzzles!
36D: "49. Half-___ (subpar, in slang)"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASSED
Remember this word for future puzzles!
37D: "52. "Dagnabbit!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BYGUM
Remember this word for future puzzles!
38D: "53. Grand ___"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRIX
Remember this word for future puzzles!
39D: "55. Shots, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a chest in which coins from the mint are held to await assay
- Similar words include: pyx, pyx chest, pix chest
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIX
Remember this word for future puzzles!
40D: "56. Toss up?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an easy return of a tennis ball in a high arc
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOB
Remember this word for future puzzles!
41D: "57. One, south of the border"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
42D: "59. "Ballerina" star ___ de Armas"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that mother of the ancient irish gods; sometimes identified with danu
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
43D: "60. You can stop right there!"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers
- Similar words include: lodge, auberge, hostel
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
44D: "61. Remind too often"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault
- Similar words include: hen-peck, scold, jade
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAG
Remember this word for future puzzles!
45D: "62. Up to"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIL
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
29 Across Clues
45 Down Clues
74 Total Clues
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