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 (33 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (43 clues)
- Down Clues - Detailed Hints
- Expert Solving Strategies
- Today's Puzzle Statistics
Today's Puzzle Difficulty: Challenging
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. Solicit with a goodie | 5 |
| 2A | 6. School support grps. | 4 |
| 3A | 10. Egyptian cobra | 3 |
| 4A | 13. Well-informed | 5 |
| 5A | 14. Teaser, for short | 5 |
| 6A | 15. Word before Kim, Wayne or Nas X in hip-hop names | 3 |
| 7A | 16. Low red card in a deck | 11 |
| 8A | 18. George Gershwin's lyricist brother | 3 |
| 9A | 19. Window shades | 6 |
| 10A | 20. Follow orders | 4 |
| 11A | 21. Locomotives, to kids | 14 |
| 12A | 25. Comic figure at a circus | 5 |
| 13A | 26. "Impressive!" | 3 |
| 14A | 27. Stir up, as waters | 4 |
| 15A | 28. "The worst!" | 9 |
| 16A | 34. ___-backward | 3 |
| 17A | 35. Walk wearily | 7 |
| 18A | 37. ___-Magnon (early human) | 3 |
| 19A | 38. City and its surroundings | 9 |
| 20A | 40. German refusal | 4 |
| 21A | 41. Alternative to .com or .edu | 3 |
| 22A | 42. Ridiculous | 5 |
| 23A | 43. "Don't mention it — it was easy" | 14 |
| 24A | 50. "Just doin' my job" | 4 |
| 25A | 51. Insect with pincers | 6 |
| 26A | 52. X, for a sorority | 3 |
| 27A | 53. "I need to use the bathroom" ... or what the shaded squares spell? | 11 |
| 28A | 58. Skirt feature | 3 |
| 29A | 59. Decorations around the United Nations | 5 |
| 30A | 60. "Sauer" hot dog topping | 5 |
| 31A | 61. Triage sites, for short | 3 |
| 32A | 62. Mascara coats one | 4 |
| 33A | 63. Full of know-how | 5 |
Across Clues - Strategic Hints
1A: "1. Solicit with a goodie"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that dispose or incline or entice to
- Similar words include: charm, influence, entice
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEMPT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2A: "6. School support grps."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PTAS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3A: "10. Egyptian cobra"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that of southern europe; similar to but smaller than the adder
- Similar words include: Vipera aspis, Egyptian cobra, Naja haje
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASP
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4A: "13. Well-informed"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (sometimes followed by `of') having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception
- Similar words include: cognizant, mindful, cognisant
- Opposite of: unaware, unmindful
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AWARE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5A: "14. Teaser, for short"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PROMO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6A: "15. Word before Kim, Wayne or Nas X in hip-hop names"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIL
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7A: "16. Low red card in a deck"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TWOOFHEARTS
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8A: "18. George Gershwin's lyricist brother"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a militant organization of irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive british forces from northern ireland and achieve a united independent ireland
- Similar words include: Provisional Irish Republican Army, Irish Republican Army, ire
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRA
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9A: "19. Window shades"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that people who have severe visual impairments, considered as a group
- Similar words include: subterfuge, screen, blind
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLINDS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10A: "20. Follow orders"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that be obedient to
- Opposite of: disobey
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBEY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11A: "21. Locomotives, to kids"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHOOCHOOTRAINS
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12A: "25. Comic figure at a circus"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a rude or vulgar fool
- Similar words include: goofball, clown around, goof
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOWN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13A: "26. "Impressive!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that express admiration and pleasure by uttering `ooh' or `aah'
- Similar words include: aah
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OOH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14A: "27. Stir up, as waters"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that be agitated
- Similar words include: moil, rile, boil
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROIL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15A: "28. "The worst!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THISSUCKS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16A: "34. ___-backward"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
- Similar words include: derriere, backside, tail end
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17A: "35. Walk wearily"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that walk or tramp about
- Similar words include: shlep
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRAIPSE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "37. ___-Magnon (early human)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that electronic equipment that provides visual images of varying electrical quantities
- Similar words include: scope, oscilloscope, cathode-ray oscilloscope
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CRO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "38. City and its surroundings"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: METROAREA
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20A: "40. German refusal"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEIN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21A: "41. Alternative to .com or .edu"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORG
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22A: "42. Ridiculous"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a word used for misbehaving children
- Similar words include: punch-drunk, light-headed, empty-headed
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SILLY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "43. "Don't mention it — it was easy""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOTROUBLEATALL
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24A: "50. "Just doin' my job""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITRY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "51. Insect with pincers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of numerous insects of the order dermaptera having elongate bodies and slender many-jointed antennae and a pair of large pincers at the rear of the abdomen
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EARWIG
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26A: "52. X, for a sorority"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the circulating life energy that in chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things; in traditional chinese medicine the balance of negative and positive forms in the body is believed to be essential for good health
- Similar words include: khi, qi, ki
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHI
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27A: "53. "I need to use the bathroom" ... or what the shaded squares spell?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NATURECALLS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28A: "58. Skirt feature"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the edge of a piece of cloth; especially the finished edge that has been doubled under and stitched down
- Similar words include: ahem
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEM
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29A: "59. Decorations around the United Nations"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that emblem usually consisting of a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design
- Similar words include: fleur-de-lis, ease off, pin
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLAGS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30A: "60. "Sauer" hot dog topping"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that offensive term for a person of german descent
- Similar words include: Jerry, Krauthead, Hun
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KRAUT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31A: "61. Triage sites, for short"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs with yttrium
- Similar words include: Er, ER, atomic number 68
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32A: "62. Mascara coats one"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of the short curved hairs that grow from the edges of the eyelids
- Similar words include: strap, slash, flog
- Opposite of: unlash
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LASH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33A: "63. Full of know-how"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the cognitive condition of someone who understands
- Similar words include: understanding, comprehend, dig
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAVVY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Down Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | 1. Butterfly on the ankle, say, informally | 3 |
| 2D | 2. "Gross!" | 3 |
| 3D | 3. Chinese revolutionary | 3 |
| 4D | 4. Football all-star game | 7 |
| 5D | 5. Cookware coating | 6 |
| 6D | 6. National museum in Madrid | 5 |
| 7D | 7. Trunk for a sculptor to sculpt | 5 |
| 8D | 8. Fig. from an out-of-order ATM? | 3 |
| 9D | 9. ...---... in Morse | 3 |
| 10D | 10. Cover story, in court | 5 |
| 11D | 11. Sound that warns of a tornado | 5 |
| 12D | 12. What coins are exchanged for at an arcade | 5 |
| 13D | 14. Phnom ___, Cambodia's capital | 4 |
| 14D | 17. Kool-Aid rival | 3 |
| 15D | 20. Site of Pearl Harbor | 4 |
| 16D | 21. Not far away | 5 |
| 17D | 22. Lift | 5 |
| 18D | 23. Throw (out) | 4 |
| 19D | 24. Valentine's Day flower | 4 |
| 20D | 25. Stow tightly, with "in" | 4 |
| 21D | 28. Cigarette substance | 3 |
| 22D | 29. Move in a hurry, old-style | 3 |
| 23D | 30. Craft brew designation letters | 3 |
| 24D | 31. Medium-sized battery | 5 |
| 25D | 32. Filtered food for whales | 5 |
| 26D | 33. PlayStation maker | 4 |
| 27D | 35. Matador charger | 4 |
| 28D | 36. Pasta sauce brand | 4 |
| 29D | 39. Golfer McIlroy | 4 |
| 30D | 40. Big U.S./Canada falls | 7 |
| 31D | 42. (The) boondocks | 6 |
| 32D | 43. Specialty | 5 |
| 33D | 44. Catchall survey option | 5 |
| 34D | 45. Cuts at the margins | 5 |
| 35D | 46. Apps undergoing testing | 5 |
| 36D | 47. "Sometimes you just gotta ___" | 5 |
| 37D | 48. Flubs | 4 |
| 38D | 49. Slack-jawed feeling | 3 |
| 39D | 53. Grp. for the Jets and Jaguars | 3 |
| 40D | 54. In the style of | 3 |
| 41D | 55. Bathroom, informally | 3 |
| 42D | 56. Sweetie, to Brits | 3 |
| 43D | 57. Total dump | 3 |
Down Clues - Strategic Hints
1D: "1. Butterfly on the ankle, say, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar
- Similar words include: sleaze, cheapness, tackiness
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. "Gross!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EWW
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Chinese revolutionary"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of many body compounds (e.g., epinephrine and norepinephrine and serotonin)
- Similar words include: monoamine oxidase, Mao Zedong, Mao Tsetung
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Football all-star game"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PROBOWL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. Cookware coating"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a material used to coat cooking utensils and in industrial applications where sticking is to be avoided
- Similar words include: polytetrafluoroethylene
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEFLON
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6D: "6. National museum in Madrid"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRADO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. Trunk for a sculptor to sculpt"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the body excluding the head and neck and limbs
- Similar words include: trunk, body
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TORSO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8D: "8. Fig. from an out-of-order ATM?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9D: "9. ...---... in Morse"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an internationally recognized distress signal in radio code
- Similar words include: sol, so, soh
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Cover story, in court"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (law) a defense by an accused person purporting to show that he or she could not have committed the crime in question
- Similar words include: exculpation, excuse, self-justification
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALIBI
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11D: "11. Sound that warns of a tornado"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a sea nymph (part woman and part bird) supposed to lure sailors to destruction on the rocks where the nymphs lived
- Similar words include: Delilah, femme fatale, enchantress
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIREN
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12D: "12. What coins are exchanged for at an arcade"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
- Similar words include: work, sport, drama
- Opposite of: tightness
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLAYS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13D: "14. Phnom ___, Cambodia's capital"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PENH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "17. Kool-Aid rival"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HIC
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15D: "20. Site of Pearl Harbor"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an island of central hawaii (between molokai and kauai); the chief island of the state
- Similar words include: Oahu Island
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAHU
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "21. Not far away"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the temporal end; the concluding time
- Similar words include: close-fitting, conclusion, secretive
- Opposite of: open, distant
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOSE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17D: "22. Lift"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that lifting device for raising heavy or cumbersome objects
- Similar words include: wind, lift, run up
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOIST
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18D: "23. Throw (out)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the act of flipping a coin
- Similar words include: cast out, jactitate, discard
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOSS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19D: "24. Valentine's Day flower"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of many shrubs of the genus rosa that bear roses
- Similar words include: climb up, rose wine, roseate
- Opposite of: set, wane
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROSE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "25. Stow tightly, with "in""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that crowd or pack to capacity
- Similar words include: ram, mug up, drum
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CRAM
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21D: "28. Cigarette substance"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue
- Similar words include: mariner, seaman, sea dog
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAR
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22D: "29. Move in a hurry, old-style"
Solving Hints:
- Similar words include: rush, race, rush along
- Opposite of: linger
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HIE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "30. Craft brew designation letters"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IPA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24D: "31. Medium-sized battery"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CCELL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "32. Filtered food for whales"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that shrimp-like planktonic crustaceans; major source of food for e.g. baleen whales
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KRILL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "33. PlayStation maker"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SONY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27D: "35. Matador charger"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TORO
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "36. Pasta sauce brand"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAGU
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29D: "39. Golfer McIlroy"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RORY
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30D: "40. Big U.S./Canada falls"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that waterfall in canada is the horseshoe falls; in the united states it is the american falls
- Similar words include: Niagara Falls, Niagara River
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NIAGARA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31D: "42. (The) boondocks"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an implement consisting of a length of wood
- Similar words include: bond, marijuana cigarette, stay
- Opposite of: move, dislodge
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STICKS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "43. Specialty"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it
- Similar words include: recession, corner, ecological niche
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NICHE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33D: "44. Catchall survey option"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied; - the white queen
- Similar words include: former, early
- Opposite of: same
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OTHER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34D: "45. Cuts at the margins"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a state of arrangement or appearance
- Similar words include: trim down, crop, prune
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRIMS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35D: "46. Apps undergoing testing"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the 2nd letter of the greek alphabet
- Similar words include: beta, genus Beta, Beta
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BETAS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
36D: "47. "Sometimes you just gotta ___""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the sound of laughing
- Similar words include: joke, express joy, express mirth
- Opposite of: cry
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAUGH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
37D: "48. Flubs"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that to make a mistake or be incorrect
- Similar words include: slip, stray, err
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERRS
Remember this word for future puzzles!
38D: "49. Slack-jawed feeling"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration
- Similar words include: fear, veneration, reverence
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AWE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
39D: "53. Grp. for the Jets and Jaguars"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NFL
Remember this word for future puzzles!
40D: "54. In the style of"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
41D: "55. Bathroom, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
- Similar words include: can, lavatory, toilet
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAV
Remember this word for future puzzles!
42D: "56. Sweetie, to Brits"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LUV
Remember this word for future puzzles!
43D: "57. Total dump"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid
- Similar words include: pigpen, hordeolum, eye infection
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STY
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
33 Across Clues
43 Down Clues
76 Total Clues
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