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Wednesday, May 13, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 13, 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: Tricky

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. Uber alternative 4
2A 5. The class of '26, at the beginning of '26 3
3A 8. Hosp. triage specialists 6
4A 14. One acting on impulse? 4
5A 15. Wasabi-coated tidbit, maybe 3
6A 16. Pittsburgh Pirates mascot 6
7A 17. *Peers 8
8A 19. Order to relax 6
9A 20. Group of reps 3
10A 21. Back-comb, in a way 5
11A 23. ___ mater 4
12A 24. *Number of years between Summer Olympics 12
13A 27. Brews 6
14A 30. Heated competition? 4
15A 31. Kilauea output 4
16A 32. Some porcelain pieces 5
17A 34. Shiba ___ (dog breed) 3
18A 37. *Number of Supreme Court justices 15
19A 41. Ethane or methane 3
20A 42. Belittle 5
21A 43. Conscious of systemic societal problems 4
22A 44. Big inits. in frozen desserts 4
23A 45. They're adjusted when truing a bicycle wheel 6
24A 47. *Guns N' Roses guitarist 12
25A 52. Beauty supply chain 4
26A 53. "Swell!" 5
27A 54. Under the weather 3
28A 57. Jackal-headed Egyptian deity 6
29A 60. What you'd need to press to make the starred clues and their answers match 8
30A 62. It was discovered by the Curies 6
31A 63. Kind of line at the beach 3
32A 64. Try a new course, say 4
33A 65. TikTok phenomena 6
34A 66. Guileful 3
35A 67. Drink with junmai and nigori variants 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Uber alternative"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a car driven by a person whose job is to take passengers where they want to go in exchange for money
  • Similar words include: cab, taxicab, hack
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAXI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. The class of '26, at the beginning of '26"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element of the alkali metal group; turns yellow in air; occurs in celestite and strontianite
  • Similar words include: atomic number 38, strontium, Sr
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "8. Hosp. triage specialists"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. One acting on impulse?"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that long nerve fiber that conducts away from the cell body of the neuron
  • Similar words include: axone
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AXON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Wasabi-coated tidbit, maybe"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that seed of a pea plant used for food
  • Similar words include: pea plant
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Pittsburgh Pirates mascot"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARROT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. *Peers"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Order to relax"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Group of reps"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Back-comb, in a way"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone given to teasing (as by mocking or stirring curiosity)
  • Similar words include: razz, coquette, vamper
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEASE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. ___ mater"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. *Number of years between Summer Olympics"

12 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Brews"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a steep place (as on a hill)
  • Similar words include: steep, engross, infuse
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEEPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "30. Heated competition?"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a meeting at which a number of athletic contests are held
  • Similar words include: play, contact, get together
  • Opposite of: diverge
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Kilauea output"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that rock that in its molten form (as magma) issues from volcanos; lava is what magma is called when it reaches the surface
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAVA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "32. Some porcelain pieces"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a communist nation that covers a vast territory in eastern asia; the most populous country in the world
  • Similar words include: Red China, Nationalist China, mainland China
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHINA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Shiba ___ (dog breed)"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "37. *Number of Supreme Court justices"

15 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "41. Ethane or methane"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of matter distinguished from the solid and liquid states by: relatively low density and viscosity; relatively great expansion and contraction with changes in pressure and temperature; the ability to diffuse readily; and the spontaneous tendency to become distributed uniformly throughout any container
  • Similar words include: boast, gun, accelerator pedal
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Belittle"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of
  • Similar words include: humiliate, mortify, humble
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABASE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Conscious of systemic societal problems"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be awake, be alert, be there
  • Similar words include: stir up, awake, wake
  • Opposite of: fall asleep, cause to sleep
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WOKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "44. Big inits. in frozen desserts"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "45. They're adjusted when truing a bicycle wheel"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
  • Similar words include: wheel spoke, spoke, radius
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPOKES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "47. *Guns N' Roses guitarist"

12 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "52. Beauty supply chain"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "53. "Swell!""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "54. Under the weather"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
  • Similar words include: badly, complaint, sick
  • Opposite of: well
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ILL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "57. Jackal-headed Egyptian deity"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that egyptian god of tombs and ruler of the underworld; usually depicted as a man with the head of a jackal
  • Similar words include: Anpu
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANUBIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "60. What you'd need to press to make the starred clues and their answers match"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "62. It was discovered by the Curies"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores
  • Similar words include: Ra, atomic number 88
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RADIUM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "63. Kind of line at the beach"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a browning of the skin resulting from exposure to the rays of the sun
  • Similar words include: tangent, suntan, topaz
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "64. Try a new course, say"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that turn sharply; change direction abruptly
  • Similar words include: swerve, trend, slue
  • Opposite of: back
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VEER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "65. TikTok phenomena"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a general direction in which something tends to move
  • Similar words include: drift, veer, trend
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRENDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "66. Guileful"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by skill in deception
  • Similar words include: foxy, dodgy, knavish
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "67. Drink with junmai and nigori variants"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reason for wanting something done
  • Similar words include: rice beer, interest, saki
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Array behind the counter at a tavern 4
2D 2. Wheel assembly component 4
3D 3. Strike from a list 4
4D 4. Important contacts 3
5D 5. Many fast pitches 6
6D 6. Majestic 5
7D 7. Stark daughter played by Sophie Turner on "Game of Thrones" 5
8D 8. Fuel economy org. 3
9D 9. Tattletale 3
10D 10. Imagined while sleeping 6
11D 11. Toothbrush handle? 5
12D 12. Cranberry-tinged cocktail 5
13D 13. Criminally good deal 5
14D 18. "Quit it!" 4
15D 22. Its fur might trim a royal robe 6
16D 24. College faculty head 4
17D 25. Email status 4
18D 26. Opposite of "nah" 4
19D 27. Real grind 4
20D 28. Seville snack 4
21D 29. Holiday preceders 4
22D 32. Handout with a kids' menu 6
23D 33. Bulls and bucks 3
24D 34. Avoids injury, say 4
25D 35. Personification of victory 4
26D 36. Wields 4
27D 38. Formal accord 4
28D 39. Actress Jacobson of "Broad City" 4
29D 40. Furry "Star Wars" creature 4
30D 44. Container at an airport checkpoint, for short 6
31D 45. Smooth and glossy 6
32D 46. Seminar head, informally 4
33D 47. Ice cream purchase 5
34D 48. Forearm-related, in a way 5
35D 49. Practice piece 5
36D 50. Tree "houses" 5
37D 51. Palace, in Hindi 5
38D 54. Retail outlet with a store map at its entrance 4
39D 55. Garlic relative 4
40D 56. Strings of yore 4
41D 58. T-shaped birth control insert 3
42D 59. Texting inits. 3
43D 61. Fixtures at sports bars 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Array behind the counter at a tavern"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (military) signal to turn the lights out
  • Similar words include: beg, hydrant, tap
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Wheel assembly component"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a shaft on which a wheel rotates
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AXLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Strike from a list"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Important contacts"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency in the department of justice that enforces laws and regulations for the admission of foreign-born persons to the united states
  • Similar words include: In, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Hoosier State
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Many fast pitches"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that plausible glib talk (especially useful to a salesperson)
  • Similar words include: patter, spiel, play
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPIELS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Majestic"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
  • Similar words include: royal, imperial, majestic
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REGAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Stark daughter played by Sophie Turner on "Game of Thrones""

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Fuel economy org."

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment
  • Similar words include: Environmental Protection Agency
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EPA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Tattletale"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse
  • Similar words include: dirty dog, lowlife, git
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Imagined while sleeping"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy
  • Similar words include: woolgather, dream, stargaze
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DREAMT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Toothbrush handle?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Cranberry-tinged cocktail"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Criminally good deal"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an advantageous purchase
  • Similar words include: slip, bargain, buy
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. "Quit it!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the event of something ending
  • Similar words include: cease, stop consonant, period
  • Opposite of: begin, continuant consonant
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Its fur might trim a royal robe"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the expensive white fur of the ermine
  • Similar words include: shorttail weasel, Mustela erminea
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERMINE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. College faculty head"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an administrator in charge of a division of a university or college
  • Similar words include: James Byron Dean, James Dean, doyen
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. Email status"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 100 senti equal 1 kroon in estonia
  • Similar words include: get off, charge, send off
  • Opposite of: unsent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SENT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Opposite of "nah""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not only so, but
  • Similar words include: yea
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YEAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. Real grind"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that work doggedly or persistently
  • Similar words include: slug, pad, keep one's shoulder to the wheel
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "28. Seville snack"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and pipturus albidus
  • Similar words include: tapa bark, tappa bark, tappa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAPA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "29. Holiday preceders"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) adam's wife in judeo-christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; god created eve from adam's rib and placed adam and eve in the garden of eden
  • Similar words include: evening, eventide, even
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. Handout with a kids' menu"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that writing implement consisting of a colored stick of composition wax used for writing and drawing
  • Similar words include: wax crayon
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CRAYON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Bulls and bucks"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very light colorless element that is one of the six inert gasses; the most difficult gas to liquefy; occurs in economically extractable amounts in certain natural gases (as those found in texas and kansas)
  • Similar words include: atomic number 2, helium, he
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. Avoids injury, say"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "35. Personification of victory"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) winged goddess of victory; identified with roman victoria
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NIKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "36. Wields"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of using
  • Similar words include: habit, purpose, usage
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "38. Formal accord"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a written agreement between two states or sovereigns
  • Similar words include: accord, treaty
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PACT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "39. Actress Jacobson of "Broad City""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "40. Furry "Star Wars" creature"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "44. Container at an airport checkpoint, for short"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "45. Smooth and glossy"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light
  • Similar words include: silky, sleek, slick
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SATINY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "46. Seminar head, informally"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who is a member of the faculty at a college or university
  • Similar words include: professor
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PROF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "47. Ice cream purchase"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a united states liquid unit equal to 32 fluid ounces; four quarts equal one gallon
  • Similar words include: dry quart
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: QUART

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "48. Forearm-related, in a way"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that relating to or near the ulna
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ULNAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "49. Practice piece"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a short composition for a solo instrument; intended as an exercise or to demonstrate technical virtuosity
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETUDE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "50. Tree "houses""

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a structure in which animals lay eggs or give birth to their young
  • Similar words include: nestle, draw close, nest
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NESTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "51. Palace, in Hindi"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "54. Retail outlet with a store map at its entrance"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "55. Garlic relative"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that plant having a large slender white bulb and flat overlapping dark green leaves; used in cooking; believed derived from the wild allium ampeloprasum
  • Similar words include: Allium porrum, scallion
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEEK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "56. Strings of yore"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a harp used by ancient greeks for accompaniment
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LYRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "58. T-shaped birth control insert"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that contraceptive device consisting of a piece of bent plastic or metal that is inserted through the vagina into the uterus
  • Similar words include: intrauterine device
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IUD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

42D: "59. Texting inits."

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a grey lustrous metallic element of the rare earth group; is used in special alloys; occurs in monazite and bastnasite
  • Similar words include: Sm, samarium, Master of Science
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

43D: "61. Fixtures at sports bars"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that broadcasting visual images of stationary or moving objects; ; - ernie kovacs
  • Similar words include: telly, television set, TV
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TVS

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

35 Across Clues
43 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

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Last updated: May 13, 2026 at 06:37 AM

Sunday, February 22, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers February 22, 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: Tricky

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. Ease up 5
2A 6. Setting for a landscape 6
3A 12. Like pickles, but not cucumbers 6
4A 18. Turn up 6
5A 20. If all goes perfectly 6
6A 21. Certain head jurors 7
7A 23. Like some 401(k) contributions 6
8A 24. The Ten Plagues 14
9A 26. Freeze 4
10A 27. Bolo, e.g. 3
11A 29. Farmyard call 3
12A 30. Print-ready 6
13A 31. Sodom and Gomorrah 16
14A 37. Literary fairy queen 3
15A 38. Outpouring of Pandora's box 4
16A 39. Erelong 4
17A 40. Part of T.G.I.F.: Abbr. 3
18A 41. Singsong syllable 3
19A 43. Season ticket holders, presumably 4
20A 45. Shoofly desserts 4
21A 46. Hopeless from the start, for short 3
22A 48. Janis ___, "At Seventeen" singer 3
23A 49. Samson and Delilah 17
24A 55. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Mel 3
25A 56. Fix 3
26A 57. Calendar notation: Abbr. 4
27A 58. Diamond stats 4
28A 59. Certain trig functions 5
29A 61. So-called "Hollywood of the South" 7
30A 64. Big name in bubbly 4
31A 65. Painter's medium 3
32A 66. Noah's Ark 21
33A 74. Nonclerical 3
34A 75. Get the better of 4
35A 76. Like Constantinople, in 1930 7
36A 77. Interior style 5
37A 80. Ballet bend 4
38A 81. Europa, Ganymede or Callisto vis-à-vis Jupiter 4
39A 83. The third 3
40A 84. Ruckus 3
41A 85. Garden of Eden 17
42A 91. "Scrumdiddlyumptious!" 3
43A 92. Crew need 3
44A 93. Get the ___ (finally become aware) 4
45A 94. Ingredient in some gels 4
46A 95. Designated H.M.O. doctor, in brief 3
47A 96. Vintage film channel 3
48A 98. Letters on a crucifix 4
49A 99. Word with rabbit or all 4
50A 101. Sully 3
51A 103. Moses Parting the Red Sea 16
52A 109. Rush uncontrolledly 6
53A 111. Most common last name in Somalia 3
54A 112. Pressure meas. 3
55A 113. It's verboten 4
56A 114. Jonah and the Whale 14
57A 119. Title woman in a 1965 Beach Boys hit 6
58A 121. Took turns 7
59A 122. Brimless topper 6
60A 123. One bringing home the bacon 6
61A 124. Surprisingly enough 6
62A 125. Bars, legally 6
63A 126. Follows 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Ease up"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make less active or intense
  • Similar words include: slake, slack off, die away
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Setting for a landscape"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a heavy, closely woven fabric (used for clothing or chairs or sails or tents)
  • Similar words include: analyze, sail, canvas tent
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CANVAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "12. Like pickles, but not cucumbers"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that being or containing an acid; of a solution having an excess of hydrogen atoms (having a ph of less than 7)
  • Similar words include: acid, acidulent, acidulous
  • Opposite of: alkaline
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACIDIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "18. Turn up"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that discover the location of; determine the place of; find by searching or examining
  • Similar words include: turn up, site, situate
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOCATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "20. If all goes perfectly"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "21. Certain head jurors"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who exercises control over workers
  • Similar words include: honcho, foreman, boss
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOREMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "23. Like some 401(k) contributions"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "24. The Ten Plagues"

14 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEATHONTHENILE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "26. Freeze"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "27. Bolo, e.g."

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

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, marry, attach
  • Opposite of: untie, disconnect
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "29. Farmyard call"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cry made by sheep
  • Similar words include: blate, blat, bleat
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BAA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "30. Print-ready"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "31. Sodom and Gomorrah"

16 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "37. Literary fairy queen"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "38. Outpouring of Pandora's box"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
  • Similar words include: ailment, complaint, ill
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ILLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "39. Erelong"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that at another time
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "40. Part of T.G.I.F.: Abbr."

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sixth day of the week; the fifth working day
  • Similar words include: Friday
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FRI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "41. Singsong syllable"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "43. Season ticket holders, presumably"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a device for creating a current of air by movement of a surface or surfaces
  • Similar words include: rooter, buff, fan
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FANS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "45. Shoofly desserts"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that dish baked in pastry-lined pan often with a pastry top
  • Similar words include: Proto-Indo European, pie, PIE
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "46. Hopeless from the start, for short"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "48. Janis ___, "At Seventeen" singer"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "49. Samson and Delilah"

17 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DANGEROUSLIAISONS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "55. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Mel"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "56. Fix"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that gear (including necessary machinery) for a particular enterprise
  • Similar words include: turnout, fishing rig, trailer truck
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "57. Calendar notation: Abbr."

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "58. Diamond stats"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a run that is the result of the batter's performance
  • Similar words include: run batted in, rbi
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RBIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "59. Certain trig functions"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that ratio of the length of the side opposite the given angle to the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle
  • Similar words include: goof, sin, sine
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SINES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "61. So-called "Hollywood of the South""

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that state capital and largest city of georgia; chief commercial center of the southeastern united states; was plundered and burned by sherman's army during the american civil war
  • Similar words include: capital of Georgia, battle of Atlanta
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATLANTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "64. Big name in bubbly"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "65. Painter's medium"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slippery or viscous liquid or liquefiable substance not miscible with water
  • Similar words include: crude oil, embrocate, rock oil
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "66. Noah's Ark"

21 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____________________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WHERETHEWILDTHINGSARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "74. Nonclerical"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a narrative song with a recurrent refrain
  • Similar words include: ballad, position, set
  • Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "75. Get the better of"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a salt deposit that animals regularly lick
  • Similar words include: biff, bat, figure out
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LICK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "76. Like Constantinople, in 1930"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that assign a new name to
  • Similar words include: rename
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RENAMED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "77. Interior style"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that decoration consisting of the layout and furnishings of a livable interior
  • Similar words include: interior decoration
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DECOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "80. Ballet bend"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "81. Europa, Ganymede or Callisto vis-à-vis Jupiter"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the natural satellite of the earth
  • Similar words include: daydream, moonlight, synodic month
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "83. The third"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
  • Similar words include: triad, tierce, trine
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: III

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40A: "84. Ruckus"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rapid active commotion
  • Similar words include: fuss, flurry, stir
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41A: "85. Garden of Eden"

17 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THEAGEOFINNOCENCE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

42A: "91. "Scrumdiddlyumptious!""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

43A: "92. Crew need"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

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!

44A: "93. Get the ___ (finally become aware)"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a written proposal or reminder
  • Similar words include: memoranda, memorandum
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

45A: "94. Ingredient in some gels"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that succulent plants having rosettes of leaves usually with fiber like hemp and spikes of showy flowers; found chiefly in africa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

46A: "95. Designated H.M.O. doctor, in brief"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who helps in identifying or preventing or treating illness or disability
  • Similar words include: phencyclidine, caregiver, health care provider
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PCP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

47A: "96. Vintage film channel"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

48A: "98. Letters on a crucifix"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

49A: "99. Word with rabbit or all"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
  • Similar words include: capitulum, pinna, ear
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

50A: "101. Sully"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the month following february and preceding april
  • Similar words include: impair, March, mutilate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

51A: "103. Moses Parting the Red Sea"

16 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

52A: "109. Rush uncontrolledly"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the particular occupation for which you are trained
  • Similar words include: calling, vocation, life history
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAREER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

53A: "111. Most common last name in Somalia"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942)
  • Similar words include: Cassius Marcellus Clay, Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

54A: "112. Pressure meas."

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of pressure
  • Similar words include: pounds per square inch
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

55A: "113. It's verboten"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

56A: "114. Jonah and the Whale"

14 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THEGREATESCAPE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

57A: "119. Title woman in a 1965 Beach Boys hit"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

58A: "121. Took turns"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that turn on or around an axis or a center
  • Similar words include: turn out, revolve, rotate
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROTATED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

59A: "122. Brimless topper"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small skullcap; formerly worn by schoolboys and college freshmen
  • Similar words include: beany
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEANIE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

60A: "123. One bringing home the bacon"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who earn wages in return for their labor
  • Similar words include: wage earner
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EARNER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

61A: "124. Surprisingly enough"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

62A: "125. Bars, legally"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

63A: "126. Follows"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that paying particular notice (as to children or helpless people)
  • Similar words include: attentiveness, listen, heed
  • Opposite of: inattentiveness
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEEDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Leader of the pack 5
2D 2. 2006 mockumentary about a Kazakh journalist 5
3D 3. High-speed travel option 5
4D 4. Squealer's activity 8
5D 5. H, to Hera 3
6D 6. West Pointer 5
7D 7. Thoroughly enjoyed, with "up" 3
8D 8. Org. with the Nuggets and Nets 3
9D 9. Screen 3
10D 10. Rubbish receptacle 6
11D 11. Weasel with a black-tipped tail 5
12D 12. Where the coxswain sits 3
13D 13. Unity 8
14D 14. In a fury 4
15D 15. Blue material 5
16D 16. Counterfeit 9
17D 17. Whoop it up 9
18D 19. Glorify 5
19D 22. ___ Stark, "Game of Thrones" patriarch 3
20D 25. Gullible sort 4
21D 28. Hypotheticals 3
22D 32. Besides 4
23D 33. Part of a trunk 5
24D 34. First-year law student, informally 4
25D 35. "___ Fan Tutte" 4
26D 36. Mathematician Paul 5
27D 42. ___ on a log (celery-stick snack studded with raisins) 4
28D 43. Confidence 5
29D 44. What may be right but not left? 5
30D 45. New Yorkie, say 3
31D 47. Delegate 6
32D 49. Pull to open 4
33D 50. Dilapidated 5
34D 51. Moonfish 4
35D 52. Yankees nickname until 2016 4
36D 53. "My eye!" 4
37D 54. Wielder of a red lightsaber 4
38D 60. "Casablanca" role 4
39D 62. Folk singer Guthrie 4
40D 63. Approaching 6
41D 64. 1964's Nobel Peace laureate, for short 3
42D 65. Common bridge bid, informally 5
43D 67. Spanish "she" 4
44D 68. Kristen of "Bridesmaids" 4
45D 69. Slushy brand 4
46D 70. Press 4
47D 71. Protein-building acid, informally 5
48D 72. Treat again, as a sprain 5
49D 73. Actress Falco 4
50D 77. Clammy 4
51D 78. "Heeere's Johnny!" announcer 9
52D 79. Measure against 9
53D 80. Tree branch or power line, for a bird 5
54D 81. One making an impression? 5
55D 82. Woman honored in John Lennon's "Woman" 3
56D 86. Where boaters hang with bowlers 8
57D 87. Hyatt alternative 4
58D 88. Spore-producing plant 4
59D 89. Transport (around) 4
60D 90. Castle in "Hamlet" 8
61D 97. Heart of the matter 4
62D 98. Subject for van Gogh 6
63D 99. Aurora's counterpart in Greek mythology 3
64D 100. Lit 5
65D 102. Big name in movie theaters 5
66D 104. First-year West Pointer 5
67D 105. Olympic blades 5
68D 106. "No man is an island" writer 5
69D 107. Was over 5
70D 108. Glides high 5
71D 109. Middle: Abbr. 3
72D 110. Noted Art Deco designer 4
73D 115. Sponsored spots 3
74D 116. Persian or Abyssinian 3
75D 117. Enero a diciembre 3
76D 118. Domino dot 3
77D 120. "Yeah, right!" 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Leader of the pack"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the 1st letter of the greek alphabet
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALPHA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. 2006 mockumentary about a Kazakh journalist"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. High-speed travel option"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Squealer's activity"

8 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
  • Similar words include: babble, talk, blab out
  • Opposite of: keep quiet
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TATTLING

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. H, to Hera"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a terrorist organization organized in 1959 by student activists who were dissatisfied with the moderate nationalism of the traditional basque party; want to create an independent homeland in spain's western pyrenees
  • Similar words include: Basque Fatherland and Liberty, Basque Homeland and Freedom, Euskadi ta Askatasuna
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. West Pointer"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a military trainee (as at a military academy)
  • Similar words include: plebe
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CADET

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7D: "7. Thoroughly enjoyed, with "up""

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that goddess of criminal rashness and its punishment
  • Similar words include: run through, exhaust, eat
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATE

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8D: "8. Org. with the Nuggets and Nets"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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9D: "9. Screen"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a doctor who practices veterinary medicine
  • Similar words include: veterinarian, veterinary, veteran
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VET

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10D: "10. Rubbish receptacle"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a bin that holds rubbish until it is collected
  • Similar words include: ashcan, garbage can, trash bin
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASHBIN

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11D: "11. Weasel with a black-tipped tail"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the ermine in its brown summer coat with black-tipped tail
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STOAT

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12D: "12. Where the coxswain sits"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (nautical, aeronautical) situated at or toward the stern or tail
  • Similar words include: astern, abaft
  • Opposite of: fore
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFT

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13D: "13. Unity"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of cohering or sticking together
  • Similar words include: coherence, coherency, cohesiveness
  • Opposite of: incoherence
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COHESION

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. In a fury"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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15D: "15. Blue material"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (usually plural) close-fitting trousers of heavy denim for manual work or casual wear
  • Similar words include: blue jean, dungaree, jean
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DENIM

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16D: "16. Counterfeit"

9 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the doctrine that representations of nature or human behavior should be accurate imitations
  • Similar words include: false, impersonation, simulated
  • Opposite of: formalism
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMITATION

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "17. Whoop it up"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that behave as expected during of holidays or rites
  • Similar words include: lionize, observe, lionise
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CELEBRATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "19. Glorify"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that praise, glorify, or honor
  • Similar words include: proclaim, glorify, laud
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXTOL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "22. ___ Stark, "Game of Thrones" patriarch"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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20D: "25. Gullible sort"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a naive or inexperienced person
  • Similar words include: naive
  • Opposite of: sophisticated
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAIF

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21D: "28. Hypotheticals"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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22D: "32. Besides"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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23D: "33. Part of a trunk"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the narrowing of the body between the ribs and hips
  • Similar words include: waistline, shank
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAIST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. First-year law student, informally"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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25D: "35. "___ Fan Tutte""

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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26D: "36. Mathematician Paul"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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27D: "42. ___ on a log (celery-stick snack studded with raisins)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

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: emmet, ant, pismire
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "43. Confidence"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny
  • Similar words include: religion, religious belief, organized religion
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FAITH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "44. What may be right but not left?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the space between two lines or planes that intersect; the inclination of one line to another; measured in degrees or radians
  • Similar words include: fish, weight, tip
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANGLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "45. New Yorkie, say"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that young of any of various canines such as a dog or wolf
  • Similar words include: puppy, whelp
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PUP

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31D: "47. Delegate"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person)
  • Similar words include: attribute, specify, depute
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASSIGN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. Pull to open"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a gully that is shallower than a ravine
  • Similar words include: hook, describe, get
  • Opposite of: deposit, push
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRAW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Dilapidated"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of or characteristic of rats
  • Similar words include: shabby, tatty, moth-eaten
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RATTY

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34D: "51. Moonfish"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large elliptical brightly colored deep-sea fish of atlantic and pacific and mediterranean
  • Similar words include: Lampris regius, moonfish
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "52. Yankees nickname until 2016"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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36D: "53. "My eye!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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37D: "54. Wielder of a red lightsaber"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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38D: "60. "Casablanca" role"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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39D: "62. Folk singer Guthrie"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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40D: "63. Approaching"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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41D: "64. 1964's Nobel Peace laureate, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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42D: "65. Common bridge bid, informally"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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43D: "67. Spanish "she""

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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44D: "68. Kristen of "Bridesmaids""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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45D: "69. Slushy brand"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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46D: "70. Press"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood
  • Similar words include: press, Fe, atomic number 26
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

47D: "71. Protein-building acid, informally"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the radical -nh2
  • Similar words include: aminic, amino group
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMINO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

48D: "72. Treat again, as a sprain"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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49D: "73. Actress Falco"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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50D: "77. Clammy"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slight wetness
  • Similar words include: soften, break, muffle
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

51D: "78. "Heeere's Johnny!" announcer"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDMCMAHON

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52D: "79. Measure against"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COMPARETO

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53D: "80. Tree branch or power line, for a bird"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that support consisting of a branch or rod that serves as a resting place (especially for a bird)
  • Similar words include: alight, rest, rod
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PERCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

54D: "81. One making an impression?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who mimics (especially an actor or actress)
  • Similar words include: mime, mimicker
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIMIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

55D: "82. Woman honored in John Lennon's "Woman""

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states musician (born in japan) who married john lennon and collaborated with him on recordings (born in 1933)
  • Similar words include: Yoko Ono
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ONO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

56D: "86. Where boaters hang with bowlers"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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57D: "87. Hyatt alternative"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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58D: "88. Spore-producing plant"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl upward; reproduce by spores
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FERN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

59D: "89. Transport (around)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a heavy open wagon usually having two wheels and drawn by an animal
  • Similar words include: hale, handcart, drag
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CART

Remember this word for future puzzles!

60D: "90. Castle in "Hamlet""

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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61D: "97. Heart of the matter"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the flesh of animals (including fishes and birds and snails) used as food
  • Similar words include: kernel, center, inwardness
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

62D: "98. Subject for van Gogh"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
  • Similar words include: iris diaphragm, fleur-de-lis, sword lily
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRISES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

63D: "99. Aurora's counterpart in Greek mythology"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) the winged goddess of the dawn in ancient mythology; daughter of hyperion; identified with roman aurora
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

64D: "100. Lit"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lighted up by or as by fire or flame
  • Similar words include: aflare, alight, aflame
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFIRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

65D: "102. Big name in movie theaters"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
  • Similar words include: royal, imperial, majestic
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REGAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

66D: "104. First-year West Pointer"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a military trainee (as at a military academy)
  • Similar words include: cadet
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLEBE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

67D: "105. Olympic blades"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a fencing sword similar to a foil but with a heavier blade
  • Similar words include: epee
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EPEES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

68D: "106. "No man is an island" writer"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that english clergyman and metaphysical poet celebrated as a preacher (1572-1631)
  • Similar words include: John Donne
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DONNE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

69D: "107. Was over"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense; either spatial or metaphorical
  • Similar words include: cease, terminate, over
  • Opposite of: begin
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENDED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

70D: "108. Glides high"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of rising upward into the air
  • Similar words include: zoom, sailplane, soar upwards
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

71D: "109. Middle: Abbr."

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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72D: "110. Noted Art Deco designer"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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73D: "115. Sponsored spots"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a public promotion of some product or service
  • Similar words include: advertizing, advert, advertisement
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

74D: "116. Persian or Abyssinian"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
  • Similar words include: sick, honk, vomit up
  • Opposite of: keep down
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

75D: "117. Enero a diciembre"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a palestinian international terrorist organization that split from the plo in 1974; has conducted terrorist attacks in 20 countries
  • Similar words include: Black September, Fatah Revolutionary Council, Arab Revolutionary Brigades
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

76D: "118. Domino dot"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a disease of poultry
  • Similar words include: hit, mop up, shoot
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

77D: "120. "Yeah, right!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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

63 Across Clues
77 Down Clues
140 Total Clues

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Last updated: February 22, 2026 at 05:03 AM