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

Thursday, May 21, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 21, 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: Medium

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. Gossiped-about duo 4
2A 5. River whose southernmost source is found in Burundi 4
3A 9. Animal that expresses anger by spitting 5
4A 14. Curbside call 4
5A 15. Egg's outline 4
6A 16. Traditional Vietnamese garment whose name means "long shirt" 5
7A 17. 2000 Eminem single with lines from his "biggest fan" 4
8A 18. St. Benedict, for one 4
9A 19. Central meeting points 5
10A 20. timiL 12
11A 23. 50¢ or $1: Abbr. 3
12A 24. Fish more formally known as a batomorph 3
13A 25. Capital of Portugal, to natives 6
14A 29. Crown of jewels 6
15A 31. Penultimate Greek letter 3
16A 33. One of four seen on Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" 3
17A 34. Goat's cry 3
18A 35. Golfer's suppor- 9
19A 38. Move like a fox 5
20A 40. Get a lode of this! 3
21A 41. John from Britain 5
22A 42. Evade 9
23A 44. "Bad" beginning 3
24A 45. Like news that everyone already knows 3
25A 46. Legal boundaries? 3
26A 47. Kind of cat with a black-and-white coat 6
27A 50. More melted, as a marshmallow 6
28A 53. Tree alongside a ski run 3
29A 54. Bro, e.g. 3
30A 55. P | u | n | c | h | e | s 12
31A 59. Sound of a perfect basketball shot 5
32A 62. "Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden 4
33A 63. Ordered 4
34A 64. Increase, as interest 5
35A 65. German Ms. 4
36A 66. Pupil's surroundings 4
37A 67. Environmentalist Adams 5
38A 68. Site for many stars? 4
39A 69. Sounds of disapproval 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Gossiped-about duo"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a distinct part that can be specified separately in a group of things that could be enumerated on a list
  • Similar words include: point, particular, detail
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. River whose southernmost source is found in Burundi"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the world's longest river (4150 miles); flows northward through eastern africa into the mediterranean; the nile river valley in egypt was the site of the world's first great civilization
  • Similar words include: Nile River
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NILE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Animal that expresses anger by spitting"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wild or domesticated south american cud-chewing animal related to camels but smaller and lacking a hump
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LLAMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Curbside call"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

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, hack, taxicab
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAXI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Egg's outline"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it
  • Similar words include: ovoid, elliptical, ovate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Traditional Vietnamese garment whose name means "long shirt""

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. 2000 Eminem single with lines from his "biggest fan""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. St. Benedict, for one"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male religious living in a cloister and devoting himself to contemplation and prayer and work
  • Similar words include: Thelonious Sphere Monk, Thelonious Monk, monastic
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MONK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "19. Central meeting points"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a connecting point at which several lines come together
  • Similar words include: client, node, knob
  • Opposite of: antinode
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NODES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "20. timiL"

12 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. 50¢ or $1: Abbr."

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Fish more formally known as a batomorph"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a column of light (as from a beacon)
  • Similar words include: shaft of light, irradiation, light beam
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Capital of Portugal, to natives"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that capital and largest city and economic and cultural center of portugal; a major port in western portugal on tagus river where it broadens and empties into the atlantic
  • Similar words include: Lisbon, capital of Portugal
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LISBOA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. Crown of jewels"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an ornamental jeweled headdress signifying sovereignty
  • Similar words include: crown
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIADEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Penultimate Greek letter"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

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!

16A: "33. One of four seen on Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a human limb; technically the part of the superior limb between the shoulder and the elbow but commonly used to refer to the whole superior limb
  • Similar words include: build up, sleeve, gird
  • Opposite of: disarm
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Goat's cry"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. Golfer's suppor-"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "38. Move like a fox"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lie in wait, lie in ambush, behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
  • Similar words include: malinger, lurk
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SKULK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "40. Get a lode of this!"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be mined
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. John from Britain"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "42. Evade"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very short skirt
  • Similar words include: mini
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MINISKIRT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "44. "Bad" beginning"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "45. Like news that everyone already knows"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old')
  • Similar words include: sometime, former, one-time
  • Opposite of: young, new
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OLD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "46. Legal boundaries?"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that angular distance above the horizon (especially of a celestial object)
  • Similar words include: EL, elevated railway, elevated
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "47. Kind of cat with a black-and-white coat"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that semiformal evening dress for men
  • Similar words include: dinner jacket, black tie, tux
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUXEDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. More melted, as a marshmallow"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that soft and sticky
  • Similar words include: icky, gooey
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOOIER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "53. Tree alongside a ski run"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that nonresinous wood of a fir tree
  • Similar words include: fir tree, true fir
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "54. Bro, e.g."

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person's brother or sister
  • Similar words include: blood relation, blood relative, cognate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "55. P | u | n | c | h | e | s"

12 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "59. Sound of a perfect basketball shot"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a brushing or rustling sound
  • Similar words include: lap, swoosh, posh
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWISH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "62. "Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a feeling of intense anger
  • Similar words include: fierceness, madness, hysteria
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FURY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "63. Ordered"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chadic language spoken in northern nigeria
  • Similar words include: bid, entreat, press
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BADE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "64. Increase, as interest"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tightly woven fabric with raised cords
  • Similar words include: temper, irritation, offend
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIQUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "65. German Ms."

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a german courtesy title or form of address for an adult woman
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FRAU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "66. Pupil's surroundings"

4 letters Category: Common Word

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: fleur-de-lis, sword lily, iris diaphragm
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "67. Environmentalist Adams"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "68. Site for many stars?"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sharp high-pitched cry (especially by a dog)
  • Similar words include: yelping, yap, yip
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YELP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "69. Sounds of disapproval"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that utter `tsk,' `tut,' or `tut-tut,' as in disapproval
  • Similar words include: tut, tut-tut, tsk
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Short negative review 6
2D 2. Floor covering in a Japanese tearoom 6
3D 3. "Bingo!" 11
4D 4. Stole material 4
5D 5. Southern denial 6
6D 6. Something tickled on a piano 5
7D 7. "Buy ___. They're not making it anymore" (old saying) 4
8D 8. Philanthropic group with a clock face in its logo 4
9D 9. The so-called "Pineapple Isle" 5
10D 10. Goes around and around 5
11D 11. Make sense, with "up" 3
12D 12. "Maggie ___," classic folk song covered by the Beatles 3
13D 13. ChatGPT, Claude, etc. 3
14D 21. Inflicts 6
15D 22. Muse of history 4
16D 26. Lasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically 11
17D 27. Milkshake flavor 4
18D 28. Gospel shout 4
19D 30. "Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes" painter, 1945 4
20D 31. Contented sounds 5
21D 32. "Changed my mind," in editing notation 4
22D 35. Curl 4
23D 36. Hip-knee connectors 6
24D 37. Source of linseed oil 4
25D 38. It's all a haze 4
26D 39. Drug bust unit 4
27D 43. Model Miranda 4
28D 47. Make neat 6
29D 48. Large-eyed African antelope with a duplicative name 6
30D 49. Fixate 6
31D 51. Give out 5
32D 52. Neighbor of Ricky and Lucy, on 1950s TV 5
33D 53. Far from house-trained 5
34D 56. Dodgy 4
35D 57. 100% 4
36D 58. End piece? 4
37D 59. Belinda's business on "The White Lotus" 3
38D 60. Prevail 3
39D 61. Some test figs. 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Short negative review"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Floor covering in a Japanese tearoom"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. "Bingo!""

11 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXACTAMUNDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Stole material"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the expensive fur of a mink
  • Similar words include: mink coat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MINK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Southern denial"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Something tickled on a piano"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hard smooth ivory colored dentine that makes up most of the tusks of elephants and walruses
  • Similar words include: pearl, tusk, bone
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IVORY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. "Buy ___. They're not making it anymore" (old saying)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the land on which real estate is located
  • Similar words include: realm, down, commonwealth
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Philanthropic group with a clock face in its logo"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large northern deer with enormous flattened antlers in the male; called `elk' in europe and `moose' in north america
  • Similar words include: Cervus elaphus, Alces alces, Cervus elaphus canadensis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. The so-called "Pineapple Isle""

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island of central hawaii; a pineapple-growing area
  • Similar words include: Lanai Island
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LANAI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Goes around and around"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fastener consisting of a metal ring for lining a small hole to permit the attachment of cords or lines
  • Similar words include: iteration, intertwine, loop topology
  • Opposite of: open circuit, uncoil
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOOPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Make sense, with "up""

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders
  • Similar words include: minimal brain damage, append, sum
  • Opposite of: subtract, take away
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. "Maggie ___," classic folk song covered by the Beatles"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. ChatGPT, Claude, etc."

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency of the united states army responsible for providing timely and relevant and accurate and synchronized intelligence to tactical and operational and strategic level commanders
  • Similar words include: Army Intelligence, three-toed sloth, artificial insemination
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "21. Inflicts"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
  • Similar words include: wreak, work, play
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WREAKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Muse of history"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) the muse of history
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "26. Lasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically"

11 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BATTLESCARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "27. Milkshake flavor"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that chocolate cookie with white cream filling
  • Similar words include: oreo cookie
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OREO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. Gospel shout"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a primeval egyptian personification of air and breath; worshipped especially at thebes
  • Similar words include: Amun, Amon
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "30. "Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes" painter, 1945"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that surrealist spanish painter (1904-1989)
  • Similar words include: Salvador Dali
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DALI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "31. Contented sounds"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a low vibrating sound typical of a contented cat
  • Similar words include: birr, whir, whiz
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PURRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. "Changed my mind," in editing notation"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that printing: cancel, as of a correction or deletion
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "35. Curl"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
  • Similar words include: scroll, curlicue, gyre
  • Opposite of: uncoil
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. Hip-knee connectors"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the longest and thickest bone of the human skeleton; extends from the pelvis to the knee
  • Similar words include: thighbone, femoris, femur
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEMURS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. Source of linseed oil"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fiber of the flax plant that is made into thread and woven into linen fabric
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLAX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. It's all a haze"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that air pollution by a mixture of smoke and fog
  • Similar words include: smogginess
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Drug bust unit"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one thousand grams; the basic unit of mass adopted under the systeme international d'unites
  • Similar words include: kg, kilogram
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KILO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "43. Model Miranda"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "47. Make neat"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "48. Large-eyed African antelope with a duplicative name"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "49. Fixate"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that haunt like a ghost; pursue
  • Similar words include: haunt, ghost
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBSESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "51. Give out"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an important question that is in dispute and must be settled
  • Similar words include: topic, egress, subject
  • Opposite of: recall
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISSUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "52. Neighbor of Ricky and Lucy, on 1950s TV"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "53. Far from house-trained"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wild and menacing
  • Similar words include: ferine, savage
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FERAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "56. Dodgy"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that subject to accident or chance or change
  • Similar words include: fluky, flukey, chancy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IFFY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "57. 100%"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that free of extraneous elements of any kind
  • Similar words include: everlasting, thoroughgoing, sodding
  • Opposite of: unsaturated, impure
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PURE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "58. End piece?"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a notice of someone's death; usually includes a short biography
  • Similar words include: necrology, obituary
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "59. Belinda's business on "The White Lotus""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
  • Similar words include: health spa, watering hole, resort hotel
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "60. Prevail"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a victory (as in a race or other competition)
  • Similar words include: bring home the bacon, acquire, advance
  • Opposite of: fall back, losings
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "61. Some test figs."

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a measure of a person's intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test; the ratio of a person's mental age to their chronological age (multiplied by 100)
  • Similar words include: IQ, intelligence quotient, I.Q.
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IQS

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

39 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

Looking for more puzzle solutions? Check out our comprehensive archive of NYT crossword hints and answers. We update daily with expert analysis and solving strategies.

Disclaimer: Crossword clues and grid © The New York Times. This site provides hints and educational content for puzzle enthusiasts. XWordHint is not affiliated with The New York Times.

Last updated: May 21, 2026 at 07:05 AM

Thursday, May 14, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 14, 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: 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. Cliff formed by a fault 5
2A 6. Avoided a tag, say 4
3A 10. Penultimate Greek letter 3
4A 13. "My fault entirely" 5
5A 14. Taste perception first identified in 1908 5
6A 15. Physics unit named for a physicist 3
7A 16. Feature that debuted on Page 1 of The New York Times in 1997 11
8A 18. Confucian "way" 3
9A 19. Prime breeding environment for mosquitoes 13
10A 20. Impression on some fancy sheets 9
11A 22. Puente of "The Mambo Kings" 4
12A 23. Traveled path 5
13A 24. At sea, say 10
14A 27. Powerful fireboat gear 12
15A 30. Rationalist's theology 5
16A 31. Decree 4
17A 32. Part of an analogy 4
18A 33. "___'s da breaks!" 3
19A 34. Lovestruck 7
20A 37. Flesh and blood 3
21A 38. Biblical locale guarded by a flaming sword 4
22A 40. Direction to bow, in music 4
23A 41. Squeezing (out) 5
24A 43. Gets bloated, say 12
25A 45. Pair for a pool 10
26A 46. Ruthless Athenian lawgiver 5
27A 47. Tidy up, in a way 4
28A 48. What collects in a puddle 9
29A 49. Things often getting free refills 13
30A 54. Simile segment 3
31A 55. Broadcasting giant with hundreds of stations 11
32A 57. ___ Friday 3
33A 58. Origin of the words "sky" and "scrape" 5
34A 59. Heather genus that's also a woman's name 5
35A 60. Good periods 3
36A 61. Former small-sized G.M. cars 4
37A 62. Compound with a caret-shaped molecule, as depicted by this puzzle's circled letters 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Cliff formed by a fault"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge; usually formed by erosion
  • Similar words include: escarp, protective embankment, escarpment
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCARP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Avoided a tag, say"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that move obliquely or sideways, usually in an uncontrolled manner
  • Similar words include: skid, slue, slither
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Penultimate Greek letter"

3 letters Category: Common Word

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!

4A: "13. "My fault entirely""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "14. Taste perception first identified in 1908"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "15. Physics unit named for a physicist"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of electrical resistance equal to the resistance between two points on a conductor when a potential difference of one volt between them produces a current of one ampere
  • Similar words include: Georg Simon Ohm
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OHM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "16. Feature that debuted on Page 1 of The New York Times in 1997"

11 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COLORPHOTOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. Confucian "way""

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an adherent of any branch of taoism
  • Similar words include: Taoist
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "19. Prime breeding environment for mosquitoes"

13 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STANDINGWATER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "20. Impression on some fancy sheets"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a line marking the level reached by a body of water
  • Similar words include: water line
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WATERMARK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. Puente of "The Mambo Kings""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that yugoslav statesman who led the resistance to german occupation during world war ii and established a communist state after the war (1892-1980)
  • Similar words include: Marshal Tito, Josip Broz
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TITO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "23. Traveled path"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an established line of travel or access
  • Similar words include: path, road, itinerary
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROUTE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "24. At sea, say"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "27. Powerful fireboat gear"

12 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hose (carried on a truck) that fires water under high pressure to disperse crowds (especially crowds of rioters)
  • Similar words include: watercannon, water cannon
  • Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WATERCANNONS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Rationalist's theology"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the form of theological rationalism that believes in god on the basis of reason without reference to revelation
  • Similar words include: free thought
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEISM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. Decree"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge)
  • Similar words include: decree, rescript, edict
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "32. Part of an analogy"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "33. "___'s da breaks!""

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "34. Lovestruck"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon
  • Similar words include: soft on, infatuated, potty
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMITTEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "37. Flesh and blood"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person having kinship with another or others
  • Similar words include: kin group, family, cognate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "38. Biblical locale guarded by a flaming sword"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any place of complete bliss and delight and peace
  • Similar words include: Shangri-la, promised land, heaven
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "40. Direction to bow, in music"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (of instruments in the violin family) to be played with the bow
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARCO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "41. Squeezing (out)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "43. Gets bloated, say"

12 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "45. Pair for a pool"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "46. Ruthless Athenian lawgiver"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that athenian lawmaker whose code of laws prescribed death for almost every offense (circa 7th century bc)
  • Similar words include: Dragon, genus Draco
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRACO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "47. Tidy up, in a way"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fine powdery material such as dry earth or pollen that can be blown about in the air
  • Similar words include: sprinkle, debris, detritus
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DUST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "48. What collects in a puddle"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds
  • Similar words include: rain
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAINWATER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "49. Things often getting free refills"

13 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: _____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WATERPITCHERS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "54. Simile segment"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "55. Broadcasting giant with hundreds of stations"

11 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IHEARTRADIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "57. ___ Friday"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters
  • Similar words include: gallon
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "58. Origin of the words "sky" and "scrape""

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an inhabitant of scandinavia
  • Similar words include: North Germanic, Scandinavian, Northman
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NORSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "59. Heather genus that's also a woman's name"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any plant of the genus erica
  • Similar words include: true heath
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERICA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "60. Good periods"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Similar words include: up
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "61. Former small-sized G.M. cars"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "62. Compound with a caret-shaped molecule, as depicted by this puzzle's circled letters"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
  • Similar words include: H2O, water system, water supply
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WATER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Anatomical containers 4
2D 2. Thicken 4
3D 3. Palindrome on an Italian restaurant menu 4
4D 4. September to April, in the oyster industry 7
5D 5. Alternatives to hourly wages 8
6D 6. Ecological concern 4
7D 7. Trellis piece 4
8D 8. "If u ask me" 3
9D 9. Gossip about, informally 6
10D 10. A peeling that's appealing? 10
11D 11. Prolifically posting about one's kids online, in a neologism 10
12D 12. Reassuring reply 4
13D 14. "That ... ain't it" 4
14D 17. Essence 4
15D 21. Certain tax-free bond, informally 4
16D 23. Velocity, e.g. 4
17D 24. Relatively unusual 5
18D 25. Had to have right away 10
19D 26. Races against the clock 10
20D 27. Travel by pick-up? 5
21D 28. "The Elder" or "The Younger" Roman 4
22D 29. Strains to hear? 5
23D 31. Hemlock relatives 4
24D 35. Hand, at a hacienda 4
25D 36. Group with a satellite truck 8
26D 39. Palindrome on an Indian restaurant menu 4
27D 42. Seven-stringed instrument that gave the guitar its name 7
28D 44. Ancient book of divination 6
29D 45. Member of a sluglike "Star Wars" species 4
30D 47. Presaging disaster 4
31D 48. Meaty pasta sauce 4
32D 49. Long lunch? 4
33D 50. Get ahead of 4
34D 51. Cut and paste, e.g. 4
35D 52. Force through a food mill 4
36D 53. Go way up 4
37D 56. Uprooting tool 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Anatomical containers"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an enclosed space
  • Similar words include: pocket, Sauk, sac
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SACS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Thicken"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lump of material formed from the content of a liquid
  • Similar words include: clog, clabber, coagulate
  • Opposite of: homogenize
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Palindrome on an Italian restaurant menu"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. September to April, in the oyster industry"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Alternatives to hourly wages"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Ecological concern"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that air pollution by a mixture of smoke and fog
  • Similar words include: smogginess
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SMOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Trellis piece"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a narrow thin strip of wood used as backing for plaster or to make latticework
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LATH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. "If u ask me""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the united nations agency concerned with international maritime activities
  • Similar words include: International Maritime Organization
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Gossip about, informally"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. A peeling that's appealing?"

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Prolifically posting about one's kids online, in a neologism"

10 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Reassuring reply"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "14. "That ... ain't it""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "17. Essence"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that soft spongelike central cylinder of the stems of most flowering plants
  • Similar words include: gist, nitty-gritty, marrow
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PITH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Certain tax-free bond, informally"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Velocity, e.g."

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit
  • Similar words include: value, pace, place
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Relatively unusual"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not divisible by two
  • Similar words include: left, leftover, rum
  • Opposite of: even
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODDER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. Had to have right away"

10 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Races against the clock"

10 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Travel by pick-up?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period of time spent in military service
  • Similar words include: thumb, encumbrance, limp
  • Opposite of: unhitch
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HITCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "28. "The Elder" or "The Younger" Roman"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "29. Strains to hear?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a short musical composition with words
  • Similar words include: song, Sung, vocal
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SONGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "31. Hemlock relatives"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that nonresinous wood of a fir tree
  • Similar words include: true fir, fir, fir tree
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "35. Hand, at a hacienda"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "36. Group with a satellite truck"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Palindrome on an Indian restaurant menu"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that leavened bread baked in a clay oven in india; usually shaped like a teardrop
  • Similar words include: nan
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. Seven-stringed instrument that gave the guitar its name"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "44. Ancient book of divination"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "45. Member of a sluglike "Star Wars" species"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "47. Presaging disaster"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless; ; - g.c.marshall
  • Similar words include: horrific, dreadful, terrible
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "48. Meaty pasta sauce"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. Long lunch?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength
  • Similar words include: sub, zep, grinder
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HERO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Get ahead of"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (baseball) an advance to first base by a batter who receives four balls
  • Similar words include: flip, take place, occur
  • Opposite of: be born, fail
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PASS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "51. Cut and paste, e.g."

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "52. Force through a food mill"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that grains used as food either unpolished or more often polished
  • Similar words include: Timothy Miles Bindon Rice, Elmer Leopold Rice, Elmer Rice
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RICE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "53. Go way up"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "56. Uprooting tool"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tool with a flat blade attached at right angles to a long handle
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Expert Solving Strategies

Start Smart

Begin with fill-in-the-blank clues and short 3-4 letter words. These are your foundation.

Decode the Clues

Question marks indicate wordplay or puns. "Maybe" suggests multiple interpretations.

Use Cross-References

Let intersecting letters guide you. One correct answer unlocks several others.

Build Vocabulary

Common crossword words repeat. Learning them speeds up future solving.

Today's Puzzle Stats

37 Across Clues
37 Down Clues
74 Total Clues

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Last updated: May 14, 2026 at 06:36 AM