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Showing posts sorted by date for query SPEEDS. 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "49. Fixate"

6 letters πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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 πŸ’­ 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

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 20, 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. Establishment that serves zombies, perhaps 7
2A 8. Adorn with raised lettering 6
3A 14. "Drink" for vocal critics 8
4A 15. European city that "waits for you," in a Billy Joel tune 6
5A 16. Nontraditional time for voting someone into office 15
6A 18. Redding who sang "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" 4
7A 19. God played by Anthony Hopkins in Marvel movies 4
8A 20. Church cross 4
9A 21. Florence-based fashion house 5
10A 24. Takes back a public statement 7
11A 26. What a waiter might offer to start you off 12
12A 29. Make a boo-boo 3
13A 30. ___ contendere (court plea) 4
14A 31. Spud 5
15A 35. Biting 5
16A 37. ___ Kippur 3
17A 39. Actress Bow of the silent film era 5
18A 40. Light show tool 5
19A 41. TV personality Kotb 4
20A 43. Clan 3
21A 44. Bit of movie magic 12
22A 48. "Essential" product used as an anti-acne treatment 7
23A 51. Take ___ of faith 5
24A 52. Place for a seafood dinner 4
25A 53. Classic Pontiacs 4
26A 55. Arcing tennis shots 4
27A 58. Condescending rhetorical question ... or what you might say about 16-, 26- and 44-Across? 15
28A 62. John in the sketch "The Fish-Slapping Dance" 6
29A 63. "Seems right," folksily 8
30A 64. Words a teenager might say with an eye roll 6
31A 65. Says OK 7

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Establishment that serves zombies, perhaps"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "8. Adorn with raised lettering"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that raise in a relief
  • Similar words include: boss, stamp
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EMBOSS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "14. "Drink" for vocal critics"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "15. European city that "waits for you," in a Billy Joel tune"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the capital and largest city of austria; located on the danube in northeastern austria; was the home of beethoven and brahms and haydn and mozart and schubert and strauss
  • Similar words include: Austrian capital, capital of Austria
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VIENNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "16. Nontraditional time for voting someone into office"

15 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "18. Redding who sang "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay""

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states inventor who manufactured the first elevator with a safety device (1811-1861)
  • Similar words include: genus Otis, Elisha Graves Otis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OTIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "19. God played by Anthony Hopkins in Marvel movies"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (norse mythology) ruler of the aesir; supreme god of war and poetry and knowledge and wisdom (for which he gave an eye) and husband of frigg; identified with the teutonic wotan
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Church cross"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that representation of the cross on which jesus died
  • Similar words include: rood-tree, crucifix
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROOD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. Florence-based fashion house"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "24. Takes back a public statement"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure
  • Similar words include: abjure, resile, retract
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RECANTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "26. What a waiter might offer to start you off"

12 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "29. Make a boo-boo"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that to make a mistake or be incorrect
  • Similar words include: mistake, drift, slip
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "30. ___ contendere (court plea)"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "31. Spud"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an edible tuber native to south america; a staple food of ireland
  • Similar words include: white potato, Irish potato, potato
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TATER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "35. Biting"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that sour or bitter in taste
  • Similar words include: sulfurous, acerbic, vitriolic
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACERB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "37. ___ Kippur"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "39. Actress Bow of the silent film era"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "40. Light show tool"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; an optical device that produces an intense monochromatic beam of coherent light
  • Similar words include: optical maser
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LASER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "41. TV personality Kotb"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "43. Clan"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "44. Bit of movie magic"

12 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "48. "Essential" product used as an anti-acne treatment"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "51. Take ___ of faith"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "52. Place for a seafood dinner"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
  • Similar words include: wharfage, dock, wharf
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "53. Classic Pontiacs"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "55. Arcing tennis shots"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an easy return of a tennis ball in a high arc
  • Similar words include: lob
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOBS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "58. Condescending rhetorical question ... or what you might say about 16-, 26- and 44-Across?"

15 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "62. John in the sketch "The Fish-Slapping Dance""

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "63. "Seems right," folksily"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "64. Words a teenager might say with an eye roll"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "65. Says OK"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that agreement with a statement or proposal to do something
  • Similar words include: acquiesce, accede, acquiescence
  • Opposite of: dissent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASSENTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Mustachioed president who succeeded another mustachioed president in 1909 4
2D 2. "Don't know why I thought any different!" 9
3D 3. Gets hyped 6
4D 4. Fury 3
5D 5. Farmyard bleat 3
6D 6. With deftness 8
7D 7. Clarinet, for one 4
8D 8. Made level 6
9D 9. Careful, this might be hot! 3
10D 10. Act of Judas 8
11D 11. Word with ring or roll 5
12D 12. Hoity-toity one 5
13D 13. Smooths, in a way 5
14D 14. "___ boy!" 3
15D 17. Old Italian money 4
16D 22. Musical notation that means "with vigor" 7
17D 23. Boardroom bigwig, in brief 3
18D 25. Spot to drink a matcha with a Manx 7
19D 26. Ocean prey for a 27-Down 4
20D 27. Ocean predator of a 26-Down 4
21D 28. Big to-do 5
22D 32. Be in charge, informally 9
23D 33. Protagonist of "That '70s Show" 4
24D 34. Speech full of invective 4
25D 36. Went back (to), as a prior state 8
26D 38. Epitome of slowness 8
27D 42. Director Guillermo ___ Toro 3
28D 45. Expressed frustration, maybe 6
29D 46. Beauty company whose Nasdaq ticker symbol is its name 4
30D 47. Atlanta athlete 6
31D 48. RisquΓ© 5
32D 49. Walkway for newlyweds 5
33D 50. They're part of what makes you you 5
34D 54. "___ Noche en Miami" (Bad Bunny song) 4
35D 56. Low voice 4
36D 57. ___-mo 3
37D 59. Org. whose staffers wear royal blue uniforms 3
38D 60. Lenovo products, informally 3
39D 61. Just get (by) 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Mustachioed president who succeeded another mustachioed president in 1909"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states sculptor (1860-1936)
  • Similar words include: Lorado Taft, William Howard Taft, President Taft
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. "Don't know why I thought any different!""

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Gets hyped"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Fury"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance
  • Similar words include: wrath, anger, ira
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Farmyard bleat"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. With deftness"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that with adroitness; in an adroit manner
  • Opposite of: maladroitly
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADROITLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Clarinet, for one"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tall woody perennial grasses with hollow slender stems especially of the genera arundo and phragmites
  • Similar words include: beating-reed instrument, John Reed, Walter Reed
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Made level"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make level or straight
  • Similar words include: flush, level, even
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVENED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Careful, this might be hot!"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Act of Judas"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an act of deliberate betrayal
  • Similar words include: treason, treachery, perfidy
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BETRAYAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Word with ring or roll"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bulb of an onion plant
  • Similar words include: Allium cepa, onion plant
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ONION

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Hoity-toity one"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person regarded as arrogant and annoying
  • Similar words include: prig, honker, schnoz
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNOOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Smooths, in a way"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the region of the shore of a lake or sea or ocean
  • Similar words include: George Sand, moxie, Baroness Dudevant
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SANDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. "___ boy!""

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "17. Old Italian money"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the basic unit of money on malta; equal to 100 cents
  • Similar words include: Turkish lira, Maltese lira, lira
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Musical notation that means "with vigor""

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "23. Boardroom bigwig, in brief"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the corporate executive having financial authority to make appropriations and authorize expenditures for a firm
  • Similar words include: chief financial officer
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CFO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. Spot to drink a matcha with a Manx"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Ocean prey for a 27-Down"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fastener consisting of a resinous composition that is plastic when warm; used for sealing documents and parcels and letters
  • Similar words include: sealing wax, Navy SEAL, seal off
  • Opposite of: unseal
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Ocean predator of a 26-Down"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas
  • Similar words include: killer whale, grampus, killer
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORCA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "28. Big to-do"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. Be in charge, informally"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Protagonist of "That '70s Show""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. Speech full of invective"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion
  • Similar words include: rave, blah, jabber
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RANT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "36. Went back (to), as a prior state"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that go back to a previous state
  • Similar words include: return, revert, turn back
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REVERTED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "38. Epitome of slowness"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that thick dark syrup produced by boiling down juice from sugar cane; especially during sugar refining
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOLASSES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. Director Guillermo ___ Toro"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "45. Expressed frustration, maybe"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that heave or utter a sigh; breathe deeply and heavily
  • Similar words include: suspire, sigh
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIGHED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "46. Beauty company whose Nasdaq ticker symbol is its name"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "47. Atlanta athlete"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that diurnal birds of prey having long pointed powerful wings adapted for swift flight
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FALCON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "48. RisquΓ©"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having an agreeably pungent taste
  • Similar words include: gamey, piquant, racy
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPICY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. Walkway for newlyweds"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long narrow passage (as in a cave or woods)
  • Similar words include: gangway
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AISLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. They're part of what makes you you"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (genetics) a segment of dna that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding dna as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity
  • Similar words include: cistron, gene, factor
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GENES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "54. "___ Noche en Miami" (Bad Bunny song)"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "56. Low voice"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the lowest part of the musical range
  • Similar words include: basso, deep, bass voice
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BASS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "57. ___-mo"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "59. Org. whose staffers wear royal blue uniforms"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency established in 2001 to safeguard united states transportation systems and insure safe air travel
  • Similar words include: Transportation Security Administration
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "60. Lenovo products, informally"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time
  • Similar words include: microcomputer, PC, personal computer
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PCS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "61. Just get (by)"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Expert Solving Strategies

Start Smart

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

Decode the Clues

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

Use Cross-References

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

Build Vocabulary

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

Today's Puzzle Stats

31 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
70 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

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Last updated: May 20, 2026 at 07:00 AM