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Friday, October 16, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers October 16, 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. Word with strip or skirt 5
2A 6. Conniption 3
3A 9. Cuban poet/philosopher JosΓ© 5
4A 14. 2000 hit song with the lyric "But to lose all my senses / That is just so typically me" 15
5A 17. Mail-centric fiction? 15
6A 18. Virginia is in it, in brief 3
7A 19. "Hah!" 7
8A 20. "___ had it!" 3
9A 21. Former home of Mr. and Mrs. Met 4
10A 23. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" spinoff 5
11A 24. Riot 4
12A 25. Spiller of tea 5
13A 27. Smelling things? 5
14A 28. Date night viewing, often 13
15A 34. High concept? 9
16A 35. They explain what's in the cards 13
17A 39. Comic strip sound of impact 5
18A 40. Infant discomfort 5
19A 42. Battery-powered string instrument player 4
20A 43. Predicated 5
21A 48. It has its highs and lows 4
22A 49. Rocky openings? 3
23A 50. Burrowing animal whose name is made up of two other animals 7
24A 52. It may begin with a +1: Abbr. 3
25A 53. Idolizes 15
26A 56. Indiana Jones or Rocky Balboa, e.g. 15
27A 57. Losing causes? 5
28A 58. Yoga ___ 3
29A 59. The 22nd Amendment limits them 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Word with strip or skirt"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slice of meat cut from the fleshy part of an animal or large fish
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEAK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Conniption"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a display of bad temper
  • Similar words include: meet, gibe, jibe
  • Opposite of: unfit, disagree
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Cuban poet/philosopher JosΓ©"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cuban poet and revolutionary who fought for cuban independence from spain (1853-1895)
  • Similar words include: Jose Julian Marti
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MARTI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. 2000 hit song with the lyric "But to lose all my senses / That is just so typically me""

15 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "17. Mail-centric fiction?"

15 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "18. Virginia is in it, in brief"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a command that is the primary provider of air combat weapon systems to the united states air force; operates fighter, bomber, reconnaissance, battle-management, and rescue aircraft
  • Similar words include: Air Combat Command
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "19. "Hah!""

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. "___ had it!""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. Former home of Mr. and Mrs. Met"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "23. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" spinoff"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "24. Riot"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a loud raucous cry (as of an owl)
  • Similar words include: boo, darn, razz
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "25. Spiller of tea"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (yiddish) a vulgar shrew; a shallow coarse termagant
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YENTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Smelling things?"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
  • Similar words include: common salt, salt, table salt
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SALTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Date night viewing, often"

13 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "34. High concept?"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "35. They explain what's in the cards"

13 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "39. Comic strip sound of impact"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "40. Infant discomfort"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that acute abdominal pain (especially in infants)
  • Similar words include: intestinal colic, gripes, griping
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COLIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "42. Battery-powered string instrument player"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "43. Predicated"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that use as a basis for; found on
  • Similar words include: free-base, found, establish
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BASED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "48. It has its highs and lows"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon
  • Similar words include: lunar time period, surge
  • Opposite of: ebb
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIDE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "49. Rocky openings?"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "50. Burrowing animal whose name is made up of two other animals"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "52. It may begin with a +1: Abbr."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "53. Idolizes"

15 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "56. Indiana Jones or Rocky Balboa, e.g."

15 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "57. Losing causes?"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a prescribed selection of foods
  • Similar words include: dieting, diet
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "58. Yoga ___"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a thick flat pad used as a floor covering
  • Similar words include: snarl, lustrelessness, matting
  • Opposite of: unsnarl, disentangle
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "59. The 22nd Amendment limits them"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that status with respect to the relations between people or groups
  • Similar words include: full term, price, damage
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TERMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. "Piece of cake!" 6
2D 2. Reality show whose contestants report to the Judge's Table 7
3D 3. Not gendered 7
4D 4. Dope 3
5D 5. Some emergency resources 4
6D 6. Serious dirt 5
7D 7. State whose official fruit is the huckleberry 5
8D 8. Done to death 5
9D 9. Flow down the neck 4
10D 10. Past word 3
11D 11. Hot pockets? 7
12D 12. 20-20, e.g. 7
13D 13. Small sounds 6
14D 15. One of 412 in the White House 4
15D 16. Supermodel Banks 4
16D 22. Took back one's words 7
17D 24. One struggling to make ends meet 7
18D 26. Grant 5
19D 27. Foe of Dr. Eggman, in video games 5
20D 29. Procured 3
21D 30. "___ Share of Night" (acclaimed 2019 Mariana EnrΓ­quez book) 3
22D 31. Complimentary lines 3
23D 32. Tool for tracing family trees 3
24D 33. Prefix with the name of any month 3
25D 35. Mideast salad, in one spelling 7
26D 36. Simon the Zealot, e.g. 7
27D 37. Sparkly bits in a school art project 7
28D 38. Like some deliveries 7
29D 39. Holder of all the digits, from 1 to 0 6
30D 41. Stage-left orchestra section 6
31D 43. Coccyx or phalange, e.g. 4
32D 44. Unwelcome sound during a dream 5
33D 45. Brown tint 5
34D 46. Construct 5
35D 47. Art movement proclaimed in a 1916 manifesto 4
36D 50. May honorees 4
37D 51. Outdoor item with flaps 4
38D 54. Took a load off 3
39D 55. 2011 platinum single by Tyler, the Creator 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. "Piece of cake!""

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Reality show whose contestants report to the Judge's Table"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Not gendered"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
  • Similar words include: bisexual, sissy, epicene person
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EPICENE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Dope"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on
  • Similar words include: can, screw, behind
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Some emergency resources"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a case for containing a set of articles
  • Similar words include: outfit, kit up, kit
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KITS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Serious dirt"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any substance considered disgustingly foul or unpleasant
  • Similar words include: soil, dirt, dirty word
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FILTH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. State whose official fruit is the huckleberry"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in the rocky mountains
  • Similar words include: ID, Gem State
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDAHO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Done to death"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lose interest or become bored with something or somebody
  • Similar words include: well-worn, exhaust, outwear
  • Opposite of: interest, refresh
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIRED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Flow down the neck"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that long coarse hair growing from the crest of the animal's neck
  • Similar words include: head of hair
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Past word"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that gone by; or in the past
  • Similar words include: agone
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Hot pockets?"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that small circular or square cases of dough with savory fillings
  • Similar words include: cappelletti
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAVIOLI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. 20-20, e.g."

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Small sounds"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an arm off of a larger body of water (often between rocky headlands)
  • Similar words include: intake, recess, inlet
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INLETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "15. One of 412 in the White House"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
  • Similar words include: doorway, room access, threshold
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "16. Supermodel Banks"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Took back one's words"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. One struggling to make ends meet"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Grant"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make it possible through a specific action or lack of action for something to happen
  • Similar words include: earmark, let, set aside
  • Opposite of: forbid, prevent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALLOW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. Foe of Dr. Eggman, in video games"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (of speed) having or caused by speed approximately equal to that of sound in air at sea level
  • Similar words include: transonic
  • Opposite of: subsonic
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SONIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "29. Procured"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
  • Similar words include: flummox, drive, aim
  • Opposite of: leave, take away
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "30. "___ Share of Night" (acclaimed 2019 Mariana EnrΓ­quez book)"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "31. Complimentary lines"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "32. Tool for tracing family trees"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (biochemistry) a long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix; associated with the transmission of genetic information
  • Similar words include: deoxyribonucleic acid, desoxyribonucleic acid
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "33. Prefix with the name of any month"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that used in combination to denote the middle
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "35. Mideast salad, in one spelling"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "36. Simon the Zealot, e.g."

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an ardent early supporter of a cause or reform
  • Similar words include: Apostelic Father
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APOSTLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "37. Sparkly bits in a school art project"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the quality of shining with a bright reflected light
  • Similar words include: coruscation, scintillation, glisten
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GLITTER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "38. Like some deliveries"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (of pitches) made with the arm moving parallel to the ground
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIDEARM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "39. Holder of all the digits, from 1 to 0"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a keyboard that is a data input device for computers; arrangement of keys is modelled after the typewriter keyboard
  • Similar words include: computer keyboard
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KEYPAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "41. Stage-left orchestra section"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large stringed instrument; seated player holds it upright while playing
  • Similar words include: violoncello, cello
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CELLOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "43. Coccyx or phalange, e.g."

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates
  • Similar words include: swot, swot up, ivory
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "44. Unwelcome sound during a dream"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fear resulting from the awareness of danger
  • Similar words include: warning device, appal, appall
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALARM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "45. Brown tint"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a shade of brown with a tinge of red
  • Similar words include: mahogany, genus Sepia, Venetian red
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEPIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "46. Construct"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that construct, build, or erect
  • Similar words include: set up, raise, vertical
  • Opposite of: unerect, level
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERECT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "47. Art movement proclaimed in a 1916 manifesto"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
  • Similar words include: pa, pop, daddy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DADA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "50. May honorees"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that informal terms for a mother
  • Similar words include: mommy, mammy, mummy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "51. Outdoor item with flaps"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a portable shelter (usually of canvas stretched over supporting poles and fastened to the ground with ropes and pegs)
  • Similar words include: collapsible shelter, bivouac, encamp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TENT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "54. Took a load off"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the sabbath by jews and some christians
  • Similar words include: posture, sit, Saturday
  • Opposite of: arise, stand
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "55. 2011 platinum single by Tyler, the Creator"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Expert Solving Strategies

Start Smart

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

Decode the Clues

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

Use Cross-References

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

Build Vocabulary

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

Today's Puzzle Stats

29 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
68 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: October 16, 2026 at 08:20 AM

Saturday, September 12, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers September 12, 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. Light dΓ©cor 10
2A 11. Last place? 4
3A 15. Pop-up with an envelope icon 10
4A 16. Round figure 4
5A 17. Winner's circle? 10
6A 18. Take two 4
7A 19. Hyperfixated 6
8A 20. "Thick ___ Brick" (1972 Jethro Tull album) 3
9A 21. Earth's pull, informally 4
10A 22. On the ___ (free) 5
11A 23. Thumbs-down votes in the Duma 5
12A 25. Why wait? 3
13A 26. Personal circumstances, so to speak 5
14A 28. Justice who's the subject of the 2026 biography "Revenge for the Sixties" 5
15A 30. Rolls out the green carpet? 4
16A 34. First full word sung in "The Alphabet Song" 3
17A 35. Proverbial small amount 6
18A 36. "Now we're talking!" 15
19A 39. Capers 6
20A 40. Common ___ 3
21A 41. Rowing machines, in gym lingo 4
22A 42. "Schitt's Creek" matriarch 5
23A 43. Really hurts 5
24A 45. Rout, in computer game lingo 3
25A 46. Word with letter or grant 5
26A 48. Toothbrush handle? 5
27A 53. Smokes 4
28A 55. N.B.A. coach Jordan ___ 3
29A 56. Punnily named production company behind TV's "Insecure" and "A Black Lady Sketch Show" 6
30A 57. Stat 4
31A 58. Common sleep aid 10
32A 60. Acquire by default? 4
33A 61. Math class assignment 10
34A 62. Labor, e.g.: Abbr. 4
35A 63. Appliances that are always blowing out? 10

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Light dΓ©cor"

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protective ornamental shade used to screen a light bulb from direct view
  • Similar words include: lampshade, lamp shade
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAMPSHADES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "11. Last place?"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a place for the burial of a corpse (especially beneath the ground and marked by a tombstone)
  • Similar words include: grave
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOMB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "15. Pop-up with an envelope icon"

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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4A: "16. Round figure"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

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, ovate, prolate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "17. Winner's circle?"

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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6A: "18. Take two"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that do over, as of (part of) a house
  • Similar words include: remake, remodel, refashion
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "19. Hyperfixated"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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8A: "20. "Thick ___ Brick" (1972 Jethro Tull album)"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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9A: "21. Earth's pull, informally"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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10A: "22. On the ___ (free)"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that grant freedom to; free from confinement
  • Similar words include: unaffixed, at large, relax
  • Opposite of: confine, stiffen
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOOSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Thumbs-down votes in the Duma"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "25. Why wait?"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the extreme end of something; especially something pointed
  • Similar words include: confidential information, wind, bakshish
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "26. Personal circumstances, so to speak"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a particular situation
  • Similar words include: shoe, horseshoe, brake shoe
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHOES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Justice who's the subject of the 2026 biography "Revenge for the Sixties""

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Rolls out the green carpet?"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
  • Similar words include: sod, turf, sodomite
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SODS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "34. First full word sung in "The Alphabet Song""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "35. Proverbial small amount"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very small quantity of something
  • Similar words include: lowlife, rotter, crumb
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CRUMBS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "36. "Now we're talking!""

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "39. Capers"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement
  • Similar words include: trick, put-on, caper
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTICS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "40. Common ___"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
  • Similar words include: epoch, earned run average, geological era
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. Rowing machines, in gym lingo"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cgs unit of work or energy; the work done by a force of one dyne acting over a distance of one centimeter
  • Similar words include: erg
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "42. "Schitt's Creek" matriarch"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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23A: "43. Really hurts"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration or mutilation
  • Similar words include: maim
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAIMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "45. Rout, in computer game lingo"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "46. Word with letter or grant"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides)
  • Similar words include: deflect, forget, embarrass
  • Opposite of: unstuff, unblock
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLOCK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "48. Toothbrush handle?"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "53. Smokes"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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28A: "55. N.B.A. coach Jordan ___"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "56. Punnily named production company behind TV's "Insecure" and "A Black Lady Sketch Show""

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "57. Stat"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that as soon as possible
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "58. Common sleep aid"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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32A: "60. Acquire by default?"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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33A: "61. Math class assignment"

10 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "62. Labor, e.g.: Abbr."

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "63. Appliances that are always blowing out?"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Carpenter's tool 5
2D 2. ___ acid 5
3D 3. Kind of photography lens for a close-up 5
4D 4. Wraps in the Mideast 5
5D 5. Certain geometry calculations 6
6D 6. Playwright Moss ___ 4
7D 7. Gymnast Raisman 3
8D 8. What a joke may get eventually 15
9D 9. Takes marks off in a classroom? 6
10D 10. Mid-March V.I.P., informally 5
11D 11. "Surf" food in Japan, or "turf" animal in Spain 4
12D 12. Kitchen counter 9
13D 13. Became a household name, say 9
14D 14. Examples of media on Medium 9
15D 23. Many a listing in an etiquette book 4
16D 24. Wrap in South Asia 4
17D 27. Actors unsuited for subtle roles 4
18D 29. Country singer Combs 4
19D 30. Rewards program tracker 9
20D 31. "It's finally clear" 9
21D 32. Phone connector? 9
22D 33. Arouse 4
23D 35. Simoleon 4
24D 37. Labor pain? 4
25D 38. Journalist Larson who wrote "The Splendid and the Vile" 4
26D 43. Godzilla adversary 6
27D 44. Longhorn's rival 6
28D 47. Acidic 5
29D 49. Capacious 5
30D 50. Surface 5
31D 51. Pointer for a public speaker 5
32D 52. Sources of the juice that "bleeds" in a faux meat patty 5
33D 54. Tough thing to be in 4
34D 56. Stayed together 4
35D 59. Placeholder abbr. 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Carpenter's tool"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality
  • Similar words include: stratum, plane, tied
  • Opposite of: raise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEVEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. ___ acid"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Kind of photography lens for a close-up"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a single computer instruction that results in a series of instructions in machine language
  • Similar words include: macro instruction
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MACRO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Wraps in the Mideast"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that usually small round bread that can open into a pocket for filling
  • Similar words include: pita, pocket bread
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PITAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Certain geometry calculations"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an elevated geological formation
  • Similar words include: squelch, squish, splosh
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLOPES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Playwright Moss ___"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states playwright who collaborated with george s. kaufman (1904-1961)
  • Similar words include: stag, Lorenz Hart, Moss Hart
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HART

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Gymnast Raisman"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. What a joke may get eventually"

15 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Takes marks off in a classroom?"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that remove from memory or existence
  • Similar words include: delete, rub out, wipe out
  • Opposite of: record
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERASES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Mid-March V.I.P., informally"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. "Surf" food in Japan, or "turf" animal in Spain"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Kitchen counter"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Became a household name, say"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. Examples of media on Medium"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "23. Many a listing in an etiquette book"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. Wrap in South Asia"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a dress worn primarily by hindu women; consists of several yards of light material that is draped around the body
  • Similar words include: saree
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SARI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "27. Actors unsuited for subtle roles"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)
  • Similar words include: ham actor, ham, overplay
  • Opposite of: underact
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "29. Country singer Combs"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (new testament) the apostle closely associated with st. paul and traditionally assumed to be the author of the third gospel
  • Similar words include: Saint Luke, Gospel of Luke, Gospel According to Luke
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LUKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "30. Rewards program tracker"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "31. "It's finally clear""

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. Phone connector?"

9 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "33. Arouse"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a prominent or sensational but short-lived news event
  • Similar words include: shake, put forward, ado
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Simoleon"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud; the shell closes with viselike firmness
  • Similar words include: dollar bill, buck, dollar
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLAM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. Labor pain?"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
  • Similar words include: rat, strikebreaker, fink
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCAB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Journalist Larson who wrote "The Splendid and the Vile""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "43. Godzilla adversary"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "44. Longhorn's rival"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a native or resident of oklahoma
  • Similar words include: Oklahoman, preferably, rather
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOONER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "47. Acidic"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "49. Capacious"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an associate who shares a room with you
  • Similar words include: roomie, spacious, roommate
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROOMY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "50. Surface"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that come into existence; take on form or shape
  • Similar words include: lift, originate, rise up
  • Opposite of: sit down, go to bed
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARISE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "51. Pointer for a public speaker"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

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!

32D: "52. Sources of the juice that "bleeds" in a faux meat patty"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that biennial eurasian plant usually having a swollen edible root; widely cultivated as a food crop
  • Similar words include: Beta vulgaris, common beet, beetroot
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "54. Tough thing to be in"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a point located with respect to surface features of some region
  • Similar words include: stain, smirch, make out
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "56. Stayed together"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that keep in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g.,
  • Similar words include: book, bind, concur
  • Opposite of: disagree, let go of
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HELD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "59. Placeholder abbr."

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Expert Solving Strategies

Start Smart

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

Decode the Clues

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

Use Cross-References

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

Build Vocabulary

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

Today's Puzzle Stats

35 Across Clues
35 Down Clues
70 Total Clues

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Last updated: September 12, 2026 at 08:01 AM