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Thursday, August 20, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers August 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. Sound like heaven 4
2A 5. Game of observation for travel 6
3A 11. Ad free 3
4A 14. Brief in pants 4
5A 15. Correct thoroughly 6
6A 16. Bad feel 3
7A 17. Try to place connoisseurs? 11
8A 19. Cells in compound 3
9A 20. Checks with style 5
10A 21. To cop 3
11A 22. Competition, for starters 5
12A 24. York ___ 5
13A 26. Place recording 6
14A 27. Signals over game 5
15A 29. Maturity approaching 5
16A 31. Crows to relatives 6
17A 32. Free booze 3
18A 33. Confidentiality of letters? 4
19A 37. "Done well" 5
20A 38. Short for "info flight" 3
21A 39. Sponge bath 5
22A 40. Nothing doing 4
23A 41. Say "minus C" 3
24A 42. Set off 6
25A 43. Practice Japanese 5
26A 45. Equal roughly 5
27A 46. Into light 6
28A 49. Nags about noise? 5
29A 51. Land of Spot 5
30A 52. On-off signs 3
31A 53. Lines some over draw 5
32A 57. For repentance some feel 3
33A 58. Details insignificant contests 11
34A 61. Spending limits it 3
35A 62. Forum discussion, popular once 6
36A 63. Cut short 4
37A 64. Rock-___ 3
38A 65. Out with ate, ate, ate 6
39A 66. Website gift custom 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Sound like heaven"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chordophone that has a triangular frame consisting of a sounding board and a pillar and a curved neck; the strings stretched between the neck and the soundbox are plucked with the fingers
  • Similar words include: dwell, mouth organ, mouth harp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Game of observation for travel"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an overland journey by hunters (especially in africa)
  • Similar words include: hunting expedition, campaign
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAFARI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "11. Ad free"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protein manufactured exclusively by the prostate gland; psa is produced for the ejaculate where it liquifies the semen and allows sperm cells to swim freely; elevated levels of psa in blood serum are associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer
  • Similar words include: prostate specific antigen
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Brief in pants"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Correct thoroughly"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Bad feel"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that aromatic bulb used as seasoning
  • Similar words include: garlic, trouble, pain
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Try to place connoisseurs?"

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Cells in compound"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (biochemistry) a long linear polymer of nucleotides found in the nucleus but mainly in the cytoplasm of a cell where it is associated with microsomes; it transmits genetic information from dna to the cytoplasm and controls certain chemical processes in the cell
  • Similar words include: ribonucleic acid
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Checks with style"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cloth having a crisscross design
  • Similar words include: tartan
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLAID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. To cop"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have ownership or possession of
  • Similar words include: have, possess, ain
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OWN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. Competition, for starters"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. York ___"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "26. Place recording"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that workplace for the teaching or practice of an art
  • Similar words include: studio apartment
  • Opposite of: location
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUDIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "27. Signals over game"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it
  • Similar words include: tusk, trump, automobile horn
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HORNS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "29. Maturity approaching"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used
  • Similar words include: mature, advanced, ripe
  • Opposite of: green
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIPER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. Crows to relatives"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large black bird with a straight bill and long wedge-shaped tail
  • Similar words include: devour, prey, guttle
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAVENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "32. Free booze"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages
  • Similar words include: wry, prohibitionist, teetotal
  • Opposite of: wet, sweet
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "33. Confidentiality of letters?"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. "Done well""

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political figure) who kills by a surprise attack and often is hired to do the deed
  • Similar words include: assassin, assassinator
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BRAVO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "38. Short for "info flight""

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "39. Sponge bath"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the dried fibrous part of the fruit of a plant of the genus luffa; used as a washing sponge or strainer
  • Similar words include: loofah, loufah sponge, luffa
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOOFA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "40. Nothing doing"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling
  • Similar words include: stagnate, dead, groundless
  • Opposite of: run, work
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "41. Say "minus C""

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "42. Set off"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bear the expenses of
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEFRAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "43. Practice Japanese"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "45. Equal roughly"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "46. Into light"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "49. Nags about noise?"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the characteristic sounds made by a horse
  • Similar words include: nicker, whinny, whicker
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEIGH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "51. Land of Spot"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small island
  • Similar words include: isle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISLET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "52. On-off signs"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in south central united states
  • Similar words include: okeh, Oklahoma, Sooner State
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "53. Lines some over draw"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a just detectable amount
  • Similar words include: decipher, hint, hunt
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRACE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "57. For repentance some feel"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that european strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
  • Similar words include: repent, regret, sorrow
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "58. Details insignificant contests"

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "61. Spending limits it"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tight-fitting headdress
  • Similar words include: hood, detonator, capital
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "62. Forum discussion, popular once"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "63. Cut short"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small piece of anything (especially a piece that has been snipped off)
  • Similar words include: nip off, clip, snippet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "64. Rock-___"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "65. Out with ate, ate, ate"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that live like a pig, in squalor
  • Similar words include: farrow, devour, guttle
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIGGED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "66. Website gift custom"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. URL starter 4
2D 2. Asian sea currently undergoing replenishment efforts 4
3D 3. Civil rights icon Parks 4
4D 4. Shift the gears of, in a way ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues 12
5D 5. ID in some data breaches 3
6D 6. Elite H.S. class covering the Constitution 5
7D 7. Visionary ... or what you'll need to return to when solving this puzzle's Down clues 15
8D 8. Loads 4
9D 9. Babe in the Hundred Acre Wood 3
10D 10. One advocated for by the National Prison Project 6
11D 11. Whittled (down) 5
12D 12. Biblical mount 5
13D 13. It's worth remembering! 5
14D 18. "No idea" 6
15D 23. Distinctive expression ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues 12
16D 25. Feature of San Francisco's Lombard Street 3
17D 26. Mole, e.g. 3
18D 27. Firm 4
19D 28. Like many cricket fields 4
20D 30. Plan to contribute to, for short 3
21D 31. One of 1,909 for Willie Mays, for short 3
22D 34. "___ the Explorer" 4
23D 35. Some distance away 4
24D 36. Declare 3
25D 38. "Oh no! A mouse!" 3
26D 39. What the second number indicates in men's jeans sizes 6
27D 41. Univ. with an annual Mystery Hunt 3
28D 42. Eager response to "Wanna join?" 3
29D 44. Goes nuts for 6
30D 46. Around 5
31D 47. Garden-variety 5
32D 48. Wasn't paying attention 5
33D 50. Lauder of cosmetics 5
34D 52. Designer Cassini 4
35D 54. "I don't really care / If ya think I'm strange / I ___ gonna change": Joan Jett 4
36D 55. N.F.L. commentator Collinsworth 4
37D 56. Arthur Ashe Courage Award, e.g. 4
38D 59. Letter after chi 3
39D 60. The "S" of E.S.T.: Abbr. 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. URL starter"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protocol (utilizing tcp) to transfer hypertext requests and information between servers and browsers
  • Similar words include: hypertext transfer protocol
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HTTP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Asian sea currently undergoing replenishment efforts"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Civil rights icon Parks"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large genus of erect or climbing prickly shrubs including roses
  • Similar words include: genus Rosa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Shift the gears of, in a way ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues"

12 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. ID in some data breaches"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Elite H.S. class covering the Constitution"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Visionary ... or what you'll need to return to when solving this puzzle's Down clues"

15 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Loads"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sun (or solar disc) which was the deity of a monotheistic cult under the pharaoh akhenaten
  • Similar words include: Aten
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Babe in the Hundred Acre Wood"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. One advocated for by the National Prison Project"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of several resident of a dwelling (especially someone confined to a prison or hospital)
  • Similar words include: yard bird, yardbird, convict
  • Opposite of: outpatient
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INMATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Whittled (down)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that decrease gradually or bit by bit
  • Similar words include: whittle, peel, trim
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Biblical mount"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mountain peak in the southern sinai peninsula (7,500 feet high); it is believed to be the peak on which moses received the ten commandments
  • Similar words include: Sinai Peninsula, Mount Sinai, Sinai Desert
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SINAI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. It's worth remembering!"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a siege and massacre at a mission in san antonio in 1836; mexican forces under santa anna besieged and massacred american rebels who were fighting to make texas independent of mexico
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALAMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. "No idea""

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "23. Distinctive expression ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues"

12 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "25. Feature of San Francisco's Lombard Street"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a radioactive transuranic element produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons
  • Similar words include: atomic number 99, E, Es
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "26. Mole, e.g."

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors
  • Similar words include: descry, undercover agent, spot
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "27. Firm"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
  • Similar words include: knockout, heavy, difficult
  • Opposite of: soft, easy
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "28. Like many cricket fields"

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "30. Plan to contribute to, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a militant organization of irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive british forces from northern ireland and achieve a united independent ireland
  • Similar words include: Provisional IRA, Irish Republican Army, wrath
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. One of 1,909 for Willie Mays, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. "___ the Explorer""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Some distance away"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old-fashioned) at or from or to a great distance; far
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "36. Declare"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the chance to speak
  • Similar words include: pronounce, articulate, aver
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. "Oh no! A mouse!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. What the second number indicates in men's jeans sizes"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place
  • Similar words include: distance, duration
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LENGTH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. Univ. with an annual Mystery Hunt"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an engineering university in cambridge
  • Similar words include: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "42. Eager response to "Wanna join?""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the united states federal department charged with conservation and the development of natural resources; created in 1849
  • Similar words include: Interior, Interior Department, Department of the Interior
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "44. Goes nuts for"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Around"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "47. Garden-variety"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure
  • Similar words include: common
  • Opposite of: unusual
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USUAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "48. Wasn't paying attention"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be able to accommodate for sleeping
  • Similar words include: sleep, log Z's, catch some Z's
  • Opposite of: wake
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLEPT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Lauder of cosmetics"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "52. Designer Cassini"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "54. "I don't really care / If ya think I'm strange / I ___ gonna change": Joan Jett"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "55. N.F.L. commentator Collinsworth"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "56. Arthur Ashe Courage Award, e.g."

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that catch sight of
  • Similar words include: descry, spy, spot
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESPY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "59. Letter after chi"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

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!

39D: "60. The "S" of E.S.T.: Abbr."

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a communicable infection transmitted by sexual intercourse or genital contact
  • Similar words include: venereal infection, dose, sexually transmitted disease
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STD

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

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Last updated: August 20, 2026 at 04:04 AM

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers August 18, 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. Assistance 4
2A 5. Dickens villain ___ Heep 5
3A 10. Bears' lairs 4
4A 14. Plant with many topical uses 4
5A 15. Downright unpleasant 5
6A 16. Meaning of "vidi," in Caesar's boast 4
7A 17. Classic Beethoven piano piece 15
8A 20. Fed. agency overseeing the stock market 3
9A 21. To blame 7
10A 22. Online Q&A 3
11A 25. ___ ex machina 4
12A 28. Home to Kosovo and Monaco: Abbr. 3
13A 29. Academy Award-winning tune from "La La Land" 11
14A 32. "Chiseled" muscles 3
15A 35. Of yore 5
16A 36. Snippet in a film review show 9
17A 38. "Looper" director Johnson 4
18A 39. Sarcastic title girl of 1990s-2000s MTV 5
19A 40. Utah skiing destination 4
20A 41. Coverers of current events 9
21A 43. Boss (around) 5
22A 44. Phoenix basketball player 3
23A 45. 1983 Eurythmics hit whose full title includes "(Are Made of This)" 11
24A 47. Popular fantasy role-playing game, in brief 3
25A 48. Spies 4
26A 49. "___-haw!" 3
27A 50. It has its x's and y's 7
28A 54. T-shirt or blouse 3
29A 56. Iconic number from "The Phantom of the Opera" ... or an apt title for this puzzle 15
30A 62. Story of one's life? 4
31A 63. Beforehand 5
32A 64. Singer Kahan with the 2026 #1 album "The Great Divide" 4
33A 65. Hot 4
34A 66. 17-, 29-, 45- and 56-Across 5
35A 67. Person regularly sought out for advice 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Assistance"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose
  • Similar words include: service, serve, assistance
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HELP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Dickens villain ___ Heep"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) the husband of bathsheba and a soldier who was sent to die in battle so that king david could marry his wife (circa 10th century bc)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: URIAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Bears' lairs"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the habitation of wild animals
  • Similar words include: hideout, hideaway, den
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Plant with many topical uses"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Downright unpleasant"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that offensive or even (of persons) malicious; ; ; ; ; ; - ezra pound
  • Similar words include: tight, awful, smutty
  • Opposite of: nice
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NASTY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Meaning of "vidi," in Caesar's boast"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Classic Beethoven piano piece"

15 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Fed. agency overseeing the stock market"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the systeme international d'unites
  • Similar words include: secant, unsweet, Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. To blame"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Online Q&A"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "25. ___ ex machina"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "28. Home to Kosovo and Monaco: Abbr."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "29. Academy Award-winning tune from "La La Land""

11 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "32. "Chiseled" muscles"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of a class of composite plastics used to make car bodies and cases for computers and other appliances
  • Similar words include: Bachelor of Arts, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, group AB
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "35. Of yore"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "36. Snippet in a film review show"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "38. "Looper" director Johnson"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "39. Sarcastic title girl of 1990s-2000s MTV"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "40. Utah skiing destination"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "41. Coverers of current events"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Boss (around)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (often plural) a command given by a superior (e.g., a military or law enforcement officer) that must be obeyed
  • Similar words include: Holy Order, tell, regulate
  • Opposite of: disorderliness, disorder
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORDER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "44. Phoenix basketball player"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
  • Similar words include: Lord's Day, sunlight, insolate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SUN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "45. 1983 Eurythmics hit whose full title includes "(Are Made of This)""

11 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "47. Popular fantasy role-playing game, in brief"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "48. Spies"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the seat within a bishop's diocese where his cathedral is located
  • Similar words include: discover, realize, meet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "49. "___-haw!""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. It has its x's and y's"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the mathematics of generalized arithmetical operations
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALGEBRA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "54. T-shirt or blouse"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the upper part of anything
  • Similar words include: tip, pinnacle, circus tent
  • Opposite of: bottom
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "56. Iconic number from "The Phantom of the Opera" ... or an apt title for this puzzle"

15 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "62. Story of one's life?"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "63. Beforehand"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the head of a religious order; in an abbey the prior is next below the abbot
  • Similar words include: anterior
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRIOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "64. Singer Kahan with the 2026 #1 album "The Great Divide""

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the hebrew patriarch who saved himself and his family and the animals by building an ark in which they survived 40 days and 40 nights of rain; the story of noah and the flood is told in the book of genesis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "65. Hot"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest
  • Similar words include: aphrodisiac, aphrodisiacal
  • Opposite of: unsexy, anaphrodisiac
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEXY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "66. 17-, 29-, 45- and 56-Across"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "67. Person regularly sought out for advice"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Scene stealer 3
2D 2. Eponym of a chess rating system 3
3D 3. British bathroom 3
4D 4. Writes 4
5D 5. International aid org. 6
6D 6. Cloth covered in dust, say 3
7D 7. "... or so" 3
8D 8. Lead-in to "boy!" or "girl!" 4
9D 9. Madness 8
10D 10. Kuwaiti currency 5
11D 11. The elder of a pair of biblical twins 4
12D 12. The "N" of N.A.A.C.P.: Abbr. 4
13D 13. Smack, as flies 4
14D 18. Gave false hopes 5
15D 19. Coming in handy 5
16D 22. Nuts whose shells look like they have little berets 6
17D 23. Environs 6
18D 24. When Hamilton and Burr had their duel 6
19D 26. Manufactured in America 6
20D 27. What gossipers and tall buildings are full of 7
21D 30. Desires 4
22D 31. Fly in the sky 6
23D 32. Like some theme park passes 6
24D 33. "Oh, buzz off" 6
25D 34. Thin on the ground 6
26D 37. Give a hoot 4
27D 39. Morning condensation 8
28D 42. Channel that rebranded with "NOW" in its name in 2025 5
29D 43. "Citizen Kane" director Welles 5
30D 46. Forfends 6
31D 47. Part of a pantheon 5
32D 50. "Famous" cookie baker 4
33D 51. Anti-friction fluid 4
34D 52. High-end private jet, familiarly 4
35D 53. Hairstyle associated with Jimi Hendrix and Angela Davis 4
36D 55. Send an instant message 4
37D 57. Sardine container 3
38D 58. Refuse to share 3
39D 59. Glop 3
40D 60. Mario has a red "M" on his 3
41D 61. Howe'er 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Scene stealer"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Eponym of a chess rating system"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. British bathroom"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a toilet in britain
  • Similar words include: W.C., closet, water closet
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Writes"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a writing implement with a point from which ink flows
  • Similar words include: pen, compose, write
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. International aid org."

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency of the united nations responsible for programs to aid education and the health of children and mothers in developing countries
  • Similar words include: United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNICEF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Cloth covered in dust, say"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small piece of cloth or paper
  • Similar words include: annoy, nettle, bawl out
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. "... or so""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Lead-in to "boy!" or "girl!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Madness"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that state of violent mental agitation
  • Similar words include: hysterical neurosis, fury, craze
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HYSTERIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Kuwaiti currency"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 100 dinars equal 1 rial in iran
  • Similar words include: Tunisian dinar, Libyan dinar, Yugoslavian dinar
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DINAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. The elder of a pair of biblical twins"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) the eldest son of isaac who would have inherited the covenant that god made with abraham and that abraham passed on to isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother jacob for a mess of pottage
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESAU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. The "N" of N.A.A.C.P.: Abbr."

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Smack, as flies"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sharp blow
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Gave false hopes"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "19. Coming in handy"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Nuts whose shells look like they have little berets"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fruit of the oak tree: a smooth thin-walled nut in a woody cup-shaped base
  • Similar words include: acorn
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACORNS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "23. Environs"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the environmental condition
  • Similar words include: surroundings
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MILIEU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "24. When Hamilton and Burr had their duel"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Manufactured in America"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. What gossipers and tall buildings are full of"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
  • Similar words include: narration, storey, tale
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STORIES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "30. Desires"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a yearning for something or to do something
  • Similar words include: hankering, yen, yearn
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "31. Fly in the sky"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that operate an airplane
  • Similar words include: pilot, fly
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVIATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "32. Like some theme park passes"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "33. "Oh, buzz off""

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "34. Thin on the ground"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Similar words include: thin
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPARSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "37. Give a hoot"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the work of providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
  • Similar words include: maintenance, wish, worry
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "39. Morning condensation"

8 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a drop of dew
  • Similar words include: dewdrop
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEWDROPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "42. Channel that rebranded with "NOW" in its name in 2025"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "43. "Citizen Kane" director Welles"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Forfends"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that try to prevent; show opposition to
  • Similar words include: dissuade, discourage, deter
  • Opposite of: persuade
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DETERS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "47. Part of a pantheon"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any supernatural being worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force
  • Similar words include: immortal, divinity, god
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEITY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "50. "Famous" cookie baker"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hebrew shepherd and minor prophet
  • Similar words include: Book of Amos
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "51. Anti-friction fluid"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a substance capable of reducing friction by making surfaces smooth or slippery
  • Similar words include: lubricating substance, lubricator, lubricate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LUBE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "52. High-end private jet, familiarly"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "53. Hairstyle associated with Jimi Hendrix and Angela Davis"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rounded thickly curled hairdo
  • Similar words include: Afro hairdo
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFRO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "55. Send an instant message"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a river in western thailand; a major tributary of the chao phraya
  • Similar words include: pink, Ping River, knock
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PING

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "57. Sardine container"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a silvery malleable metallic element that resists corrosion; used in many alloys and to coat other metals to prevent corrosion; obtained chiefly from cassiterite where it occurs as tin oxide
  • Similar words include: can, atomic number 50, canister
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "58. Refuse to share"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person regarded as greedy and pig-like
  • Similar words include: hogget, grunter, squealer
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "59. Glop"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any thick, viscous matter
  • Similar words include: ooze, gunk, gook
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "60. Mario has a red "M" on his"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim
  • Similar words include: chapeau, lid
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "61. Howe'er"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a branch of the tai languages
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THO

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
41 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

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Last updated: August 18, 2026 at 04:03 AM