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Monday, October 5, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers October 05, 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. Write on stone, maybe 4
2A 5. Request at the bottom of an invitation 4
3A 9. Follower of Jah, informally 5
4A 14. "Me neither" 4
5A 15. Great Plains tribe 4
6A 16. Set of moral principles 5
7A 17. Famous ___ cookies 4
8A 18. Downfall in pinball 4
9A 19. Course for future therapists, for short 5
10A 20. Spot to work out knotted muscles 12
11A 23. U.F.O. occupants, in brief 3
12A 24. Yank 3
13A 25. Reach quickly, as a conclusion 6
14A 29. Internet meme feline 6
15A 31. "___ your mouth!" 4
16A 33. Stadium cheer 3
17A 34. Holiday at the end of Ramadan, informally 3
18A 35. Memphis barbecue staple 9
19A 37. Military rank above cpl. 3
20A 38. Tusked animals 5
21A 39. Squiggle shape 3
22A 40. Key to Aladdin's success 9
23A 42. ___ Paulo, Brazil 3
24A 43. Before, poetically 3
25A 44. Acorn growers 4
26A 45. Dress seen at Oktoberfest 6
27A 48. Black ___ (some spiders) 6
28A 50. Mental cloud 3
29A 51. Drag performer's accessory 3
30A 52. "Ah, that's where things get difficult" ... or what can be said about 20-, 35- and 40-Across? 12
31A 56. Singer Baker 5
32A 59. When Fantine sings "I Dreamed a Dream" in "Les Misérables" 4
33A 60. Block toy with its own chain of theme parks 4
34A 61. Bathroom door sign 5
35A 62. Occasion for a teen to rent a tux 4
36A 63. Spot for a wolf pack 4
37A 64. Weapon in a scabbard 5
38A 65. Manager of an apt. bldg. 4
39A 66. Squeaks (by) 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Write on stone, maybe"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make an etching of
  • Similar words include: engrave
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Request at the bottom of an invitation"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Follower of Jah, informally"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that follower of rastafarianism
  • Similar words include: Rastafarian
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RASTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. "Me neither""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Great Plains tribe"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of the siouan people inhabiting the valleys of the platte and missouri rivers in nebraska
  • Similar words include: Oto
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OTOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Set of moral principles"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group
  • Similar words include: value orientation, ethical code, moral principle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETHIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Famous ___ cookies"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

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!

8A: "18. Downfall in pinball"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a combat between two mounted knights tilting against each other with blunted lances
  • Similar words include: angle, disceptation, leaning
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TILT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "19. Course for future therapists, for short"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "20. Spot to work out knotted muscles"

12 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. U.F.O. occupants, in brief"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Yank"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sudden abrupt pull
  • Similar words include: tugboat, labour, tower
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Reach quickly, as a conclusion"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. Internet meme feline"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. "___ your mouth!""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that move so that an opening or passage is obstructed; make shut
  • Similar words include: shut out, keep out, closed
  • Opposite of: admit, open
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHUT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Stadium cheer"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Holiday at the end of Ramadan, informally"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. Memphis barbecue staple"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that baked or roasted with a spicy sauce
  • Similar words include: sparerib, barbecued spareribs
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPARERIBS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. Military rank above cpl."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "38. Tusked animals"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that old world wild swine having a narrow body and prominent tusks from which most domestic swine come; introduced in united states
  • Similar words include: boar, Sus scrofa, wild boar
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOARS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "39. Squiggle shape"

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, Es, E
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "40. Key to Aladdin's success"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "42. ___ Paulo, Brazil"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "43. Before, poetically"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "44. Acorn growers"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
  • Similar words include: oak, oak tree
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "45. Dress seen at Oktoberfest"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a full skirt with a gathered waistband
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIRNDL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "48. Black ___ (some spiders)"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
  • Similar words include: widow woman, widow
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WIDOWS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "50. Mental cloud"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that droplets of water vapor suspended in the air near the ground
  • Similar words include: murkiness, obnubilate, obscure
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "51. Drag performer's accessory"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long thin fluffy scarf of feathers or fur
  • Similar words include: feather boa
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "52. "Ah, that's where things get difficult" ... or what can be said about 20-, 35- and 40-Across?"

12 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "56. Singer Baker"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "59. When Fantine sings "I Dreamed a Dream" in "Les Misérables""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "60. Block toy with its own chain of theme parks"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (trademark) a child's plastic construction set for making mechanical models
  • Similar words include: Lego set
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "61. Bathroom door sign"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
  • Similar words include: womanhood, charwoman, fair sex
  • Opposite of: man
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WOMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "62. Occasion for a teen to rent a tux"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a formal ball held for a school class toward the end of the academic year
  • Similar words include: promenade
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PROM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "63. Spot for a wolf pack"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "64. Weapon in a scabbard"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cutting or thrusting weapon that has a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand guard
  • Similar words include: blade, brand, steel
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWORD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "65. Manager of an apt. bldg."

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "66. Squeaks (by)"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Tooth covering 6
2D 2. Fruit, botanically, that's treated as a vegetable 6
3D 3. One way to sit while meditating 11
4D 4. Snake's warning 4
5D 5. Cheap hooch 6
6D 6. ___ Larsson, author of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" 5
7D 7. Bygone electric Chevy 4
8D 8. Org. that advocates for "cruelty-free" products 4
9D 9. Filled to the gills 7
10D 10. Completely lost 5
11D 11. Not likely to make the first move, say 3
12D 12. Unconscious mannerism 3
13D 13. German outburst 3
14D 21. Slightly 4
15D 22. Things you might see when you're not wearing glasses 5
16D 26. Escape from jail 11
17D 27. Clickables at the top of a computer screen 4
18D 28. Exclamations of surprise 3
19D 30. Commercial lead-in to card 4
20D 31. Inundates with junk mail 5
21D 32. Musical instrument in the Guinness logo 4
22D 35. Luxuriate in a bathtub 4
23D 36. "___ Window" 4
24D 37. South Asian dress 4
25D 38. Nonchalant 5
26D 40. Kitten's call 3
27D 41. Ranch worker 7
28D 42. [Oh, well] 4
29D 45. Serve a jail sentence 6
30D 46. Dance craze of the 2010s 6
31D 47. Hercules had 12 of these 6
32D 49. Playful aquatic animal 5
33D 50. Camera lens setting 5
34D 53. Emulates Big Boi and Lil' Kim 4
35D 54. Light beige 4
36D 55. Woods of "Legally Blonde" 4
37D 56. Reactions to something adorable 3
38D 57. "Immediately!" 3
39D 58. "If you ask me ...," to a texter 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Tooth covering"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hard white substance covering the crown of a tooth
  • Similar words include: tooth enamel
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENAMEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Fruit, botanically, that's treated as a vegetable"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that mildly acid red or yellow pulpy fruit eaten as a vegetable
  • Similar words include: Lycopersicon esculentum, tomato plant, love apple
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOMATO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. One way to sit while meditating"

11 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Snake's warning"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval)
  • Similar words include: razz, fizzle, hushing
  • Opposite of: applaud
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HISS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Cheap hooch"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any alcoholic beverage of inferior quality
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROTGUT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. ___ Larsson, author of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo""

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Bygone electric Chevy"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of potential equal to the potential difference between two points on a conductor carrying a current of 1 ampere when the power dissipated between the two points is 1 watt; equivalent to the potential difference across a resistance of 1 ohm when 1 ampere of current flows through it
  • Similar words include: V
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VOLT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Org. that advocates for "cruelty-free" products"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Filled to the gills"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fill to satisfaction
  • Similar words include: sate, full, instinct
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REPLETE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Completely lost"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Not likely to make the first move, say"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a quick throw
  • Similar words include: diffident, timid, unsure
  • Opposite of: confident
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Unconscious mannerism"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a local and habitual twitching especially in the face
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. German outburst"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "21. Slightly"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Things you might see when you're not wearing glasses"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hazy or indistinct representation
  • Similar words include: slur, blur, obnubilate
  • Opposite of: focus
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLURS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "26. Escape from jail"

11 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an escape from jail
  • Similar words include: breakout, jailbreak, gaolbreak
  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRISONBREAK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "27. Clickables at the top of a computer screen"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bill in a restaurant
  • Similar words include: tabloid, chit, tablet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TABS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. Exclamations of surprise"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a midwestern state in north central united states in the great lakes region
  • Similar words include: Ohio, OH, Buckeye State
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OHS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "30. Commercial lead-in to card"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "31. Inundates with junk mail"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a canned meat made largely from pork
  • Similar words include: Spam, spam, junk e-mail
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. Musical instrument in the Guinness logo"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

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: mouth organ, mouth harp, dwell
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "35. Luxuriate in a bathtub"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid)
  • Similar words include: surcharge, sop, dowse
  • Opposite of: undercharge
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOAK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. "___ Window""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the back of a military formation or procession
  • Similar words include: tooshie, tail end, hind end
  • Opposite of: front, head
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. South Asian dress"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

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!

25D: "38. Nonchalant"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that very sophisticated especially because of surfeit; versed in the ways of the world
  • Similar words include: bored, worldly
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLASE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "40. Kitten's call"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sound made by a cat (or any sound resembling this)
  • Similar words include: sea mew, miaou, meow
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. Ranch worker"

7 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback
  • Similar words include: cowherd, puncher, cowpuncher
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COWHAND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "42. [Oh, well]"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an utterance made by exhaling audibly
  • Similar words include: suspire, suspiration
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIGH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "45. Serve a jail sentence"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Dance craze of the 2010s"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "47. Hercules had 12 of these"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
  • Similar words include: Labour, task, labor movement
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LABORS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. Playful aquatic animal"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fur of an otter
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OTTER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Camera lens setting"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "53. Emulates Big Boi and Lil' Kim"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reproach for some lapse or misdeed
  • Similar words include: knap, pink, knock
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "54. Light beige"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a very light brown
  • Similar words include: beige
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ECRU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "55. Woods of "Legally Blonde""

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "56. Reactions to something adorable"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "57. "Immediately!""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the momentary present
  • Similar words include: straightaway, straight off, nowadays
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "58. "If you ask me ...," to a texter"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

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.

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

Today's Puzzle Stats

39 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

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Last updated: October 05, 2026 at 10:40 AM

Sunday, August 2, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers August 02, 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. Pen name 3
2A 4. Garment whose name is a homophone for a board game 4
3A 8. Keywords accompanying a YouTube video, say 4
4A 12. Bellyaches 5
5A 17. Listing of what's on tap 4
6A 18. Story 4
7A 19. It's right around the present 4
8A 20. Phone notifications 6
9A 22. "For our ad, how should we list the car that we found in the ditch?" 14
10A 25. Massachusetts city named for a colonial patriot 6
11A 26. Like phone numbers in infomercials 8
12A 27. Team players 8
13A 29. Boggy place 3
14A 30. Rightmost word on the front of a penny 5
15A 31. Their horns don't honk 4
16A 33. Kerfuffles 4
17A 34. Moccasin decoration 4
18A 35. "Physics is like ___: Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it" (quote attributed to Richard Feynman) 3
19A 36. Ankle part 6
20A 39. "... and how do we add that it was just struck by lightning?" 9
21A 41. "You will be ___" 6
22A 42. What's to be with Québec? 4
23A 43. Focus of many a small private college 4
24A 44. "... and that the tailpipe is dragging on the ground?" 12
25A 49. 19th-century school item 5
26A 51. Emulates Cicero 6
27A 52. Food or water 4
28A 54. Cover with a black rectangle, say 6
29A 58. Useful pointers? 5
30A 59. Rascal 5
31A 62. Tech models since 1998 5
32A 65. Country with the all-time greatest number of medals at the Winter Olympics: Abbr. 3
33A 66. Quickbeam and Leaflock, in fantasy 4
34A 67. "... and what about the leaky roof?" 11
35A 69. Point of intersection 4
36A 70. "Here ___!" 3
37A 71. Mideast language 5
38A 72. Surprising result 5
39A 73. Pretend 5
40A 74. Achilles, e.g. 6
41A 76. Family nickname comparable to the Yiddish "bubbe" 4
42A 78. Smooth, now 6
43A 79. Gains prominence 5
44A 82. "... and the broken door locks?" 12
45A 86. "___ just in ..." 4
46A 88. Big name in plastic 4
47A 90. Rudimentary seeds 6
48A 91. "... and the defective speaker system?" 9
49A 93. Rudimentary 6
50A 94. Calling card, for short? 3
51A 97. Safari destinations? 4
52A 98. Drink in a red, white and blue cup 4
53A 99. Donahue on TV Guide's list of "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time" 4
54A 100. Yemeni neighbor 5
55A 102. Old gridiron org. for the Boston Patriots 3
56A 103. End of "Our Town" or "A Doll's House" 8
57A 105. Spectacular flops 8
58A 108. Upholsterer's sample 6
59A 110. "... and finally, the missing front tires?" 14
60A 112. Capital of Zimbabwe 6
61A 113. Pupil's surroundings 4
62A 114. Like toms and drakes 4
63A 115. State as fact 4
64A 116. U-Haul alternative 5
65A 117. Legend who occasionally used his head to achieve greatness 4
66A 118. SoCal sch. 4
67A 119. Pink part of a Mr. Potato Head set 3

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Pen name"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "4. Garment whose name is a homophone for a board game"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

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!

3A: "8. Keywords accompanying a YouTube video, say"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a label written or printed on paper, cardboard, or plastic that is attached to something to indicate its owner, nature, price, etc.
  • Similar words include: tail, give chase, tag end
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "12. Bellyaches"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the lean flesh of a fish that is often farmed; can be baked or braised
  • Similar words include: chicane, cavil, carp
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CARPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "17. Listing of what's on tap"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a list of dishes available at a restaurant
  • Similar words include: bill of fare, carte du jour, computer menu
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MENU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "18. Story"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a relative position or degree of value in a graded group
  • Similar words include: tier up, grade, level
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "19. It's right around the present"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cloak that is folded or wrapped around a person
  • Similar words include: roll, twine, enfold
  • Opposite of: unwind, unwrap
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WRAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Phone notifications"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that condition of heightened watchfulness or preparation for action
  • Similar words include: warning signal, alerting, alarum
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALERTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "22. "For our ad, how should we list the car that we found in the ditch?""

14 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "25. Massachusetts city named for a colonial patriot"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that american silversmith remembered for his midnight ride (celebrated in a poem by longfellow) to warn the colonists in lexington and concord that british troops were coming (1735-1818)
  • Similar words include: venerate, idolize, revers
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REVERE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "26. Like phone numbers in infomercials"

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "27. Team players"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person trained to compete in sports
  • Similar words include: athlete, jock
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATHLETES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "29. Boggy place"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 100 fen equal 1 yuan in china
  • Similar words include: fenland, marsh, marshland
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "30. Rightmost word on the front of a penny"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something (as property) held by one party (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary)
  • Similar words include: corporate trust, confide, reliance
  • Opposite of: mistrust, distrust
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRUST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Their horns don't honk"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible
  • Similar words include: chock up, jam, RAM
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Kerfuffles"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rapid active commotion
  • Similar words include: hustle, flurry, bustle
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Moccasin decoration"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small ball with a hole through the middle
  • Similar words include: beadwork, drop, astragal
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. "Physics is like ___: Sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it" (quote attributed to Richard Feynman)"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that activities associated with sexual intercourse
  • Similar words include: sexual urge, gender, turn on
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "36. Ankle part"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the part of the foot of a vertebrate between the metatarsus and the leg; in human beings the bones of the ankle and heel collectively
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TARSUS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "39. "... and how do we add that it was just struck by lightning?""

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. "You will be ___""

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
  • Similar words include: drop, neglect, lack
  • Opposite of: hit, have
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MISSED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "42. What's to be with Québec?"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "43. Focus of many a small private college"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills)
  • Similar words include: nontextual matter, artistry, artistic creation
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "44. "... and that the tailpipe is dragging on the ground?""

12 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "49. 19th-century school item"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (formerly) a writing tablet made of slate
  • Similar words include: slating, ticket
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "51. Emulates Cicero"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that talk pompously
  • Similar words include: orate
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORATES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "52. Food or water"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a condition requiring relief
  • Similar words include: ask, indigence, want
  • Opposite of: obviate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "54. Cover with a black rectangle, say"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who puts text into appropriate form for publication
  • Similar words include: redactor, frame, rewriter
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REDACT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "58. Useful pointers?"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that mechanical device attached to an elevated structure; rotates freely to show the direction of the wind
  • Similar words include: weather vane, weathervane, web
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VANES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "59. Rascal"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one who is playfully mischievous
  • Similar words include: monkey, scallywag, imp
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCAMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "62. Tech models since 1998"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "65. Country with the all-time greatest number of medals at the Winter Olympics: Abbr."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "66. Quickbeam and Leaflock, in fantasy"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "67. "... and what about the leaky roof?""

11 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "69. Point of intersection"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "70. "Here ___!""

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "71. Mideast language"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person of iranian descent
  • Similar words include: Persian
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FARSI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "72. Surprising result"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an unhappy and worried mental state
  • Similar words include: disconcert, discomfit, disturbance
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UPSET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "73. Pretend"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make believe with the intent to deceive
  • Similar words include: assume, dissemble, affect
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEIGN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40A: "74. Achilles, e.g."

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment
  • Similar words include: sinew
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TENDON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41A: "76. Family nickname comparable to the Yiddish "bubbe""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

42A: "78. Smooth, now"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that press and smooth with a heated iron
  • Similar words include: press, iron, iron out
  • Opposite of: unironed
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRONED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

43A: "79. Gains prominence"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a growth in strength or number or importance
  • Similar words include: wax, stand up, lift
  • Opposite of: go to bed, descent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RISES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

44A: "82. "... and the broken door locks?""

12 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

45A: "86. "___ just in ...""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

46A: "88. Big name in plastic"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an endorsement made in a passport that allows the bearer to enter the country issuing it
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VISA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

47A: "90. Rudimentary seeds"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small body that contains the female germ cell of a plant; develops into a seed after fertilization
  • Similar words include: ovule
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVULES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

48A: "91. "... and the defective speaker system?""

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

49A: "93. Rudimentary"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that serving as an essential component
  • Similar words include: primordial, central, cardinal
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRIMAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

50A: "94. Calling card, for short?"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

51A: "97. Safari destinations?"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the address of a web page on the world wide web
  • Similar words include: URL, uniform resource locator, universal resource locator
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: URLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

52A: "98. Drink in a red, white and blue cup"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

53A: "99. Donahue on TV Guide's list of "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time""

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

54A: "100. Yemeni neighbor"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a native or inhabitant of oman
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OMANI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

55A: "102. Old gridiron org. for the Boston Patriots"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a federation of north american labor unions that merged with the congress of industrial organizations in 1955
  • Similar words include: American Federation of Labor
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

56A: "103. End of "Our Town" or "A Doll's House""

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

57A: "105. Spectacular flops"

8 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sudden and violent collapse
  • Similar words include: thrashing, slaughter, fiasco
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEBACLES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

58A: "108. Upholsterer's sample"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sample piece of cloth
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWATCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

59A: "110. "... and finally, the missing front tires?""

14 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

60A: "112. Capital of Zimbabwe"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the capital and largest city of zimbabwe
  • Similar words include: capital of Zimbabwe, Salisbury
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

61A: "113. Pupil's surroundings"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

62A: "114. Like toms and drakes"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova)
  • Similar words include: manlike, male person, manly
  • Opposite of: female
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MALE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

63A: "115. State as fact"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that report or maintain
  • Similar words include: say, allege, assert
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

64A: "116. U-Haul alternative"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

65A: "117. Legend who occasionally used his head to achieve greatness"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

66A: "118. SoCal sch."

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

67A: "119. Pink part of a Mr. Potato Head set"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Caption below the first of two photos 6
2D 2. Opposite of exodus 6
3D 3. Dumbbell exercises 5
4D 4. Giant or dwarf 4
5D 5. ___-de-camp 4
6D 6. Backs out, say 8
7D 7. Indignation 3
8D 8. Ninnies 5
9D 9. What someone flat-footed lacks 4
10D 10. Like an honorable knight 7
11D 11. They might be on one's radar 8
12D 12. Pet 6
13D 13. Porters, for example 4
14D 14. Race prior to a race? 3
15D 15. Fifth-year student leader at Hogwarts 7
16D 16. Barely runs? 7
17D 17. Fruit snack brand 5
18D 21. Excites 5
19D 23. Again and again, in verse 8
20D 24. Over-the-top performers 4
21D 28. Item on a rack 5
22D 32. Mercedes alternative 4
23D 34. Idly doodling, maybe 5
24D 37. How the car in this puzzle's theme would be sold 4
25D 38. Blog feed letters 3
26D 40. Disrelishes and then some 5
27D 41. Hands (out) 5
28D 42. Linguistic suffix 3
29D 44. "Fabulous!" 6
30D 45. It has a rind but supposedly no rhyme 6
31D 46. Deliberately malicious 6
32D 47. Opposite of "You'll pay for that!"? 4
33D 48. God who aids the Trojan fleet in the first book of the "Aeneid" 7
34D 50. Long stories have them 4
35D 53. Runs out of gas 4
36D 55. Divinely elect 6
37D 56. Old yeller? 6
38D 57. Faddish 6
39D 59. California's Big ___ 3
40D 60. Keeps in the loop, electronically 3
41D 61. Similar (to) 4
42D 63. Pioneering astronaut Jemison 3
43D 64. "The Good Wife" figure: Abbr. 3
44D 67. Declares off limits 4
45D 68. Fix a litter problem? 4
46D 69. Show signs 5
47D 71. Palm off (on) 5
48D 73. Mooch 8
49D 75. Hangs on a clothesline 5
50D 77. Isis Naija Gaston, ___ Ice Spice 3
51D 78. Madonna's "La ___ Bonita" 4
52D 80. Kick out 5
53D 81. Planned detour 8
54D 83. "Shark Tank" shark Greiner 4
55D 84. Horror franchise that includes 1992's "Army of Darkness" 8
56D 85. It all adds up to this 3
57D 86. "West Side Story" conflict 7
58D 87. Edmund who wrote "View From the Summit" 7
59D 89. "Now, wait just one minute!" 7
60D 91. Suppress 5
61D 92. Like cheesecake vis-à-vis sponge cake 6
62D 93. "That was a close one!" 4
63D 94. What wets the appetite? 6
64D 95. "The idea!" 6
65D 96. Penny pincher 5
66D 99. Intrinsically 5
67D 101. Jazz singer Carmen 5
68D 103. Part of a plot, at times 4
69D 104. The third one is dangerous 4
70D 106. Once-common fish in the Thames 4
71D 107. Veal cordon ___ 4
72D 109. Smidgen 3
73D 111. Inits. at sea 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Caption below the first of two photos"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that earlier in time; previously
  • Similar words include: earlier, in front, ahead
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEFORE

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2D: "2. Opposite of exodus"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the process of flowing in
  • Similar words include: inflow
  • Opposite of: outflow, efflux
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INFLUX

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3D: "3. Dumbbell exercises"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals)
  • Similar words include: roll, coil, ringlet
  • Opposite of: uncoil
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CURLS

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4D: "4. Giant or dwarf"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
  • Similar words include: starring, prima, superstar
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAR

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5D: "5. ___-de-camp"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer
  • Similar words include: auxiliary, aide-de-camp, adjutant
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIDE

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6D: "6. Backs out, say"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a relation of direct opposition
  • Similar words include: lift, invert, vacate
  • Opposite of: obverse
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REVERSES

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7D: "7. Indignation"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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8D: "8. Ninnies"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who is regarded as contemptible
  • Similar words include: tease, tantalise, twerp
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TWITS

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9D: "9. What someone flat-footed lacks"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening
  • Similar words include: impish, implike, mischievous
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARCH

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10D: "10. Like an honorable knight"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearance
  • Similar words include: dashing, fop, beau
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GALLANT

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11D: "11. They might be on one's radar"

8 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a driver who exceeds the safe speed limit
  • Similar words include: speeder, speed demon
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPEEDERS

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12D: "12. Pet"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a gentle affectionate stroking (or something resembling it)
  • Similar words include: fondle
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CARESS

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13D: "13. Porters, for example"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the united states an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume
  • Similar words include: ale
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALES

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14D: "14. Race prior to a race?"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that rate of revolution of a motor
  • Similar words include: revolutions per minute, rpm, rev up
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REV

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15D: "15. Fifth-year student leader at Hogwarts"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chief officer or chief magistrate
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PREFECT

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16D: "16. Barely runs?"

7 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an unbroken series of events
  • Similar words include: blotch, streak, stripe
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STREAKS

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17D: "17. Fruit snack brand"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states feminist and suffragist (1793-1880)
  • Similar words include: Lucretia Coffin Mott, Mott
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOTTS

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18D: "21. Excites"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to go somewhere
  • Similar words include: send, place, beam
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SENDS

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19D: "23. Again and again, in verse"

8 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that many times at short intervals
  • Similar words include: frequently, often, oft
  • Opposite of: rarely, infrequently
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OFTTIMES

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20D: "24. Over-the-top performers"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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21D: "28. Item on a rack"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a rectangular piece of absorbent cloth (or paper) for drying or wiping
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOWEL

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22D: "32. Mercedes alternative"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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23D: "34. Idly doodling, maybe"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to be bored
  • Similar words include: world-weary, bore, blase
  • Opposite of: interest
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BORED

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24D: "37. How the car in this puzzle's theme would be sold"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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25D: "38. Blog feed letters"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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26D: "40. Disrelishes and then some"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action
  • Similar words include: hat, hatred, hate
  • Opposite of: love
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HATES

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27D: "41. Hands (out)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a line that indicates a boundary
  • Similar words include: boundary line, borderline, border
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: METES

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28D: "42. Linguistic suffix"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the compass point midway between east and southeast
  • Similar words include: east southeast
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESE

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29D: "44. "Fabulous!""

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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30D: "45. It has a rind but supposedly no rhyme"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that round yellow to orange fruit of any of several citrus trees
  • Similar words include: orangish, orange tree, Orange River
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORANGE

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31D: "46. Deliberately malicious"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lewd or lascivious woman
  • Similar words include: easy, unprovoked, sluttish
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WANTON

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32D: "47. Opposite of "You'll pay for that!"?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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33D: "48. God who aids the Trojan fleet in the first book of the "Aeneid""

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (roman mythology) god of the sea; counterpart of greek poseidon
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEPTUNE

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34D: "50. Long stories have them"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field
  • Similar words include: electric arc, arch, electric discharge
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARCS

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35D: "53. Runs out of gas"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
  • Similar words include: atomic number 66, dysprosium, pall
  • Opposite of: be born
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIES

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36D: "55. Divinely elect"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that choose by or as if by divine intervention
  • Similar words include: oil, inunct, anele
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANOINT

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37D: "56. Old yeller?"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that used affectionately to refer to an eccentric but amusing old man
  • Similar words include: old codger
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CODGER

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38D: "57. Faddish"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in accord with the latest fad
  • Similar words include: voguish
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRENDY

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39D: "59. California's Big ___"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a port in southern lebanon on the mediterranean sea; formerly a major phoenician seaport famous for silks
  • Similar words include: Tyre
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SUR

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40D: "60. Keeps in the loop, electronically"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a metric unit of volume equal to one thousandth of a liter
  • Similar words include: cubic centimeter, milliliter, ml
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CCS

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41D: "61. Similar (to)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that similar in quality or character
  • Similar words include: kindred, consanguineal, consanguineous
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AKIN

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42D: "63. Pioneering astronaut Jemison"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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43D: "64. "The Good Wife" figure: Abbr."

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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44D: "67. Declares off limits"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a decree that prohibits something
  • Similar words include: forbidding, prohibition, banning
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BANS

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45D: "68. Fix a litter problem?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that remove the ovaries of
  • Similar words include: neuter, alter, castrate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAY

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46D: "69. Show signs"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a colorless odorless gaseous element that give a red glow in a vacuum tube; one of the six inert gasses; occurs in the air in small amounts
  • Similar words include: atomic number 10, neon, Ne
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEONS

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47D: "71. Palm off (on)"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that to force onto another
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOIST

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48D: "73. Mooch"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that live off somebody's generosity
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FREELOAD

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49D: "75. Hangs on a clothesline"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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50D: "77. Isis Naija Gaston, ___ Ice Spice"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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51D: "78. Madonna's "La ___ Bonita""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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52D: "80. Kick out"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that expel or eject without recourse to legal process
  • Similar words include: force out
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVICT

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53D: "81. Planned detour"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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54D: "83. "Shark Tank" shark Greiner"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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55D: "84. Horror franchise that includes 1992's "Army of Darkness""

8 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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56D: "85. It all adds up to this"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a quantity of money
  • Similar words include: tot up, totality, join
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SUM

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57D: "86. "West Side Story" conflict"

7 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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58D: "87. Edmund who wrote "View From the Summit""

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that new zealand mountaineer who in 1953 first attained the summit of mount everest with his sherpa guide tenzing norgay (born in 1919)
  • Similar words include: Edmund Hillary, Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, Sir Edmund Hillary
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HILLARY

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59D: "89. "Now, wait just one minute!""

7 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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60D: "91. Suppress"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that put down by force or intimidation
  • Similar words include: subdue, invalidate, avoid
  • Opposite of: validate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: QUASH

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61D: "92. Like cheesecake vis-à-vis sponge cake"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that possessing material wealth
  • Similar words include: racy, deep, robust
  • Opposite of: lean, poor
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RICHER

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62D: "93. "That was a close one!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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63D: "94. What wets the appetite?"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a clear liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth; moistens the mouth and starts the digestion of starches
  • Similar words include: spittle, spit
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SALIVA

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64D: "95. "The idea!""

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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65D: "96. Penny pincher"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a stingy hoarder of money and possessions (often living miserably)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MISER

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66D: "99. Intrinsically"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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67D: "101. Jazz singer Carmen"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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68D: "103. Part of a plot, at times"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of area (4840 square yards) used in english-speaking countries
  • Similar words include: Akko, Akka, Accho
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACRE

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69D: "104. The third one is dangerous"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a barrier consisting of a horizontal bar and supports
  • Similar words include: railing, vituperate, rail in
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAIL

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70D: "106. Once-common fish in the Thames"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fatty flesh of eel; an elongate fish found in fresh water in europe and america; large eels are usually smoked or pickled
  • Similar words include: eel
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EELS

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71D: "107. Veal cordon ___"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cheese containing a blue mold
  • Similar words include: blue cheese
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLEU

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72D: "109. Smidgen"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slight amount or degree of difference
  • Similar words include: shade
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAD

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73D: "111. Inits. at sea"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a metric unit of length equal to 100 meters
  • Similar words include: hectometer, hectometre, hm
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HMS

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

67 Across Clues
73 Down Clues
140 Total Clues

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Last updated: August 02, 2026 at 06:15 AM