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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

Monday, December 1, 2025

XWordHint Crossword Answers December 01, 2025 | 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: Moderate

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. Office announcement 4
2A 5. Jump 4
3A 9. Repairs a hole 5
4A 14. Ingredient in some smoothie bowls 4
5A 15. Plus 4
6A 16. To no ___ (without success) 5
7A 17. "Remedy" for a riled-up person 9
8A 19. Dashboard instrument 5
9A 20. CR-V or Civic 5
10A 21. George who played Sulu on "Star Trek" 5
11A 23. Headstone letters 3
12A 24. Penalty for bank fraud 13
13A 27. Read thoroughly 6
14A 29. Rowing implement 3
15A 30. "Madam, I'm ___" 4
16A 31. Emu relative 4
17A 35. Locks up 5
18A 39. Lower, as the lights 3
19A 40. Hip person, in old slang 7
20A 42. Genre for Cardi B or LL Cool J 3
21A 43. Curry of the N.B.A., informally 5
22A 45. Boat tie-up location 4
23A 46. Tortilla ingredient 4
24A 47. Enjoy a banquet 3
25A 49. Goes over by hand, as a drawing 6
26A 51. Antithesis 13
27A 57. "I've solved it!" 3
28A 58. Creator of Asteroids and Pong 5
29A 59. "You should come foraging with me, because I'm a ___" (bad pun) 5
30A 62. Assigned stars, say 5
31A 64. Cause of some wintry weather ... or a hint to 17-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across 9
32A 66. Woman who bests Sherlock in "A Scandal in Bohemia" 5
33A 67. Largest joint in the body 4
34A 68. Some airport listings, for short 4
35A 69. Sends an eggplant emoji, say 5
36A 70. Feudal underling 4
37A 71. Fresh and glowing, in skin-care terminology 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Office announcement"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a written proposal or reminder
  • Similar words include: memoranda, memorandum
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Jump"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
  • Similar words include: leaping, bound, spring
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Repairs a hole"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that sewing that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment)
  • Similar words include: mend, repair, fixture
  • Opposite of: break
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MENDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Ingredient in some smoothie bowls"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Plus"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in addition
  • Similar words include: likewise, as well, too
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALSO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. To no ___ (without success)"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a means of serving
  • Similar words include: service, help
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVAIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. "Remedy" for a riled-up person"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Dashboard instrument"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a measuring instrument for measuring and indicating a quantity such as the thickness of wire or the amount of rain etc.
  • Similar words include: calibre, estimate, bore
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAUGE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. CR-V or Civic"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. George who played Sulu on "Star Trek""

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Headstone letters"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a dissolute man in fashionable society
  • Similar words include: rive, rake, tear
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Penalty for bank fraud"

13 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Read thoroughly"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that examine or consider with attention and in detail
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PERUSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. Rowing implement"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an implement used to propel or steer a boat
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. "Madam, I'm ___""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) in judeo-christian mythology; the first man and the husband of eve and the progenitor of the human race
  • Similar words include: ecstasy, XTC, X
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADAM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. Emu relative"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fertility goddess in ancient greek mythology; wife of cronus and mother of zeus; identified with roman ops and cybele of ancient asia minor
  • Similar words include: Pterocnemia pennata, Rhea americana, nandu
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RHEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "35. Locks up"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an enclosure made or wire or metal bars in which birds or animals can be kept
  • Similar words include: John Cage, batting cage, cage in
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAGES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "39. Lower, as the lights"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that switch (a car's headlights) from a higher to a lower beam
  • Similar words include: subdued, blind, vague
  • Opposite of: undimmed, focus
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "40. Hip person, in old slang"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Genre for Cardi B or LL Cool J"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reproach for some lapse or misdeed
  • Similar words include: knap, hip-hop, blame
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Curry of the N.B.A., informally"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "45. Boat tie-up location"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "46. Tortilla ingredient"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an independent group of closely related chadic languages spoken in the area between the biu-mandara and east chadic languages
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MASA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "47. Enjoy a banquet"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that take in solid food
  • Similar words include: exhaust, corrode, feed
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "49. Goes over by hand, as a drawing"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a just detectable amount
  • Similar words include: shadow, decipher, touch
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRACES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "51. Antithesis"

13 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "57. "I've solved it!""

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "58. Creator of Asteroids and Pong"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "59. "You should come foraging with me, because I'm a ___" (bad pun)"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the taxonomic kingdom including yeast, molds, smuts, mushrooms, and toadstools; distinct from the green plants
  • Similar words include: fungus kingdom, fungus, kingdom Fungi
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FUNGI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "62. Assigned stars, say"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that assign a rank or rating to
  • Similar words include: fink, denounce, betray
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RATED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "64. Cause of some wintry weather ... or a hint to 17-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "66. Woman who bests Sherlock in "A Scandal in Bohemia""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "67. Largest joint in the body"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hinge joint in the human leg connecting the tibia and fibula with the femur and protected in front by the patella
  • Similar words include: stifle, genu, knee joint
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KNEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "68. Some airport listings, for short"

4 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: eta, Euskadi ta Askatasuna, Basque Homeland and Freedom
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "69. Sends an eggplant emoji, say"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fourth of the seven canonical hours; about noon
  • Similar words include: sext
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEXTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "70. Feudal underling"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (middle ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord
  • Similar words include: villein, helot
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SERF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "71. Fresh and glowing, in skin-care terminology"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wet with dew
  • Similar words include: bedewed
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEWY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. ___ 1 (speed of sound) 4
2D 2. Result of yelling into a cave 4
3D 3. Supercomputer precursor 9
4D 4. Container on a ship from the Mideast 7
5D 5. Napkin's spot 3
6D 6. Best of the best 5
7D 7. Narnian talking lion 5
8D 8. Classic music style beloved by Weird Al Yankovic 5
9D 9. Performance in which a lady might be sawed in half 8
10D 10. Actress Noblezada of "Hadestown" 3
11D 11. Third-smallest country in the world (eight square miles) 5
12D 12. "Dinner is served!" 5
13D 13. Caught some Z's 5
14D 18. Country where sticky rice is a staple 4
15D 22. Prefix with friendly 3
16D 25. Zilch 4
17D 26. British singer Rita 3
18D 27. Adds unnecessary words to 4
19D 28. Computer menu heading next to "File" 4
20D 32. Preceder of skip and jump 3
21D 33. Ex-QB Manning 3
22D 34. Absolutely nail 3
23D 36. Bit of musical flair 9
24D 37. Effortlessness 4
25D 38. Establishments offering facials 4
26D 40. Game in which sound effects are banned 8
27D 41. Counterpart to sciences 4
28D 44. Split-___ soup 3
29D 46. Grew up 7
30D 48. Young 'un 3
31D 50. Bit of musical flair 4
32D 51. "Les Misérables" setting 5
33D 52. Midway Airport alternative 5
34D 53. Hospital glove material 5
35D 54. Wolf groups 5
36D 55. Disposed (to) 5
37D 56. Edmonton hockey player 5
38D 60. Chew, like a dog on a bone 4
39D 61. Teensy 4
40D 63. Tolkien tree creature 3
41D 65. "For sure" 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. ___ 1 (speed of sound)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that austrian physicist and philosopher who introduced the mach number and who founded logical positivism (1838-1916)
  • Similar words include: Ernst Mach
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MACH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Result of yelling into a cave"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the repetition of a sound resulting from reflection of the sound waves
  • Similar words include: sound reflection, reverberate, repeat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ECHO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Supercomputer precursor"

9 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large digital computer serving 100-400 users and occupying a special air-conditioned room
  • Similar words include: mainframe computer, CPU, C.P.U.
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAINFRAME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Container on a ship from the Mideast"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Napkin's spot"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the upper side of the thighs of a seated person
  • Similar words include: lap covering, swoosh, swosh
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Best of the best"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status
  • Similar words include: elite group, elect
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELITE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Narnian talking lion"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Classic music style beloved by Weird Al Yankovic"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that music performed for dancing the polka
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POLKA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Performance in which a lady might be sawed in half"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Actress Noblezada of "Hadestown""

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Third-smallest country in the world (eight square miles)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island republic on nauru island; phosphate exports support the economy
  • Similar words include: Pleasant Island, Nauru Island, Republic of Nauru
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAURU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. "Dinner is served!""

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Caught some Z's"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be able to accommodate for sleeping
  • Similar words include: kip, sleep, slumber
  • Opposite of: wake
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLEPT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Country where sticky rice is a staple"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mountainous landlocked communist state in southeastern asia; achieved independence from france in 1949
  • Similar words include: Laotian, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lao
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Prefix with friendly"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "25. Zilch"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a quantity of no importance
  • Similar words include: cypher, zip, 0
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ZERO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "26. British singer Rita"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mouth or mouthlike opening
  • Similar words include: bone, oculus sinister, atomic number 76
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "27. Adds unnecessary words to"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge
  • Similar words include: tablet, dramatize, tramp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PADS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "28. Computer menu heading next to "File""

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "32. Preceder of skip and jump"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of hopping; jumping upward or forward (especially on one foot)
  • Similar words include: hop-skip, record hop, skip
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "33. Ex-QB Manning"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. Absolutely nail"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
  • Similar words include: wiz, pass with flying colors, single
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. Bit of musical flair"

9 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. Effortlessness"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort
  • Similar words include: relieve, facilitate, repose
  • Opposite of: difficulty
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EASE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Establishments offering facials"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
  • Similar words include: health spa, health club, spa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "40. Game in which sound effects are banned"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that player acts out a phrase for others to guess
  • Similar words include: travesty, takeoff, lampoon
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHARADES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. Counterpart to sciences"

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: humanistic discipline, artistic creation, fine art
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "44. Split-___ soup"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that seed of a pea plant used for food
  • Similar words include: pea plant
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "46. Grew up"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that develop and reach maturity; undergo maturation
  • Similar words include: get on, grow, age
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MATURED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "48. Young 'un"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small amount (especially of a drink)
  • Similar words include: tot up, sum up, bambino
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "50. Bit of musical flair"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a berber living in northern morocco
  • Similar words include: flip, Riffian, leaf
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIFF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "51. "Les Misérables" setting"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the capital and largest city of france; and international center of culture and commerce
  • Similar words include: capital of France, French capital, genus Paris
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "52. Midway Airport alternative"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "53. Hospital glove material"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a milky exudate from certain plants that coagulates on exposure to air
  • Similar words include: latex paint, rubber-base paint
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LATEX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "54. Wolf groups"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large indefinite number
  • Similar words include: load down, bundle, battalion
  • Opposite of: unpack
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PACKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "55. Disposed (to)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having a tendency (to); often used in combination
  • Similar words include: prostrate
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRONE

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37D: "56. Edmonton hockey player"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a worker who oils engines or machinery
  • Similar words include: oil well, tank ship, tanker
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OILER

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38D: "60. Chew, like a dog on a bone"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bite or chew on with the teeth
  • Similar words include: erode, eat at, gnaw at
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GNAW

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39D: "61. Teensy"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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40D: "63. Tolkien tree creature"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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41D: "65. "For sure""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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Expert Solving Strategies

Start Smart

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

Decode the Clues

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

Use Cross-References

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

Build Vocabulary

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

Today's Puzzle Stats

37 Across Clues
41 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

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Last updated: December 01, 2025 at 04:35 AM