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Wednesday, October 14, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers October 14, 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. Hot stuff 5
2A 6. Target 4
3A 10. Worshiper's locale, at times 4
4A 14. Poe's middle name 5
5A 15. Lingerie material 4
6A 16. Glimpse 4
7A 17. Response to "Good morning, everybody!" 10
8A 19. Glazier's product 4
9A 20. Consumed 3
10A 21. Debunked "facts" 5
11A 22. Amish, Shakers and others 5
12A 23. Long (for) 4
13A 24. Former Mideast bigwig 4
14A 25. Response to "Let's get this meeting going" 13
15A 30. Wrap, as rope 4
16A 32. Word before or after butt 4
17A 33. Flesh and blood 3
18A 34. Tree with edible nuts 5
19A 36. "A conversation carried out by other means," per Peter Ustinov 3
20A 37. Give in 5
21A 39. Triumphant cry 3
22A 40. Prefix with -meter 4
23A 42. Chilean money 4
24A 43. Response to "Why is everyone ignoring me?" 13
25A 48. Small valley 4
26A 49. They may be subject to inflation 4
27A 50. Flora and fauna, collectively 5
28A 52. Sharp part of a kite 5
29A 54. Chicago sights, for short 3
30A 57. Apartment option 4
31A 58. Reaction to the unsuccessful "conversation" in this puzzle 10
32A 60. Off base? 4
33A 61. ___ test 4
34A 62. Isolated 5
35A 63. Befuddled state 4
36A 64. Deep-six 4
37A 65. Source of strength and resilience 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Hot stuff"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that molten rock in the earth's crust
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAGMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Target"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it
  • Similar words include: end, destination, finish
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Worshiper's locale, at times"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church; usually contains the altar
  • Similar words include: apsis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Poe's middle name"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Lingerie material"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cord that is drawn through eyelets or around hooks in order to draw together two edges (as of a shoe or garment)
  • Similar words include: braid, lace up, enlace
  • Opposite of: untwine
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LACE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Glimpse"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a secret look
  • Similar words include: glint, glance, peep
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEEK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Response to "Good morning, everybody!""

10 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Glazier's product"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that sheet glass cut in shapes for windows or doors
  • Similar words include: window glass, paneling, panelling
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Consumed"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that goddess of criminal rashness and its punishment
  • Similar words include: rust, consume, corrode
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Debunked "facts""

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people
  • Similar words include: myth
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MYTHS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. Amish, Shakers and others"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a subdivision of a larger religious group
  • Similar words include: religious sect, religious order, sect
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SECTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "23. Long (for)"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a coniferous tree
  • Similar words include: yen, yearn, ache
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PINE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "24. Former Mideast bigwig"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that title for the former hereditary monarch of iran
  • Similar words include: Shah of Iran
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "25. Response to "Let's get this meeting going""

13 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Wrap, as rope"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a structure consisting of something wound in a continuous series of loops
  • Similar words include: gyre, gyrate, scroll
  • Opposite of: uncoil
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "32. Word before or after butt"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
  • Similar words include: channelize, forefront, heading
  • Opposite of: foot, rear
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "33. Flesh and blood"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "34. Tree with edible nuts"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that australian tree grown especially for ornament and its fine-grained wood and bearing edible nuts
  • Similar words include: Pomaderris apetala, hazelnut tree, hazel tree
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAZEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "36. "A conversation carried out by other means," per Peter Ustinov"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "37. Give in"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that production of a certain amount
  • Similar words include: pay, bear, takings
  • Opposite of: survive, stand
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YIELD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "39. Triumphant cry"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "40. Prefix with -meter"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "42. Chilean money"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the basic unit of money in uruguay; equal to 100 centesimos
  • Similar words include: Mexican peso, Chilean peso, Guinea-Bissau peso
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PESO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "43. Response to "Why is everyone ignoring me?""

13 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "48. Small valley"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small wooded hollow
  • Similar words include: dingle
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DELL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "49. They may be subject to inflation"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an inflated feeling of pride in your superiority to others
  • Similar words include: self-importance, ego, egotism
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EGOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. Flora and fauna, collectively"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that all the plant and animal life of a particular region
  • Similar words include: biology
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BIOTA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "52. Sharp part of a kite"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sharp hooked claw especially on a bird of prey
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TALON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "54. Chicago sights, for short"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "57. Apartment option"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that floor consisting of a large unpartitioned space over a factory or warehouse or other commercial space
  • Similar words include: attic, garret, pigeon loft
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "58. Reaction to the unsuccessful "conversation" in this puzzle"

10 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "60. Off base?"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one who is away or absent without leave
  • Similar words include: truant
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AWOL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "61. ___ test"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
  • Similar words include: route
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "62. Isolated"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that isolated from others
  • Similar words include: unparalleled, unequaled, unique
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "63. Befuddled state"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that atmospheric moisture or dust or smoke that causes reduced visibility
  • Similar words include: fog, daze
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAZE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "64. Deep-six"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cover from sight
  • Similar words include: lay to rest, immerse, forget
  • Opposite of: remember
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BURY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "65. Source of strength and resilience"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cord or band of inelastic tissue connecting a muscle with its bony attachment
  • Similar words include: brawniness, tendon, muscularity
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SINEW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Bygone Mesoamerican civilization 4
2D 2. Oodles 4
3D 3. Affix, in a way 4
4D 4. Besmirch 3
5D 5. Low on red blood cells, perhaps 6
6D 6. It's in wheat, but not buckwheat 6
7D 7. Requirement for a juror 4
8D 8. Wild cards, at times 4
9D 9. Took the helm 3
10D 10. Look 6
11D 11. Dandy 10
12D 12. Label on an email folder 4
13D 13. Scratches (out) 4
14D 18. Talkative bird 4
15D 22. Like a good tree or a bad deal 5
16D 23. Three-season star of the New York Cosmos 4
17D 24. Word before green or after Red 3
18D 25. Literary title character who's mostly unseen 10
19D 26. Pronoun with two homophones 5
20D 27. Curse 3
21D 28. Mechanic's canfuls 4
22D 29. Edit menu command 4
23D 30. Shoot the breeze 4
24D 31. Locale of the Battleship Missouri Memorial 4
25D 35. Who "turned my whole world upside down," in a 1970s rock hit 5
26D 36. "Rugrats" dad 3
27D 38. Announcements in The Economist, for short 4
28D 41. "What a riot!," in brief 3
29D 44. Irk 6
30D 45. Something to hum 6
31D 46. Sikorsky of aviation fame 4
32D 47. Cuban drums 6
33D 50. Unexciting 4
34D 51. "American Gothic" setting 4
35D 52. First word of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" 4
36D 53. Way off 4
37D 54. Alma mater for George Orwell and Hugh Laurie 4
38D 55. Cue from a cuer 4
39D 56. Hearty dish 4
40D 58. Ball 3
41D 59. Hollywood's Roth or Wallach 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Bygone Mesoamerican civilization"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of an american indian people of yucatan and belize and guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak between ad 300 and 900) characterized by outstanding architecture and pottery and astronomy
  • Similar words include: Mayan language, Mayan
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAYA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Oodles"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Affix, in a way"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cement consisting of a sticky substance that is used as an adhesive
  • Similar words include: paste, mucilage, gum
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GLUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Besmirch"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the month following february and preceding april
  • Similar words include: mutilate, impair, defect
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Low on red blood cells, perhaps"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lacking vigor or energy
  • Similar words include: anaemic
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANEMIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. It's in wheat, but not buckwheat"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protein substance that remains when starch is removed from cereal grains; gives cohesiveness to dough
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GLUTEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Requirement for a juror"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
  • Similar words include: curse, swearing, swearword
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OATH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Wild cards, at times"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
  • Similar words include: single, wiz, whizz
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Took the helm"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that diode such that light emitted at a p-n junction is proportional to the bias current; color depends on the material used
  • Similar words include: conduce, go, take
  • Opposite of: follow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Look"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
  • Similar words include: come out, seem, look
  • Opposite of: disappear
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APPEAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Dandy"

10 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Label on an email folder"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 100 senti equal 1 kroon in estonia
  • Similar words include: ship, post, transmit
  • Opposite of: unsent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SENT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Scratches (out)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Talkative bird"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tropical asian starlings
  • Similar words include: mina, minah, mynah bird
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MYNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Like a good tree or a bad deal"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (of businesses and businessmen) unscrupulous
  • Similar words include: umbrageous, fishy, suspicious
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHADY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Three-season star of the New York Cosmos"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Word before green or after Red"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
  • Similar words include: ocean
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. Literary title character who's mostly unseen"

10 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Pronoun with two homophones"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Curse"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an evil spell
  • Similar words include: enchant, curse, glamour
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "28. Mechanic's canfuls"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slippery or viscous liquid or liquefiable substance not miscible with water
  • Similar words include: petroleum, crude oil, anoint
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OILS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "29. Edit menu command"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cancel, annul, or reverse an action or its effect
  • Similar words include: loosen, unmake, untie
  • Opposite of: wrap, make
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "30. Shoot the breeze"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an informal conversation
  • Similar words include: claver, Old World chat, chew the fat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "31. Locale of the Battleship Missouri Memorial"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island of central hawaii (between molokai and kauai); the chief island of the state
  • Similar words include: Oahu Island
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAHU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "35. Who "turned my whole world upside down," in a 1970s rock hit"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "36. "Rugrats" dad"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "38. Announcements in The Economist, for short"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a corporation's first offer to sell stock to the public
  • Similar words include: IPO, initial offering, initial public offering
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IPOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "41. "What a riot!," in brief"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "44. Irk"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous plants having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation on contact (especially of the genus urtica or family urticaceae)
  • Similar words include: urticate, rile, rag
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NETTLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "45. Something to hum"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
  • Similar words include: line, tonal pattern, melodic line
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MELODY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "46. Sikorsky of aviation fame"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "47. Cuban drums"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that music composed for dancing the conga
  • Similar words include: conga
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CONGAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Unexciting"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that pompous or pretentious talk or writing
  • Similar words include: fustian, bombast, rant
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLAH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "51. "American Gothic" setting"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of the siouan people formerly living in iowa and minnesota and missouri
  • Similar words include: IA, Hawkeye State, Ioway
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IOWA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "52. First word of "Ode on a Grecian Urn""

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
  • Similar words include: chiliad, G, thousand
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THOU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "53. Way off"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

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!

37D: "54. Alma mater for George Orwell and Hugh Laurie"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "55. Cue from a cuer"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a formation of people or things one beside another
  • Similar words include: dividing line, wrinkle, agate line
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LINE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "56. Hearty dish"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that agitation resulting from active worry
  • Similar words include: brood, fret, sweat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "58. Ball"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the ball-shaped capsule containing the vertebrate eye
  • Similar words include: orbit, eyeball, revolve
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "59. Hollywood's Roth or Wallach"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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

37 Across Clues
41 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

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Last updated: October 14, 2026 at 08:52 AM

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers October 13, 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: Tricky

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. ___ classic ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Pulp Fiction," e.g.) 4
2A 5. Spongy wetlands 4
3A 9. Titleholder 5
4A 14. Engrave 4
5A 15. Dirt pie ingredient 4
6A 16. Greek goddesses of the seasons 5
7A 17. Optional mission in a video game 9
8A 19. Gradually eat away 5
9A 20. Selfless sort 8
10A 21. Shindig for someone to announce whether they're having a boy or a girl 6
11A 22. – 6
12A 23. Lie next to 4
13A 25. Show on which Tina Fey and Seth Meyers have worked as head writers, in brief 3
14A 26. Tropical cocktail with bananas, strawberries, rum and coconut cream 8
15A 31. Go downhill fast 3
16A 34. Feedbag contents 4
17A 36. Shindig for someone settling into a new home 5
18A 37. – 7
19A 40. Flips, say 7
20A 42. Skirt, as an issue 5
21A 43. Jennifer who wrote "A Visit From the Goon Squad" 4
22A 45. Auction unit 3
23A 46. Cowboy's kerchief 8
24A 48. Show stoppers? 3
25A 51. Goes bad 4
26A 52. Shindig for someone who's about to tie the knot 6
27A 56. – 6
28A 60. Like a dish of veal or chicken dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried in butter 8
29A 62. Surfers ride them 5
30A 63. Lunchroom 9
31A 64. Wolf in "The Jungle Book" 5
32A 65. Initials on a map until 1991 4
33A 66. Shindig for the cast and crew after filming is done ... with a hint to entering this answer and three others in the grid 4
34A 67. – 5
35A 68. Boxing stats 4
36A 69. Jazz singer Sylvia 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. ___ classic ("The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or "Pulp Fiction," e.g.)"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices
  • Similar words include: fad, rage, cultus
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CULT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Spongy wetlands"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation; has poorer drainage than a swamp; soil is unfit for cultivation but can be cut and dried and used for fuel
  • Similar words include: bog, bog down, peat bog
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Titleholder"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who has won first place in a competition
  • Similar words include: chomp, title-holder, champion
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHAMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Engrave"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

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!

5A: "15. Dirt pie ingredient"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that chocolate cookie with white cream filling
  • Similar words include: oreo cookie
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OREO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Greek goddesses of the seasons"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Optional mission in a video game"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Gradually eat away"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that become ground down or deteriorate
  • Similar words include: gnaw, wear away, eat away
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERODE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Selfless sort"

8 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who makes charitable donations intended to increase human well-being
  • Similar words include: philanthropist
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALTRUIST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Shindig for someone to announce whether they're having a boy or a girl"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in indo-european languages it is usually based on sex or animateness
  • Similar words include: sex, sexuality, grammatical gender
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GENDER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. –"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make visible
  • Similar words include: discover, let out, unwrap
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REVEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "23. Lie next to"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that lie adjacent to another or share a boundary
  • Similar words include: butt, butt on, adjoin
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABUT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Show on which Tina Fey and Seth Meyers have worked as head writers, in brief"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "26. Tropical cocktail with bananas, strawberries, rum and coconut cream"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Go downhill fast"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that narrow wood or metal or plastic runners used in pairs for gliding over snow
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SKI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "34. Feedbag contents"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that annual grass of europe and north africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')
  • Similar words include: oat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OATS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "36. Shindig for someone settling into a new home"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
  • Similar words include: theatre, firm, planetary house
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOUSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "37. –"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the process of becoming warmer; a rising temperature
  • Similar words include: heating, thaw, thawing
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WARMING

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "40. Flips, say"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that sell (something) again after having bought it
  • Similar words include: resell
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RESELLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Skirt, as an issue"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something
  • Similar words include: deflect, stave off, head off
  • Opposite of: validate, confront
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVOID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Jennifer who wrote "A Visit From the Goon Squad""

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "45. Auction unit"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
  • Similar words include: hatful, spate, batch
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "46. Cowboy's kerchief"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large and brightly colored handkerchief; often used as a neckerchief
  • Similar words include: bandana
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BANDANNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "48. Show stoppers?"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a public promotion of some product or service
  • Similar words include: advertizing, advertisement, advertizement
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "51. Goes bad"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state of decay usually accompanied by an offensive odor
  • Similar words include: buncombe, decomposition, molder
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "52. Shindig for someone who's about to tie the knot"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that archaic terms for a wedding or wedding feast
  • Similar words include: espousal, spousal, nuptial
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BRIDAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "56. –"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a plumbing fixture that sprays water over you
  • Similar words include: exhibitor, shower bath, rain shower
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHOWER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "60. Like a dish of veal or chicken dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried in butter"

8 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a native or inhabitant of milan
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MILANESE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "62. Surfers ride them"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
  • Similar words include: Wave, flourish, waving
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAVES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "63. Lunchroom"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a restaurant where you serve yourself and pay a cashier
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAFETERIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "64. Wolf in "The Jungle Book""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "65. Initials on a map until 1991"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a former communist country in eastern europe and northern asia; established in 1922; included russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (ukraine and byelorussia and others); officially dissolved 31 december 1991
  • Similar words include: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Soviet Union, Russia
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USSR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "66. Shindig for the cast and crew after filming is done ... with a hint to entering this answer and three others in the grid"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "67. –"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an organization to gain political power
  • Similar words include: political party, company
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARTY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "68. Boxing stats"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a knockout declared by the referee who judges one boxer unable to continue
  • Similar words include: TKO, technical knockout
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TKOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "69. Jazz singer Sylvia"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. ___ Millan, celebrity dog trainer 5
2D 2. Handy 5
3D 3. High-def flat screen, for short 5
4D 4. "Ay, ___ the rub" 6
5D 5. Broth that might come from a dissolved cube 8
6D 6. Magnetite and bauxite 4
7D 7. Whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, from the German 7
8D 8. Barfly 3
9D 9. Spotted African sprinters 8
10D 10. Car's honker 4
11D 11. Longtime Yankee slugger, familiarly 4
12D 12. Earned 4
13D 13. Member of a jury 4
14D 18. Ke Huy ___, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" actor 4
15D 21. Boss, in Britain 3
16D 24. Major Iraqi port city 5
17D 27. Adversary 3
18D 28. Quiet period 4
19D 29. Scandinavian capital 4
20D 30. Toward sunset 4
21D 31. Mop, as the deck 4
22D 32. Polynesian brew 4
23D 33. Smooth out, as a wrinkled shirt 4
24D 35. Talent broker 5
25D 38. Mediocre, in modern slang 3
26D 39. "'Tis entirely likely" 8
27D 41. Those going along with others' unhealthy habits 8
28D 44. Item worn with a hazmat suit 7
29D 47. Negative connector 3
30D 49. "Curses!" 4
31D 50. Fibrous connecting tissues 6
32D 53. Second-largest city in Northern Ireland 5
33D 54. "Take me ___" 5
34D 55. Bounds 5
35D 56. Substitute 4
36D 57. Ceremonial Maori dance 4
37D 58. Done 4
38D 59. Mark left by a whip 4
39D 61. "Should that be true ..." 4
40D 63. Word before "one's losses" or "both ways" 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. ___ Millan, celebrity dog trainer"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Handy"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that being of use or service
  • Similar words include: useful
  • Opposite of: useless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UTILE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. High-def flat screen, for short"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. "Ay, ___ the rub""

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a location other than here; that place
  • Similar words include: there
  • Opposite of: here
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THERES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Broth that might come from a dissolved cube"

8 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a clear seasoned broth
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOUILLON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Magnetite and bauxite"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be mined
  • Similar words include: ore
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, from the German"

7 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described merely as a sum of its parts
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GESTALT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Barfly"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chronic drinker
  • Similar words include: drunk, wino, rummy
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Spotted African sprinters"

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that long-legged spotted cat of africa and southwestern asia having nonretractile claws; the swiftest mammal; can be trained to run down game
  • Similar words include: chetah, cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHEETAHS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Car's honker"

4 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, car horn
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HORN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Longtime Yankee slugger, familiarly"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Earned"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that give certain properties to something
  • Similar words include: progress to, create, cause
  • Opposite of: unmake, unmade
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MADE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Member of a jury"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who is of equal standing with another in a group
  • Similar words include: match, compeer, equal
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Ke Huy ___, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" actor"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Boss, in Britain"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. Major Iraqi port city"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the second largest city in iraq; an oil port in southern iraq
  • Similar words include: Basia
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BASRA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "27. Adversary"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
  • Similar words include: foeman, opposition, enemy
  • Opposite of: friend
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. Quiet period"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a pause during which things are calm or activities are diminished
  • Similar words include: quiet, calm down, still
  • Opposite of: agitate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LULL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "29. Scandinavian capital"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the capital and largest city of norway; the country's main port; located at the head of a fjord on norway's southern coast
  • Similar words include: capital of Norway, Christiania
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OSLO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "30. Toward sunset"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the countries of (originally) europe and (now including) north america and south america
  • Similar words include: Occident, western United States, Rebecca West
  • Opposite of: east
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WEST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. Mop, as the deck"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that implement consisting of a small piece of cotton that is used to apply medication or cleanse a wound or obtain a specimen of a secretion
  • Similar words include: mop, dab, swob
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWAB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. Polynesian brew"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kava shrub
  • Similar words include: kavakava
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KAVA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Smooth out, as a wrinkled shirt"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood
  • Similar words include: cast-iron, Fe, atomic number 26
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "35. Talent broker"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an active and efficient cause; capable of producing a certain effect
  • Similar words include: broker, federal agent, factor
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGENT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Mediocre, in modern slang"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. "'Tis entirely likely""

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. Those going along with others' unhealthy habits"

8 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "44. Item worn with a hazmat suit"

7 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protective mask with a filter; protects the face and lungs against poisonous gases
  • Similar words include: gas helmet, respirator
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GASMASK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "47. Negative connector"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "49. "Curses!""

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "50. Fibrous connecting tissues"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "53. Second-largest city in Northern Ireland"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "54. "Take me ___""

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "55. Bounds"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
  • Similar words include: jump, jump off, bound
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEAPS

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35D: "56. Substitute"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an equal exchange
  • Similar words include: switch, barter, swop
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWAP

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36D: "57. Ceremonial Maori dance"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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37D: "58. Done"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (cricket) the division of play during which six balls are bowled at the batsman by one player from the other team from the same end of the pitch
  • Similar words include: concluded, complete, ended
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVER

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38D: "59. Mark left by a whip"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions
  • Similar words include: flog, weal, strap
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WELT

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39D: "61. "Should that be true ...""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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40D: "63. Word before "one's losses" or "both ways""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a share of the profits
  • Similar words include: mown, excision, cold shoulder
  • Opposite of: uncut, untrimmed
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CUT

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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

36 Across Clues
40 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

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Last updated: October 13, 2026 at 10:49 AM