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Showing posts sorted by date for query gremlin. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 12, 2026 | Expert Breakdown & Tips

Master today's NYT crossword with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun. Perfect for crossword lovers who want that satisfying "aha!" moment.

Quick Navigation - Table of Contents

Today's Puzzle Difficulty: 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. Appropriate answer for 1-Across 5
2A 6. Have the sense of 4
3A 10. Females shepherded by shepherds 4
4A 14. Fuel-bearing ship 5
5A 15. Leer at 4
6A 16. One piece of a three-piece suit 4
7A 17. Listing at an ice cream shop in Ipswich 15
8A 20. Lou Gehrig's disease, in brief 3
9A 21. "___ Robinson" (Simon & Garfunkel song) 3
10A 22. Happen afterward 5
11A 23. Some limb-moving muscles 9
12A 27. Kids' items at a day care in Derby 14
13A 32. Pack tightly 5
14A 33. Spanish for "this" 4
15A 34. Pod tidbit 3
16A 35. Spoke to a convention, say 6
17A 37. Members of the aristocracy 6
18A 40. Establishment that might offer free breakfast 3
19A 41. Quaint lead-in to while 4
20A 45. Leads off 5
21A 46. Areas on a map of Manchester 14
22A 50. Sudden, widespread appearances of illness 9
23A 51. Live (in) 5
24A 54. "Thanks a ___!" (informal appreciation) 3
25A 55. Butcher's discard 3
26A 58. "Hmm, why use the spellings of 17-, 27- and 46-Across?" 15
27A 63. Laura of "Jurassic Park" 4
28A 64. A pelican can hold more water in this than in its belly 4
29A 65. Franz ___, Prague-born writer of dark fiction 5
30A 66. Force holding us onto Earth, informally 4
31A 67. Pepsi alternative 4
32A 68. Be present 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Appropriate answer for 1-Across"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the beginning of anything
  • Similar words include: originate, bug out, pop
  • Opposite of: finish, end
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: START

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Have the sense of"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an intuitive awareness; or
  • Similar words include: look, finger, flavour
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FEEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Females shepherded by shepherds"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of a people living in southern benin and togo and southeastern ghana
  • Similar words include: ewe, Ewe
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EWES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Fuel-bearing ship"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Leer at"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that look at with amorous intentions
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OGLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. One piece of a three-piece suit"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a man's sleeveless garment worn underneath a coat
  • Similar words include: robe, undershirt, invest
  • Opposite of: divest
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VEST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Listing at an ice cream shop in Ipswich"

15 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Lou Gehrig's disease, in brief"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord; results in progressive muscle atrophy that starts in the limbs
  • Similar words include: Heart of Dixie, Camellia State, Al
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. "___ Robinson" (Simon & Garfunkel song)"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a form of address for a married woman
  • Similar words include: Mrs., Mr., Mister
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Happen afterward"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that issue or terminate (in a specified way, state, etc.); end
  • Similar words include: result
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENSUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Some limb-moving muscles"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom)
  • Similar words include: kidnapper, abductor muscle, snatcher
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABDUCTORS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "27. Kids' items at a day care in Derby"

14 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "32. Pack tightly"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "33. Spanish for "this""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "34. Pod tidbit"

3 letters Category: Common Word

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!

16A: "35. Spoke to a convention, say"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "37. Members of the aristocracy"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "40. Establishment that might offer free breakfast"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers
  • Similar words include: auberge, lodge, hostelry
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "41. Quaint lead-in to while"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that at a previous time
  • Similar words include: erstwhile, once, formerly
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "45. Leads off"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a clear or unobstructed space or expanse of land or water
  • Similar words include: unfold, give, clear
  • Opposite of: fold, close
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "46. Areas on a map of Manchester"

14 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a surrounding or nearby region
  • Similar words include: neck of the woods, vicinity, locality
  • Pattern: ______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEIGHBOURHOODS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "50. Sudden, widespread appearances of illness"

9 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sudden violent spontaneous occurrence (usually of some undesirable condition)
  • Similar words include: irruption, outbreak, eruption
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OUTBREAKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "51. Live (in)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that think moodily or anxiously about something
  • Similar words include: brood, inhabit, harp
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DWELL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "54. "Thanks a ___!" (informal appreciation)"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cypriot monetary unit equal to one thousandth of a pound
  • Similar words include: ml, Swedish mile, cc
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "55. Butcher's discard"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a soft greasy substance occurring in organic tissue and consisting of a mixture of lipids (mostly triglycerides)
  • Similar words include: rich, adipose tissue, blubber
  • Opposite of: thin, leanness
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "58. "Hmm, why use the spellings of 17-, 27- and 46-Across?""

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "63. Laura of "Jurassic Park""

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "64. A pelican can hold more water in this than in its belly"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a statute in draft before it becomes law
  • Similar words include: card, account, circular
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BILL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "65. Franz ___, Prague-born writer of dark fiction"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that czech novelist who wrote in german about a nightmarish world of isolated and troubled individuals (1883-1924)
  • Similar words include: Franz Kafka
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KAFKA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "66. Force holding us onto Earth, informally"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "67. Pepsi alternative"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that carbon fuel produced by distillation of coal
  • Similar words include: snow, C, Coca Cola
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "68. Be present"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have an existence, be extant
  • Similar words include: live, be, survive
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXIST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Divan 4
2D 2. Tens or ones place? 4
3D 3. Lead-in to "poor Yorick!" 4
4D 4. Al Sharpton's title, for short 3
5D 5. Instrument with a Renaissance-era ancestor called a sackbut 8
6D 6. "Absolutely!" 7
7D 7. Sense of self 3
8D 8. Hermey is one, in TV's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" 3
9D 9. Do-over at serving 3
10D 10. "Nevertheless ..." 6
11D 11. Marries 4
12D 12. One son of Isaac and Rebekah 4
13D 13. Bacterial eye malady 4
14D 18. Pakistani language 4
15D 19. Chervil or chive 4
16D 23. Touched down 4
17D 24. Stool pigeons, in police shorthand 3
18D 25. Explosive inits. 3
19D 26. Kind of arch in architecture 4
20D 27. ___ asada 5
21D 28. Resident of a Mideast sultanate 5
22D 29. Chose, with "for" 5
23D 30. Wails 5
24D 31. Give some lip to 4
25D 32. Sign up for 4
26D 36. Some are said to be "swimming" in this 4
27D 38. Resemble 8
28D 39. Ways to raise capital, in brief 4
29D 42. Lowe on TV 3
30D 43. Big ___, West Coast tourist destination 3
31D 44. Shake with fear 7
32D 47. Sandlot QB's order to a receiver 6
33D 48. Streaming service owned by Disney 4
34D 49. Cause of a shower drain clog, maybe 4
35D 51. Birdbrain 4
36D 52. "At what time?" 4
37D 53. BrontΓ« heroine 4
38D 55. Popular female poodle name 4
39D 56. Inquires 4
40D 57. Word after "Copy" or "Fancy" 4
41D 59. Airer of "The View" 3
42D 60. Site of the world's largest Carnival celebration 3
43D 61. Wapiti, by another name 3
44D 62. Put a burden on 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Divan"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an upholstered seat for more than one person
  • Similar words include: lounge, couch
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOFA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Tens or ones place?"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together
  • Similar words include: cashbox, public treasury, trough
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TILL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Lead-in to "poor Yorick!""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism
  • Similar words include: regrettably, unluckily, ala
  • Opposite of: fortunately, luckily
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Al Sharpton's title, for short"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Instrument with a Renaissance-era ancestor called a sackbut"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a brass instrument consisting of a long tube whose length can be varied by a u-shaped slide
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TROMBONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. "Absolutely!""

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Sense of self"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Hermey is one, in TV's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer""

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous
  • Similar words include: pixy, gremlin, extremely low frequency
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Do-over at serving"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a brutal terrorist group active in kashmir; fights against india with the goal of restoring islamic rule of india
  • Similar words include: Army of the Pure, lease, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
  • Opposite of: disallow, prevent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. "Nevertheless ...""

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Marries"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fourth day of the week; the third working day
  • Similar words include: splice, Midweek, hook up with
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WEDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. One son of Isaac and Rebekah"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Bacterial eye malady"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid
  • Similar words include: sty, eye infection, hordeolum
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STYE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Pakistani language"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the official literary language of pakistan, closely related to hindi; widely used in india (mostly by moslems); written in arabic script
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: URDU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "19. Chervil or chive"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests
  • Similar words include: herbaceous plant
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HERB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Touched down"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Stool pigeons, in police shorthand"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an alliance made up of states that had been soviet socialist republics in the soviet union prior to its dissolution in dec 1991
  • Similar words include: Commonwealth of Independent States, curie, Ci
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. Explosive inits."

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that explosive consisting of a yellow crystalline compound that is a flammable toxic derivative of toluene
  • Similar words include: trinitrotoluene
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TNT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Kind of arch in architecture"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a molding that (in section) has the shape of an s with the convex part above and the concave part below
  • Similar words include: cyma reversa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OGEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. ___ asada"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "28. Resident of a Mideast sultanate"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "29. Chose, with "for""

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that select as an alternative over another
  • Similar words include: choose, opt, prefer
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPTED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "30. Wails"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a funeral lament sung with loud wailing
  • Similar words include: keen, lament
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KEENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "31. Give some lip to"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an impudent or insolent rejoinder
  • Similar words include: lip, back talk, Special Air Service
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SASS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "32. Sign up for"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the shape or manner in which things come together and a connection is made
  • Similar words include: articulation, joint, junction
  • Opposite of: disjoin
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JOIN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "36. Some are said to be "swimming" in this"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of owing something (especially money)
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEBT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "38. Resemble"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "39. Ways to raise capital, in brief"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "42. Lowe on TV"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that take something away by force or without the consent of the owner
  • Similar words include: overcharge, gazump, soak
  • Opposite of: undercharge
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "43. Big ___, West Coast tourist destination"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "44. Shake with fear"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reflex motion caused by cold or fear or excitement
  • Similar words include: shake, shiver
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TREMBLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "47. Sandlot QB's order to a receiver"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "48. Streaming service owned by Disney"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "49. Cause of a shower drain clog, maybe"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
  • Similar words include: hairsbreadth, pilus, hair's-breadth
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "51. Birdbrain"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone whose style is out of fashion
  • Similar words include: fogy, fogey, Raphus cucullatus
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DODO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "52. "At what time?""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "53. BrontΓ« heroine"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a shallow salt lake in south central australia about 35 feet below sea level; the largest lake in the country and the lowest point on the continent
  • Similar words include: Lake Eyre
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EYRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "55. Popular female poodle name"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "56. Inquires"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that inquire about
  • Similar words include: expect, demand, ask
  • Opposite of: obviate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "57. Word after "Copy" or "Fancy""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "59. Airer of "The View""

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the elementary stages of any subject (usually plural)
  • Similar words include: alphabet, ABC's, rudiment
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

42D: "60. Site of the world's largest Carnival celebration"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the former capital and 2nd largest city of brazil; chief brazilian port; famous as a tourist attraction
  • Similar words include: Rio de Janeiro
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

43D: "61. Wapiti, by another name"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large northern deer with enormous flattened antlers in the male; called `elk' in europe and `moose' in north america
  • Similar words include: Alces alces, wapiti, red deer
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

44D: "62. Put a burden on"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that charge against a citizen's person or property or activity for the support of government
  • Similar words include: revenue enhancement, assess, taxation
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAX

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

32 Across Clues
44 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

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Last updated: May 12, 2026 at 06:25 AM

Monday, March 30, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers March 30, 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. Print, Copy, ___, Fax (printer selections) 4
2A 5. Former Giants QB Manning 3
3A 8. Element discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie 6
4A 14. Sparkling wine of Italy, familiarly 4
5A 15. Odd ___ out (misfit) 3
6A 16. "In spite of all that ..." 6
7A 17. Endless TikTok scrolling or Tetris playing, e.g. 8
8A 19. Rented 6
9A 20. Wastebasket, jokingly 12
10A 22. Only U.S. president from Delaware 5
11A 25. Grand production 4
12A 26. ___ Plaines, Ill. 3
13A 27. Smelter's material 3
14A 28. Popular sushi fish 3
15A 30. Like the Mariana Trench among all the world's underwater places 7
16A 33. Guy who goes a-courting 4
17A 35. "You've ___ this!" 3
18A 37. Rodeo rope 5
19A 38. Illegal distribution of narcotics 11
20A 42. Whimpers 5
21A 44. Right-angled shape 3
22A 45. Corner piece on a chessboard 4
23A 48. Top placement in a bracket, for a March Madness team 7
24A 51. Caustic paint stripper 3
25A 53. Be in arrears 3
26A 54. Onetime AT&T competitor 3
27A 55. Tiny amount 4
28A 57. Answer 5
29A 59. Where to pick up luggage at an airport 12
30A 63. Regrettably unfortunate 6
31A 64. Went into reverse ... or what the ends of 17-, 20-, 38- and 59-Across might be 8
32A 68. Word after Irish or jet 6
33A 69. Longtime record label or Beastie Boy 3
34A 70. Valentine's Day flower 4
35A 71. Size up 6
36A 72. Glide down a slope 3
37A 73. ___ of the Horse (2026 in the Chinese zodiac) 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Print, Copy, ___, Fax (printer selections)"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of scanning; systematic examination of a prescribed region
  • Similar words include: skim, read, CAT scan
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Former Giants QB Manning"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "8. Element discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an intensely radioactive metallic element that occurs in minute amounts in uranium ores
  • Similar words include: atomic number 88, Ra
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RADIUM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Sparkling wine of Italy, familiarly"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Odd ___ out (misfit)"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
  • Similar words include: human, Isle of Man, valet
  • Opposite of: civilian, woman
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. "In spite of all that ...""

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Endless TikTok scrolling or Tetris playing, e.g."

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Rented"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that let for money
  • Similar words include: charter, hired, let
  • Opposite of: unchartered
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEASED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Wastebasket, jokingly"

12 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Only U.S. president from Delaware"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "25. Grand production"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
  • Similar words include: larger-than-life, heroic, epical
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EPIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "26. ___ Plaines, Ill."

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a potent estrogen used in medicine and in feed for livestock and poultry
  • Similar words include: stilboestrol, diethylstilboestrol, stilbestrol
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Smelter's material"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mineral that contains metal that is valuable enough to be mined
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Popular sushi fish"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Like the Mariana Trench among all the world's underwater places"

7 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that relatively deep or strong; affecting one deeply
  • Similar words include: cryptical, abstruse, cryptic
  • Opposite of: shallow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEEPEST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Guy who goes a-courting"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a man who is the lover of a girl or young woman
  • Similar words include: fellow, gallant, dude
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BEAU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "35. "You've ___ this!""

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
  • Similar words include: catch, gravel, contract
  • Opposite of: leave, end
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "37. Rodeo rope"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that belgian composer (1532-1594)
  • Similar words include: Orlando di Lasso, lariat, riata
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LASSO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "38. Illegal distribution of narcotics"

11 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Whimpers"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cry weakly or softly
  • Similar words include: wail, whimper, pule
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MEWLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "44. Right-angled shape"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an extension at the end and at right angles to the main building
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "45. Corner piece on a chessboard"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (chess) the piece that can move any number of unoccupied squares in a direction parallel to the sides of the chessboard
  • Similar words include: mulct, victimize, hornswoggle
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROOK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "48. Top placement in a bracket, for a March Madness team"

7 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "51. Caustic paint stripper"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a strong solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LYE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "53. Be in arrears"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be obliged to pay or repay
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OWE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "54. Onetime AT&T competitor"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "55. Tiny amount"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small indefinite quantity (especially of a liquid); ; ; ; --kipling
  • Similar words include: driblet, drop
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRIB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "57. Answer"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a statement (either spoken or written) that is made to reply to a question or request or criticism or accusation
  • Similar words include: response, answer, respond
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REPLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "59. Where to pick up luggage at an airport"

12 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "63. Regrettably unfortunate"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "64. Went into reverse ... or what the ends of 17-, 20-, 38- and 59-Across might be"

8 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "68. Word after Irish or jet"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one who sets written material into type
  • Similar words include: typesetter, typographer, compositor
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SETTER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "69. Longtime record label or Beastie Boy"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "70. Valentine's Day flower"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of many shrubs of the genus rosa that bear roses
  • Similar words include: rear, spring up, grow
  • Opposite of: go to bed, turn in
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "71. Size up"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
  • Similar words include: tax, value, valuate
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASSESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "72. Glide down a slope"

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!

37A: "73. ___ of the Horse (2026 in the Chinese zodiac)"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
  • Similar words include: twelvemonth, yr, class
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YEAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Stayed on the bench 3
2D 2. Long-running CBS procedural with spinoffs 3
3D 3. Fixture at a "cash only" establishment 3
4D 4. Nephew's sister 5
5D 5. Dubai dignitary 4
6D 6. Round Table knight who betrayed King Arthur 8
7D 7. Cover with tattoos, colloquially 5
8D 8. Equip with new shoestrings 6
9D 9. State with certainty 4
10D 10. Like many users of sign language 4
11D 11. News exclusive from someone in the know 11
12D 12. Of no help 7
13D 13. California city with a humble-sounding name 7
14D 18. Basic trig ratio 4
15D 21. Box top 3
16D 22. Go up and down in the water 3
17D 23. Livid feeling 3
18D 24. Major drags on a team's progress, metaphorically 11
19D 29. Item in an Easter hunt 3
20D 31. Sprite 3
21D 32. Team of two 4
22D 34. Internet addresses, for short 4
23D 36. Uno + due 3
24D 39. Take advantage of 3
25D 40. Like the original Broadway cast of "The Wiz" 8
26D 41. Travel by air 3
27D 42. Kenya's second-largest city 7
28D 43. Boxes up securely 7
29D 46. "Wise" bird 3
30D 47. F sharp major, for one 3
31D 49. Lawn-neatening tools 6
32D 50. Rap's Dr. ___ 3
33D 52. Actor Estrada of "CHiPs" 4
34D 56. Warhead weapons, for short 5
35D 58. Manicurist's board 5
36D 60. Bit of boarding pass info 4
37D 61. Iowa college town 4
38D 62. "Superfood" berry 4
39D 65. Stag's mate 3
40D 66. Team for Olympians Simone Biles and Mikaela Shiffrin 3
41D 67. ___ capita 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Stayed on the bench"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Long-running CBS procedural with spinoffs"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Fixture at a "cash only" establishment"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of pressure: the pressure that will support a column of mercury 760 mm high at sea level and 0 degrees centigrade
  • Similar words include: automatic teller, automated teller machine, automatic teller machine
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Nephew's sister"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a daughter of your brother or sister
  • Opposite of: nephew
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NIECE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Dubai dignitary"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an independent ruler or chieftain (especially in africa or arabia)
  • Similar words include: emeer, amir, ameer
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EMIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Round Table knight who betrayed King Arthur"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (arthurian legend) one of the knights of the round table; friend of king arthur until (according to some versions of the legend) he became the lover of arthur's wife guinevere
  • Similar words include: Sir Lancelot
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LANCELOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Cover with tattoos, colloquially"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Equip with new shoestrings"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. State with certainty"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Like many users of sign language"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that people who have severe hearing impairments
  • Similar words include: deafen, indifferent
  • Opposite of: hearing
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEAF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. News exclusive from someone in the know"

11 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Of no help"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully
  • Opposite of: useful
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USELESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. California city with a humble-sounding name"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Basic trig ratio"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that ratio of the length of the side opposite the given angle to the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle
  • Similar words include: sin
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SINE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Box top"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that either of two folds of skin that can be moved to cover or open the eye
  • Similar words include: hat, chapeau, palpebra
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Go up and down in the water"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a former monetary unit in great britain
  • Similar words include: bobsleigh, bobber, dock
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "23. Livid feeling"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "24. Major drags on a team's progress, metaphorically"

11 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "29. Item in an Easter hunt"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that animal reproductive body consisting of an ovum or embryo together with nutritive and protective envelopes; especially the thin-shelled reproductive body laid by e.g. female birds
  • Similar words include: nut, bollock, testis
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EGG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "31. Sprite"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous
  • Similar words include: pixie, imp, gremlin
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELF

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "32. Team of two"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a set of two similar things considered as a unit
  • Similar words include: yoke, dyad, couplet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. Internet addresses, for short"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. Uno + due"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "39. Take advantage of"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of using
  • Similar words include: expend, apply, habituate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "40. Like the original Broadway cast of "The Wiz""

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "41. Travel by air"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that two-winged insects characterized by active flight
  • Similar words include: take flight, vaporize, vanish
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. Kenya's second-largest city"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a port city in southern kenya on a coral island in a bay of the indian ocean
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOMBASA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "43. Boxes up securely"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that enclose in, or as if in, a case
  • Similar words include: incase, encase, case
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENCASES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "46. "Wise" bird"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that nocturnal bird of prey with hawk-like beak and claws and large head with front-facing eyes
  • Similar words include: hooter, bird of Minerva, bird of night
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OWL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "47. F sharp major, for one"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that metal device shaped in such a way that when it is inserted into the appropriate lock the lock's mechanism can be rotated
  • Similar words include: fundamental, identify, cay
  • Opposite of: atonality
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KEY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "49. Lawn-neatening tools"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person who puts finishing edges on a garment
  • Similar words include: edger
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDGERS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "50. Rap's Dr. ___"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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33D: "52. Actor Estrada of "CHiPs""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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34D: "56. Warhead weapons, for short"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a ballistic missile that is capable of traveling from one continent to another
  • Similar words include: ICBM, intercontinental ballistic missile
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ICBMS

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35D: "58. Manicurist's board"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hard grey-black mineral consisting of corundum and either hematite or magnetite; used as an abrasive (especially as a coating on paper)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EMERY

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36D: "60. Bit of boarding pass info"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a movable barrier in a fence or wall
  • Similar words include: logic gate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GATE

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37D: "61. Iowa college town"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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38D: "62. "Superfood" berry"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

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39D: "65. Stag's mate"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the federal department responsible for maintaining a national energy policy of the united states; created in 1977
  • Similar words include: Energy, Energy Department, Department of Energy
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOE

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40D: "66. Team for Olympians Simone Biles and Mikaela Shiffrin"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that north american republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in north america plus alaska in northwest north america and the hawaiian islands in the pacific ocean; achieved independence in 1776
  • Similar words include: America, Army, United States
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USA

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41D: "67. ___ capita"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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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: March 30, 2026 at 05:38 AM