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
- Across Clues Table (37 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (39 clues)
- Down Clues - Detailed Hints
- Expert Solving Strategies
- Today's Puzzle Statistics
Today's Puzzle Difficulty: Moderate
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1A | 1. Deer sir? | 4 |
| 2A | 5. Free trial version | 4 |
| 3A | 9. Caspian or Mediterranean | 3 |
| 4A | 12. Designer ___ Boss | 4 |
| 5A | 13. Typographical embellishment | 5 |
| 6A | 14. Go across | 4 |
| 7A | 15. "Su-u-ure" | 4 |
| 8A | 16. Something green in a greenhouse | 5 |
| 9A | 17. Half ___ (when the minute hand points down) | 4 |
| 10A | 18. Popular board game adapted from India [1] | 9 |
| 11A | 20. They quickly spread online | 5 |
| 12A | 21. "Soldier, stop!" | 4 |
| 13A | 22. Page (through) | 4 |
| 14A | 23. Challenge for student drivers [2] | 15 |
| 15A | 30. Metals in mines | 4 |
| 16A | 31. Actor Stonestreet of "Modern Family" | 4 |
| 17A | 32. Apt zodiac sign for Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion | 3 |
| 18A | 33. Vitality | 3 |
| 19A | 34. Scoundrel's deeds | 7 |
| 20A | 37. A pair | 3 |
| 21A | 38. Card game whose name is something players cry | 3 |
| 22A | 39. Assistant | 4 |
| 23A | 40. Anthropologist Margaret | 4 |
| 24A | 41. Never stop having fun [3] | 15 |
| 25A | 46. "___ the night before Christmas ..." | 4 |
| 26A | 47. Word repeated in "___ ye, ___ ye!" | 4 |
| 27A | 48. Cube maker Erno | 5 |
| 28A | 50. Of the highest importance ... or, when parsed differently, what each bracketed number in the clues indicates? | 9 |
| 29A | 55. World's largest country with a four-letter name | 4 |
| 30A | 56. Underpinning | 5 |
| 31A | 57. Home of Columbus | 4 |
| 32A | 58. A single time | 4 |
| 33A | 59. Up in the air | 5 |
| 34A | 60. Zero | 4 |
| 35A | 61. "What a shame!" | 3 |
| 36A | 62. Test the weight of | 4 |
| 37A | 63. Backyard storage space | 4 |
Across Clues - Strategic Hints
1A: "1. Deer sir?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a male deer, especially an adult male red deer
- Similar words include: hart, betray, grass
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2A: "5. Free trial version"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a visual presentation showing how something works
- Similar words include: exhibit, demonstration, demonstrate
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3A: "9. Caspian or Mediterranean"
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!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4A: "12. Designer ___ Boss"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that french poet and novelist and dramatist; leader of the romantic movement in france (1802-1885)
- Similar words include: Victor Hugo, Victor-Marie Hugo
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5A: "13. Typographical embellishment"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a short line at the end of the main strokes of a character
- Similar words include: seriph
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6A: "14. Go across"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the complete duration of something
- Similar words include: couple, sweep, cross
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7A: "15. "Su-u-ure""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8A: "16. Something green in a greenhouse"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that buildings for carrying on industrial labor
- Similar words include: engraft, implant, flora
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9A: "17. Half ___ (when the minute hand points down)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the time that has elapsed
- Similar words include: by, past tense, preceding
- Opposite of: present, future
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10A: "18. Popular board game adapted from India [1]"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a modern board game based on pachisi
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11A: "20. They quickly spread online"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one person to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation)
- Similar words include: meme
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12A: "21. "Soldier, stop!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the state of inactivity following an interruption
- Similar words include: check, game, hold
- Opposite of: start
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13A: "22. Page (through)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants
- Similar words include: flick, foliage, folio
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14A: "23. Challenge for student drivers [2]"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15A: "30. Metals in mines"
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!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16A: "31. Actor Stonestreet of "Modern Family""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17A: "32. Apt zodiac sign for Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in leo
- Similar words include: Lion, Leo the Lion
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18A: "33. Vitality"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that liveliness and energy
- Similar words include: ginger, peppiness
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19A: "34. Scoundrel's deeds"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing
- Similar words include: dishonesty
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20A: "37. A pair"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
- Similar words include: 2, deuce, ii
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21A: "38. Card game whose name is something players cry"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22A: "39. Assistant"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer
- Similar words include: auxiliary, adjutant, aide-de-camp
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23A: "40. Anthropologist Margaret"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states anthropologist noted for her claims about adolescence and sexual behavior in polynesian cultures (1901-1978)
- Similar words include: Margaret Mead, George Herbert Mead
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24A: "41. Never stop having fun [3]"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "46. "___ the night before Christmas ...""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26A: "47. Word repeated in "___ ye, ___ ye!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
- Similar words include: try, learn, listen
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27A: "48. Cube maker Erno"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28A: "50. Of the highest importance ... or, when parsed differently, what each bracketed number in the clues indicates?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that having superior power and influence
- Similar words include: preponderant, predominate, preponderating
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29A: "55. World's largest country with a four-letter name"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a theocratic islamic republic in the middle east in western asia; iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as persia until 1935; rich in oil
- Similar words include: Persia, Islamic Republic of Iran
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30A: "56. Underpinning"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a relation that provides the foundation for something
- Similar words include: cornerstone, base, fundament
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31A: "57. Home of Columbus"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a midwestern state in north central united states in the great lakes region
- Similar words include: Buckeye State, Ohio River, OH
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32A: "58. A single time"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that on one occasion
- Similar words include: erstwhile, formerly, in one case
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33A: "59. Up in the air"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that at or on or to the masthead or upper rigging of a ship
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34A: "60. Zero"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a canonical hour that is the ninth hour of the day counting from sunrise
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35A: "61. "What a shame!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that utter `tsk,' `tut,' or `tut-tut,' as in disapproval
- Similar words include: tut, tut-tut
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
36A: "62. Test the weight of"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the property of being large in mass
- Similar words include: heave up, ponderousness, heftiness
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
37A: "63. Backyard storage space"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an outbuilding with a single story; used for shelter or storage
- Similar words include: slough, throw off, cast
- Opposite of: persistent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
Down Clues - Complete List
| No. | Clue | Letters |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | 1. Steamer or cruiser | 4 |
| 2D | 2. Oom-pah instrument | 4 |
| 3D | 3. Follower of New or teen | 4 |
| 4D | 4. Hidden snags | 7 |
| 5D | 5. Key to the right of "+" and "=" on a Mac keyboard | 6 |
| 6D | 6. What Taylor Swift calls the stages of her career | 4 |
| 7D | 7. 5x5-square crossword | 4 |
| 8D | 8. Frequently, in poetry | 3 |
| 9D | 9. Email winnower | 10 |
| 10D | 10. Effortlessness | 4 |
| 11D | 11. Tiny hill builders | 4 |
| 12D | 13. Characterize? | 5 |
| 13D | 14. Orate | 5 |
| 14D | 19. Nickname akin to Harry | 3 |
| 15D | 20. Compassion | 5 |
| 16D | 22. Den | 4 |
| 17D | 23. Short-term kind of store | 5 |
| 18D | 24. Sports locale | 5 |
| 19D | 25. Give a debriefing (to) | 10 |
| 20D | 26. Prime use for a crowbar | 5 |
| 21D | 27. Opposite of post- | 3 |
| 22D | 28. Starting to learn | 5 |
| 23D | 29. "Oh boy!" | 5 |
| 24D | 34. Watercraft for an Inuit | 5 |
| 25D | 35. Small bites | 4 |
| 26D | 36. Accessibility law inits. | 3 |
| 27D | 40. Leaves stranded | 7 |
| 28D | 42. Strong string | 5 |
| 29D | 43. What misers take to an extreme | 6 |
| 30D | 44. Bread maker's supply | 5 |
| 31D | 45. ___ Beesly, character who has the last line in the finale of "The Office" | 3 |
| 32D | 48. Civil uprising | 4 |
| 33D | 49. Caterer's containers | 4 |
| 34D | 50. Whitish | 4 |
| 35D | 51. Starting, timewise | 4 |
| 36D | 52. "This looks like trouble!" | 4 |
| 37D | 53. Number in a nonet | 4 |
| 38D | 54. Follower of pointy or pigeon | 4 |
| 39D | 56. Expression of contempt | 3 |
Down Clues - Strategic Hints
1D: "1. Steamer or cruiser"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a vessel that carries passengers or freight
- Similar words include: embark, transport, send
- Opposite of: disembark
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
2D: "2. Oom-pah instrument"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the lowest brass wind instrument
- Similar words include: bass horn, sousaphone
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Follower of New or teen"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Hidden snags"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
5D: "5. Key to the right of "+" and "=" on a Mac keyboard"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that remove or make invisible
- Similar words include: cancel, blue-pencil, edit
- Opposite of: record
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
6D: "6. What Taylor Swift calls the stages of her career"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
- Similar words include: geological era, epoch, earned run average
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. 5x5-square crossword"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a very short skirt
- Similar words include: miniskirt
- Opposite of: midi
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8D: "8. Frequently, in poetry"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that many times at short intervals
- Similar words include: frequently, ofttimes, often
- Opposite of: infrequently, rarely
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
9D: "9. Email winnower"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Effortlessness"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that freedom from difficulty or hardship or effort
- Similar words include: still, relieve, alleviate
- Opposite of: difficulty
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
11D: "11. Tiny hill builders"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers
- Similar words include: ant, pismire, emmet
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
12D: "13. Characterize?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a psychological state induced by (or as if induced by) a magical incantation
- Similar words include: turn, magical spell, spell out
- Opposite of: unspell
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
13D: "14. Orate"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that express in speech
- Similar words include: verbalize, address, mouth
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
14D: "19. Nickname akin to Harry"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
15D: "20. Compassion"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice
- Similar words include: mercifulness, clemency
- Opposite of: mercilessness
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16D: "22. Den"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the habitation of wild animals
- Similar words include: den
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
17D: "23. Short-term kind of store"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
18D: "24. Sports locale"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a particular environment or walk of life
- Similar words include: stadium, orbit, sphere
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
19D: "25. Give a debriefing (to)"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
20D: "26. Prime use for a crowbar"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a rigid bar pivoted about a fulcrum
- Similar words include: prise, pry, jimmy
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
21D: "27. Opposite of post-"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
22D: "28. Starting to learn"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "29. "Oh boy!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that something considered choice to eat
- Similar words include: kickshaw, dainty, treat
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
24D: "34. Watercraft for an Inuit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a small canoe consisting of a light frame made watertight with animal skins; used by eskimos
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25D: "35. Small bites"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a small drink of liquor
- Similar words include: squeeze, twinge, tanginess
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "36. Accessibility law inits."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an enzyme found in mammals that can catalyze the deamination of adenosine into inosine and ammonia
- Similar words include: adenosine deaminase
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
27D: "40. Leaves stranded"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who is stranded (as on an island)
- Similar words include: strand, maroon
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "42. Strong string"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a lightweight cord
- Similar words include: entwine, enlace, interlace
- Opposite of: untwine, untwist
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
29D: "43. What misers take to an extreme"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of numerous sun-loving low-growing evergreens of the genus armeria having round heads of pink or white flowers
- Similar words include: parsimony, parsimoniousness, penny-pinching
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
30D: "44. Bread maker's supply"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whiskey
- Similar words include: barm
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
31D: "45. ___ Beesly, character who has the last line in the finale of "The Office""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "48. Civil uprising"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a public act of violence by an unruly mob
- Similar words include: howler, debauchery, orgy
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33D: "49. Caterer's containers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
- Similar words include: urn
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
34D: "50. Whitish"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a wooden strip forming part of a fence
- Similar words include: picket, wan, pallid
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
35D: "51. Starting, timewise"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
36D: "52. "This looks like trouble!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
37D: "53. Number in a nonet"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of eight and one
- Similar words include: niner, club, IX
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
38D: "54. Follower of pointy or pigeon"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that walk so that the toes assume an indicated position or direction
- Similar words include: toe, toenail
- Opposite of: toeless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Remember this word for future puzzles!
39D: "56. Expression of contempt"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
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
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