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

Monday, May 25, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 25, 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. Jokes (around) 4
2A 5. Not very spicy 4
3A 9. Super 8 or Red Roof Inn 5
4A 14. Paper cut? 4
5A 15. Big name in laptops 4
6A 16. Public relations concern 5
7A 17. Steamy segment in a movie 9
8A 19. Fruit that makes your lips pucker 5
9A 20. Tennis skirt feature 5
10A 21. Lack of light 8
11A 23. Locale for a plastic flamingo 4
12A 26. Yoga studio essential 3
13A 27. De-tension center? 3
14A 30. Variety of chili that can reach a Scoville score of 1+ million 11
15A 36. European ski destination 4
16A 38. Volcanic spew 3
17A 39. Sample collected by Ancestry.com 6
18A 40. Daily Planet reporter Lois 4
19A 41. Show the ropes 5
20A 43. "___ sesame!" 4
21A 44. Comfortable 6
22A 46. Anguish 3
23A 47. Manage, as a bar 4
24A 48. California national park known for its dryness 11
25A 51. Pigs' digs 3
26A 52. Number starting a countdown 3
27A 53. Sitting on 4
28A 55. Bring dishonor upon 8
29A 60. "I'm sleepy" signals 5
30A 64. Ancient Mexican empire 5
31A 65. 1980s hit with the lyric "Me mind on fire, me soul on fire" ... or how one might describe 17-, 30- and 48-Across? 9
32A 68. Back of a car or front of an elephant 5
33A 69. Orchestral woodwind 4
34A 70. Place of buzziness? 4
35A 71. Most watches have three of these 5
36A 72. Japanese electronics giant 4
37A 73. An estimated 25% of modern phone calls 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Jokes (around)"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a young person of either sex
  • Similar words include: child, jolly, kidskin
  • Opposite of: parent
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KIDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Not very spicy"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that moderate in type or degree or effect or force; far from extreme
  • Similar words include: meek, balmy, modest
  • Opposite of: intense
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MILD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Super 8 or Red Roof Inn"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a motor hotel
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOTEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Paper cut?"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Big name in laptops"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that type genus of the aceraceae; trees or shrubs having winged fruit
  • Similar words include: genus Acer
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Public relations concern"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an iconic mental representation
  • Similar words include: envision, effigy, simulacrum
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IMAGE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Steamy segment in a movie"

9 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Fruit that makes your lips pucker"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that yellow oval fruit with juicy acidic flesh
  • Similar words include: lemon yellow, maize, Citrus limon
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEMON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Tennis skirt feature"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape
  • Similar words include: plait, plicate, ruffle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLEAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Lack of light"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that absence of light or illumination
  • Similar words include: dark, iniquity, wickedness
  • Opposite of: lightness, light
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DARKNESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Locale for a plastic flamingo"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a field of cultivated and mowed grass
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAWN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "26. Yoga studio essential"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a thick flat pad used as a floor covering
  • Similar words include: matted, lusterlessness, matte
  • Opposite of: disentangle, unsnarl
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. De-tension center?"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
  • Similar words include: watering place, health club, watering hole
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "30. Variety of chili that can reach a Scoville score of 1+ million"

11 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "36. European ski destination"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large mountain system in south-central europe; scenic beauty and winter sports make them a popular tourist attraction
  • Similar words include: the Alps, alp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "38. Volcanic spew"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the residue that remains when something is burned
  • Similar words include: ash tree
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "39. Sample collected by Ancestry.com"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "40. Daily Planet reporter Lois"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a narrow way or road
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "41. Show the ropes"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an english pirate who operated in the caribbean and off the atlantic coast of north america (died in 1718)
  • Similar words include: instruct, learn, Thatch
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEACH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "43. "___ sesame!""

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a clear or unobstructed space or expanse of land or water
  • Similar words include: undefendable, receptive, surface
  • Opposite of: fold, closed
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OPEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "44. Comfortable"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "46. Anguish"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that misery resulting from affliction
  • Similar words include: suffering, woefulness
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "47. Manage, as a bar"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined
  • Similar words include: incline, lean, be given
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "48. California national park known for its dryness"

11 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "51. Pigs' digs"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid
  • Similar words include: pigsty, eye infection, pigpen
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "52. Number starting a countdown"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
  • Similar words include: decade, x, X
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "53. Sitting on"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that on, to, or at the top
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "55. Bring dishonor upon"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
  • Similar words include: asperse, sully, denigrate
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BESMIRCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "60. "I'm sleepy" signals"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom
  • Similar words include: yaw, oscitancy, yawn
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YAWNS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "64. Ancient Mexican empire"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of the nahuatl people who established an empire in mexico that was overthrown by cortes in 1519
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AZTEC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "65. 1980s hit with the lyric "Me mind on fire, me soul on fire" ... or how one might describe 17-, 30- and 48-Across?"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "68. Back of a car or front of an elephant"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the main stem of a tree; usually covered with bark; the bole is usually the part that is commercially useful for lumber
  • Similar words include: tree trunk, proboscis, torso
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRUNK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "69. Orchestral woodwind"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece
  • Similar words include: hautboy, hautbois
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "70. Place of buzziness?"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a teeming multitude
  • Similar words include: beehive
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HIVE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "71. Most watches have three of these"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (with `in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
  • Similar words include: helping hand, bridge player, handwriting
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HANDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "72. Japanese electronics giant"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "73. An estimated 25% of modern phone calls"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Seaweed in an underwater forest 4
2D 2. Revered figure 4
3D 3. Go off the deep end? 4
4D 4. Incredible bargain 5
5D 5. Kraft ___ & Cheese 3
6D 6. Lead-in to maker or breaker 3
7D 7. Give, but expect back 4
8D 8. Experienced during sleep 6
9D 9. Frothy drink often served with boba 7
10D 10. A ladybug landing on you is considered a good one 4
11D 11. Opposite of wild 4
12D 12. Alter ___ (other selves) 4
13D 13. Camera shop purchase 4
14D 18. Adult male deer 4
15D 22. A hardened criminal might have a long one 8
16D 24. "Yeah, yeah" 8
17D 25. Missing part of the Great Sphinx of Giza 4
18D 27. Leafy lunch order 5
19D 28. Piece of armadillo armor 5
20D 29. Common sleep disorder 5
21D 31. Item worn over the shoulders 5
22D 32. "The ___ thickens ..." 4
23D 33. Vocal cords, informally 5
24D 34. Happening 5
25D 35. Singer Newman with the hit "You've Got a Friend in Me" 5
26D 37. Chair or pew 4
27D 42. Coke or Pepsi 4
28D 45. Gimmicky routines 7
29D 49. Dried poblanos used in mole sauce 6
30D 50. Toy on a string 4
31D 54. Trails 5
32D 55. Relaxing soak 4
33D 56. Book just after Ezekiel, alphabetically 4
34D 57. Flabbergast 4
35D 58. Patch up 4
36D 59. Drifter in search of work 4
37D 61. What to do with egg whites when making meringue 4
38D 62. Luminous stellar explosion 4
39D 63. Women in ___ (educational advocacy group) 4
40D 66. Colossal quantity 3
41D 67. "Yoo-hoo!" 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Seaweed in an underwater forest"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large brown seaweeds having fluted leathery fronds
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KELP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Revered figure"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a material effigy that is worshipped
  • Similar words include: god, paragon, graven image
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDOL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Go off the deep end?"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cheap disreputable nightclub or dance hall
  • Similar words include: plunk, nosedive, plunge
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DIVE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Incredible bargain"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an advantageous purchase
  • Similar words include: slip, buy, bargain
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Kraft ___ & Cheese"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric
  • Similar words include: mack, macintosh, mackintosh
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Lead-in to maker or breaker"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that water frozen in the solid state
  • Similar words include: crank, deoxyephedrine, meth
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ICE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Give, but expect back"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bestow a quality on
  • Similar words include: bring, contribute, add
  • Opposite of: borrow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEND

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Experienced during sleep"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have a daydream; indulge in a fantasy
  • Similar words include: daydream, dream, stargaze
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DREAMT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Frothy drink often served with boba"

7 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. A ladybug landing on you is considered a good one"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sign of something about to happen
  • Similar words include: portend, predict, foretell
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Opposite of wild"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that correct by punishment or discipline
  • Similar words include: reclaim, meek, cultivate
  • Opposite of: wild
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Alter ___ (other selves)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Camera shop purchase"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images
  • Similar words include: lens of the eye, lense, genus Lens
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Adult male deer"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male deer, especially an adult male red deer
  • Similar words include: grass, hart, rat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. A hardened criminal might have a long one"

8 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. "Yeah, yeah""

8 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one or some or every or all without specification
  • Similar words include: whatsoever, any
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WHATEVER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. Missing part of the Great Sphinx of Giza"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the organ of smell and entrance to the respiratory tract; the prominent part of the face of man or other mammals
  • Similar words include: intrude, poke, scent
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOSE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "27. Leafy lunch order"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that food mixtures either arranged on a plate or tossed and served with a moist dressing; usually consisting of or including greens
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SALAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "28. Piece of armadillo armor"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score
  • Similar words include: crustal plate, home base, home
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "29. Common sleep disorder"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that transient cessation of respiration
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APNEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. Item worn over the shoulders"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cloak consisting of an oblong piece of cloth used to cover the head and shoulders
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHAWL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. "The ___ thickens ...""

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a secret scheme to do something (especially something underhand or illegal)
  • Similar words include: plot of ground, secret plan, diagram
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Vocal cords, informally"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tube with a small bowl at one end; used for smoking tobacco
  • Similar words include: pipe up, pip, mop up
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIPES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. Happening"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something that happens at a given place and time
  • Similar words include: issue, case, outcome
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVENT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "35. Singer Newman with the hit "You've Got a Friend in Me""

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that feeling great sexual desire
  • Similar words include: horny, aroused, turned on
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RANDY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "37. Chair or pew"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a space reserved for sitting (as in a theater or on a train or airplane)
  • Similar words include: derriere, bum, nates
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. Coke or Pepsi"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large genus of african trees bearing kola nuts
  • Similar words include: El Salvadoran colon, Colon, colon
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COLA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "45. Gimmicky routines"

7 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (yiddish) a little; a piece
  • Similar words include: schtick, shtick, schtik
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHTICKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "49. Dried poblanos used in mole sauce"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "50. Toy on a string"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "54. Trails"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a course of conduct
  • Similar words include: itinerary, path, route
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PATHS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "55. Relaxing soak"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a vessel containing liquid in which something is immersed (as to process it or to maintain it at a constant temperature or to lubricate it)
  • Similar words include: bathe, bathroom, tub
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BATH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "56. Book just after Ezekiel, alphabetically"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a jewish priest and scribe sent by the persian king to restore jewish law and worship in jerusalem
  • Similar words include: Book of Ezra
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EZRA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "57. Flabbergast"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow
  • Similar words include: daze, stupefy, sandbag
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "58. Patch up"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "59. Drifter in search of work"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a disreputable vagrant
  • Similar words include: bum, tramp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOBO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "61. What to do with egg whites when making meringue"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an instrument with a handle and a flexible lash that is used for whipping
  • Similar words include: welt, trounce, pip
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WHIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "62. Luminous stellar explosion"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a star that ejects some of its material in the form of a cloud and become more luminous in the process
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOVA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "63. Women in ___ (educational advocacy group)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (linguistics) the form of a word after all affixes are removed
  • Similar words include: stalk, shank, stem turn
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "66. Colossal quantity"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a united states unit of weight equivalent to 2000 pounds
  • Similar words include: net ton, long ton, short ton
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "67. "Yoo-hoo!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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

Looking for more puzzle solutions? Check out our comprehensive archive of NYT crossword hints and answers. We update daily with expert analysis and solving strategies.

Disclaimer: Crossword clues and grid © The New York Times. This site provides hints and educational content for puzzle enthusiasts. XWordHint is not affiliated with The New York Times.

Last updated: May 25, 2026 at 08:04 AM

Monday, December 29, 2025

XWordHint Crossword Answers December 29, 2025 | Expert Breakdown & Tips

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

Quick Navigation - Table of Contents

Today's Puzzle Difficulty: 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. Life story, in brief 3
2A 4. The "S" of NASA 5
3A 9. Where Shrek lives 5
4A 14. Kerfuffle 3
5A 15. Outer limits 5
6A 16. They're contained within books 5
7A 17. Is severely underpaid 15
8A 20. Andean animal with a long neck 5
9A 21. Earth goddess 4
10A 22. Condé ___ (magazine publisher) 4
11A 23. "Tsk! Tsk!" 5
12A 25. Humorist Bombeck 4
13A 27. Motown or RCA 11
14A 32. Particular place 4
15A 35. Stephen of "V for Vendetta" 3
16A 36. Country that contains the southern slope of Mount Everest 5
17A 38. Chicago trains 3
18A 39. Seating area for 12 peers 7
19A 42. Piece of Grubhub info, for short 3
20A 43. Stringed instrument that rests on the ground 5
21A 45. Tin Man's need 3
22A 46. Like the Mariana Trench 4
23A 47. Works that are heard rather than read 11
24A 51. Sister of Meg, Jo and Amy in "Little Women" 4
25A 52. Gives the ax 5
26A 55. Soaks (up) 4
27A 58. Puppy sounds 4
28A 61. Fundamental belief 5
29A 63. Description for an ideal partner ... or what the ends of 17-, 27-, 39- and 47-Across create? 15
30A 66. Put on TV 5
31A 67. Molars and canines 5
32A 68. Signal for an actor to go onstage 3
33A 69. Pumpkin, e.g. 5
34A 70. "Alas ..." 5
35A 71. TV's "___ Lasso" 3

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Life story, in brief"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "4. The "S" of NASA"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the unlimited expanse in which everything is located
  • Similar words include: place, blank, outer space
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPACE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Where Shrek lives"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog
  • Similar words include: swampland, flood, deluge
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWAMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Kerfuffle"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Outer limits"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the boundary of a surface
  • Similar words include: butt against, inch, butt on
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDGES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. They're contained within books"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains
  • Similar words include: paginate, foliate, Page
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAGES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Is severely underpaid"

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Andean animal with a long neck"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wild or domesticated south american cud-chewing animal related to camels but smaller and lacking a hump
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LLAMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. Earth goddess"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) goddess of the earth and mother of cronus and the titans in ancient mythology
  • Similar words include: Gaea, Ge
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Condé ___ (magazine publisher)"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states political cartoonist (1840-1902)
  • Similar words include: Thomas Nast
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. "Tsk! Tsk!""

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
  • Similar words include: ignominy, dishonor, pity
  • Opposite of: honor
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHAME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "25. Humorist Bombeck"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Motown or RCA"

11 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "32. Particular place"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a point located with respect to surface features of some region
  • Similar words include: descry, smear, bit
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "35. Stephen of "V for Vendetta""

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "36. Country that contains the southern slope of Mount Everest"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small landlocked asian country high in the himalayas between india and china
  • Similar words include: Kingdom of Nepal
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEPAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "38. Chicago trains"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "39. Seating area for 12 peers"

7 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "42. Piece of Grubhub info, for short"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a terrorist organization organized in 1959 by student activists who were dissatisfied with the moderate nationalism of the traditional basque party; want to create an independent homeland in spain's western pyrenees
  • Similar words include: Basque Homeland and Freedom, Basque Fatherland and Liberty, Euskadi ta Askatasuna
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "43. Stringed instrument that rests on the ground"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large stringed instrument; seated player holds it upright while playing
  • Similar words include: violoncello
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CELLO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "45. Tin Man's need"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "46. Like the Mariana Trench"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the central and most intense or profound part
  • Similar words include: oceanic abyss, bass, deeply
  • Opposite of: shallow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEEP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "47. Works that are heard rather than read"

11 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "51. Sister of Meg, Jo and Amy in "Little Women""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the 2nd letter of the hebrew alphabet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BETH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "52. Gives the ax"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the event of something burning (often destructive)
  • Similar words include: go off, flak, elicit
  • Opposite of: hire
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIRES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "55. Soaks (up)"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that piece of solid food for dipping in a liquid
  • Similar words include: sop, SOP, standard procedure
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "58. Puppy sounds"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "61. Fundamental belief"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof
  • Similar words include: dogma
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TENET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "63. Description for an ideal partner ... or what the ends of 17-, 27-, 39- and 47-Across create?"

15 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "66. Put on TV"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that expose to fresh air
  • Similar words include: air out, broadcast, publicise
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIRED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "67. Molars and canines"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the kind and number and arrangement of teeth (collectively) in a person or animal
  • Similar words include: tooth, dentition
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEETH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "68. Signal for an actor to go onstage"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an actor's line that immediately precedes and serves as a reminder for some action or speech
  • Similar words include: cue stick, clue, remind
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "69. Pumpkin, e.g."

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bottle made from the dried shell of a bottle gourd
  • Similar words include: gourd vine, calabash
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GOURD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "70. "Alas ...""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in an unfortunate way
  • Similar words include: woefully, deplorably, lamentably
  • Opposite of: happily
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SADLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "71. TV's "___ Lasso""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tough youth of 1950's and 1960's wearing edwardian style clothes
  • Similar words include: Teddy boy
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Cry like a baby 4
2D 2. Admired figures 5
3D 3. Battle cry of the U.S. Marine Corps 5
4D 4. Kind of bagel 6
5D 5. Many a PC file 3
6D 6. Really eager 4
7D 7. Actor Michael of "Arrested Development" 4
8D 8. Caught sight of 6
9D 9. Place to be pampered 3
10D 10. 1996 #1 hit for the Spice Girls 7
11D 11. Water, in Colombia 4
12D 12. Team that plays at Citi Field 4
13D 13. "Over here!" 4
14D 18. Onetime retail chain giant 5
15D 19. ___ Grey tea 4
16D 24. Very light brown 4
17D 26. Tail-less cat 4
18D 28. Above, in poetry 3
19D 29. Synthetic fiber 5
20D 30. Fencing sword 4
21D 31. Not on time 4
22D 32. "Gimme a ___!" 3
23D 33. Commoner 4
24D 34. Norway's capital 4
25D 37. Two lengths of a pool 3
26D 39. What a punch line may end 4
27D 40. Part of a drill assembly or comedy routine 3
28D 41. "Frozen" snowman 4
29D 44. Seafood with claws 7
30D 46. Jeter in the Baseball Hall of Fame 5
31D 48. Rushing yards, e.g., informally 4
32D 49. "Well, dang it!" 6
33D 50. Slightly out of tune 6
34D 53. Put into law 5
35D 54. Move smoothly to another topic 5
36D 55. Without a date 4
37D 56. River past Cincinnati 4
38D 57. Lima's land 4
39D 59. Tiny canine pest 4
40D 60. Drove over the legal limit 4
41D 62. Ticked (off) 4
42D 64. Peculiar 3
43D 65. The Falcons, on a scoreboard 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Cry like a baby"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that shout loudly and without restraint
  • Similar words include: bellow, yawp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BAWL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Admired figures"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a material effigy that is worshipped
  • Similar words include: paragon, idol, matinee idol
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDOLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Battle cry of the U.S. Marine Corps"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Kind of bagel"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that east indian annual erect herb; source of sesame seed or benniseed and sesame oil
  • Similar words include: benny, benni, benne
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SESAME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Many a PC file"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Really eager"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that highly excited
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGOG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Actor Michael of "Arrested Development""

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Caught sight of"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that catch sight of
  • Similar words include: descry, spot, spy
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESPIED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Place to be pampered"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
  • Similar words include: watering place, resort hotel, watering hole
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. 1996 #1 hit for the Spice Girls"

7 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an ambitious and aspiring young person
  • Similar words include: aspirant, hopeful, wannabee
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WANNABE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Water, in Colombia"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that largest known toad species; native to central america; valuable destroyer of insect pests
  • Similar words include: agua toad, Bufo marinus
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGUA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Team that plays at Citi Field"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. "Over here!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Onetime retail chain giant"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "19. ___ Grey tea"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a british peer ranking below a marquess and above a viscount
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EARL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. Very light brown"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "26. Tail-less cat"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the ancient gaelic formerly spoken on the isle of man; the language is sometimes used on ceremonial occasions
  • Similar words include: Manx cat
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MANX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. Above, in poetry"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "29. Synthetic fiber"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a synthetic silklike fabric
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAYON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "30. Fencing sword"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a fencing sword similar to a foil but with a heavier blade
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EPEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. Not on time"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
  • Similar words include: belatedly, recently, belated
  • Opposite of: early
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. "Gimme a ___!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the systeme international d'unites
  • Similar words include: secant, s, Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Commoner"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of the common people
  • Similar words include: plebeian
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLEB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "34. Norway's 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!

25D: "37. Two lengths of a pool"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. What a punch line may end"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
  • Similar words include: jocularity, caper, trick
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JOKE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "40. Part of a drill assembly or comedy routine"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small piece or quantity of something
  • Similar words include: routine, mo, moment
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "41. "Frozen" snowman"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "44. Seafood with claws"

7 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that flesh of a lobster
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOBSTER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Jeter in the Baseball Hall of Fame"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "48. Rushing yards, e.g., informally"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "49. "Well, dang it!""

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Slightly out of tune"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of the blackest black; similar to the color of jet or coal
  • Similar words include: resiny, sooty, coal-black
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PITCHY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "53. Put into law"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that order by virtue of superior authority; decree
  • Similar words include: ordain, act out, reenact
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENACT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "54. Move smoothly to another topic"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of changing smoothly from one state or situation to another
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEGUE

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36D: "55. Without a date"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a male deer, especially an adult male red deer
  • Similar words include: rat, denounce, spy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAG

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37D: "56. River past Cincinnati"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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38D: "57. Lima's land"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a republic in western south america; achieved independence from spain in 1821; was the heart of the inca empire from the 12th to 16th centuries
  • Similar words include: Republic of Peru
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PERU

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39D: "59. Tiny canine pest"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLEA

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40D: "60. Drove over the legal limit"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that move faster
  • Similar words include: zip, speed, accelerate
  • Opposite of: linger, decelerate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPED

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41D: "62. Ticked (off)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that place on a tee
  • Similar words include: tee up, tee
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEED

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42D: "64. Peculiar"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not divisible by two
  • Similar words include: unmated, left, peculiar
  • Opposite of: even
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODD

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43D: "65. The Falcons, on a scoreboard"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

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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

35 Across Clues
43 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

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Last updated: December 29, 2025 at 04:35 AM