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Monday, September 7, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers September 07, 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. Actress Longoria or Mendes 3
2A 4. Word after op or pop 3
3A 7. Jabbers on a plane? 6
4A 13. Hip-hop's ___ Wayne 3
5A 14. "If I ___ a Carpenter" 4
6A 16. First-year professional athlete 6
7A 17. Illegal 8
8A 19. Meal, formally 6
9A 20. Not working, as a phone 4
10A 21. Tool for winter fishing 6
11A 23. Affirmative 3
12A 24. To be, in Barcelona 5
13A 26. Made level 6
14A 28. Apple all-in-one computer 4
15A 30. Contribute something more 3
16A 31. Hoppy brews, for short 4
17A 35. Dependable, upstanding guy 6
18A 37. Key often near Caps Lock 3
19A 38. Bog down 4
20A 39. What a hen lays 3
21A 40. Robes tied with obis 7
22A 43. Bit of acne, informally 3
23A 44. How Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 1927 4
24A 46. ___ and Driver (magazine) 3
25A 47. "Holy cannoli!" 6
26A 49. Fret 4
27A 50. Kipling novel or its young hero 3
28A 51. Singer Bareilles 4
29A 52. "Beats me!" 6
30A 55. Indian princes 5
31A 58. Rotor speed fig. 3
32A 61. Ordered (around) 6
33A 63. Carry 4
34A 64. Wizard's mixture 6
35A 66. Not now, but later 8
36A 68. Cut out 6
37A 69. List, as in a reference 4
38A 70. Yea's opposite 3
39A 71. Ukrainian seaport, in an older spelling 6
40A 72. "Let's ___!" ("Dinner's on!") 3
41A 73. Org. checking carry-on bags 3

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Actress Longoria or Mendes"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "4. Word after op or pop"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the products of human creativity; works of art collectively
  • Similar words include: prowess, artistry, fine art
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ART

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "7. Jabbers on a plane?"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hinge joint between the forearm and upper arm and the corresponding joint in the forelimb of a quadruped
  • Similar words include: elbow, articulatio cubiti, cubitus
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELBOWS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "13. Hip-hop's ___ Wayne"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "14. "If I ___ a Carpenter""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
  • Similar words include: follow, make up, live
  • Opposite of: differ
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WERE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. First-year professional athlete"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an awkward and inexperienced youth
  • Similar words include: cub, greenhorn
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROOKIE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Illegal"

8 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not conforming to legality, moral law, or social convention
  • Similar words include: wrongful, outlaw, unconventional
  • Opposite of: lawful
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNLAWFUL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Meal, formally"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the food served and eaten at one time
  • Similar words include: meal
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REPAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Not working, as a phone"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that people who are no longer living
  • Similar words include: absolutely, drained, perfectly
  • Opposite of: living, live
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Tool for winter fishing"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Affirmative"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an affirmative
  • Opposite of: no
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. To be, in Barcelona"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "26. Made level"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make level or straight
  • Similar words include: even, flush, level
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EVENED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Apple all-in-one computer"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Contribute something more"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders
  • Similar words include: add up, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, minimal brain damage
  • Opposite of: subtract, take away
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. Hoppy brews, for short"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "35. Dependable, upstanding guy"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a decent responsible person with admirable characteristics
  • Similar words include: mensh
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MENSCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "37. Key often near Caps Lock"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bill in a restaurant
  • Similar words include: lozenge, check, tab key
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "38. Bog down"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
  • Similar words include: quagmire, entangle, morass
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIRE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "39. What a hen lays"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

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: ballock, testis, nut
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EGG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "40. Robes tied with obis"

7 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a loose robe; imitated from robes originally worn by japanese
  • Similar words include: kimono
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: KIMONOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "43. Bit of acne, informally"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small inflamed elevation of the skin; a pustule or papule; common symptom in acne
  • Similar words include: pimple, hickey
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ZIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "44. How Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 1927"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any activity that is performed alone without assistance
  • Similar words include: unaccompanied, alone
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOLO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "46. ___ and Driver (magazine)"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
  • Similar words include: automobile, railroad car, railway car
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "47. "Holy cannoli!""

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "49. Fret"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "50. Kipling novel or its young hero"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "51. Singer Bareilles"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "52. "Beats me!""

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "55. Indian princes"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a prince or king in india
  • Similar words include: genus Raja, raja, rajah
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAJAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "58. Rotor speed fig."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "61. Ordered (around)"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that raise in a relief
  • Similar words include: stamp, boss, emboss
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOSSED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "63. Carry"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a capacious bag or basket
  • Similar words include: carryall, lug, tote bag
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOTE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "64. Wizard's mixture"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sweet flavored liquid (usually containing a small amount of alcohol) used in compounding medicines to be taken by mouth in order to mask an unpleasant taste
  • Similar words include: philosophers' stone, philosopher's stone
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELIXIR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "66. Not now, but later"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "68. Cut out"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that remove or make invisible
  • Similar words include: cancel, edit, erase
  • Opposite of: record
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DELETE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "69. List, as in a reference"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a short note recognizing a source of information or of a quoted passage
  • Similar words include: quote, reference, name
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CITE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "70. Yea's opposite"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not this merely but also; not only so but
  • Opposite of: yea
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "71. Ukrainian seaport, in an older spelling"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a port city of south central ukraine on an arm of the black sea
  • Similar words include: Odesa
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODESSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40A: "72. "Let's ___!" ("Dinner's on!")"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41A: "73. Org. checking carry-on bags"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an agency established in 2001 to safeguard united states transportation systems and insure safe air travel
  • Similar words include: Transportation Security Administration
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Deftly avoid 5
2D 2. Plants with tendrils 5
3D 3. Electric with excitement 10
4D 4. Cry over a newborn 3
5D 5. Home loan overhaul, in brief 4
6D 6. Halt to hostilities 5
7D 7. Some gofers 10
8D 8. Handbag fashion label from Madrid 5
9D 9. Playful knock on the noggin 3
10D 10. Give the thumbs-up 4
11D 11. Sagacious 4
12D 12. Divisions in a tennis match 4
13D 15. Uplifting tunes? ... or a hint to the circled squares 13
14D 18. President after Washington 5
15D 22. Alternative to a convertible or station wagon 5
16D 25. Hat holder 4
17D 27. Barely visible, as light from a star 3
18D 29. Grammy-winning pianist with the Elektric Band 10
19D 32. Dive offering slices 10
20D 33. Puccini's "Nessun dorma," e.g. 4
21D 34. Meyers of late night 4
22D 35. Clutter 4
23D 36. Rare four-award achievement in entertainment, for short 4
24D 41. Slips in a slot at the post office 5
25D 42. Fly to new heights 4
26D 45. Dominate, in sports slang 3
27D 48. "I was angry with my foe: / I told it not, my ___ did grow": William Blake 5
28D 53. Passing notices, informally 5
29D 54. Counting-out rhyme opener 5
30D 56. Book made obsolescent by GPS 5
31D 57. "Buh-bye!" 5
32D 58. Attempt anew 4
33D 59. Said "guilty," say 4
34D 60. One of 26 in a marathon 4
35D 62. Contents of an Excel spreadsheet 4
36D 65. Kisses, symbolically 3
37D 67. Like some dog kisses 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Deftly avoid"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that escape, either physically or mentally
  • Similar words include: escape, dodge, evade
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELUDE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Plants with tendrils"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a plant with a weak stem that derives support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface
  • Similar words include: vine
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VINES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Electric with excitement"

10 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Cry over a newborn"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Home loan overhaul, in brief"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Halt to hostilities"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state of peace agreed to between opponents so they can discuss peace terms
  • Similar words include: cease-fire, armistice
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRUCE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Some gofers"

10 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Handbag fashion label from Madrid"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states composer (born in austria) who collaborated with lerner on several musicals (1901-1987)
  • Similar words include: Frederick Loewe
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOEWE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Playful knock on the noggin"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the law enforcement agency of the justice department that operates a nationwide system of prisons and detention facilities to incarcerate inmates sentenced to imprisonment for federal crimes
  • Similar words include: Federal Bureau of Prisons, sock, bebop
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Give the thumbs-up"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an endorsement
  • Similar words include: fine, hunky-dory, okey
  • Opposite of: disapprove
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OKAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Sagacious"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a way of doing or being
  • Similar words include: fresh, impertinent, overbold
  • Opposite of: foolish
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WISE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Divisions in a tennis match"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a group of things of the same kind that belong together and are so used
  • Similar words include: Set, determine, typeset
  • Opposite of: rise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "15. Uplifting tunes? ... or a hint to the circled squares"

13 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. President after Washington"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that american revolutionary leader and patriot; an organizer of the boston tea party and signer of the declaration of independence (1722-1803)
  • Similar words include: President John Adams, President John Quincy Adams, go
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADAMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Alternative to a convertible or station wagon"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a car that is closed and that has front and rear seats and two or four doors
  • Similar words include: sedan chair, saloon
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEDAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "25. Hat holder"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that framework for holding objects
  • Similar words include: wring, single-foot, squeeze
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RACK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "27. Barely visible, as light from a star"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "29. Grammy-winning pianist with the Elektric Band"

10 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "32. Dive offering slices"

10 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "33. Puccini's "Nessun dorma," e.g."

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an elaborate song for solo voice
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "34. Meyers of late night"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old testament) third son of adam and eve; given by god in place of the murdered abel
  • Similar words include: Set
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SETH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "35. Clutter"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state of confusion and disorderliness
  • Similar words include: stack, great deal, messiness
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "36. Rare four-award achievement in entertainment, for short"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "41. Slips in a slot at the post office"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bags of letters and packages that are transported by the postal service
  • Similar words include: ring armor, chain armour, post
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAILS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "42. Fly to new heights"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of rising upward into the air
  • Similar words include: soar up, hang glide, surge
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "45. Dominate, in sports slang"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have ownership or possession of
  • Similar words include: possess, ain, have
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OWN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "48. "I was angry with my foe: / I told it not, my ___ did grow": William Blake"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that intense anger (usually on an epic scale)
  • Similar words include: ire, ira, anger
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WRATH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "53. Passing notices, informally"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a notice of someone's death; usually includes a short biography
  • Similar words include: obituary, necrology, obit
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OBITS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "54. Counting-out rhyme opener"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "56. Book made obsolescent by GPS"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) a titan who was forced by zeus to bear the sky on his shoulders
  • Similar words include: telamon, atlas vertebra, book of maps
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATLAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "57. "Buh-bye!""

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "58. Attempt anew"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that do over, as of (part of) a house
  • Similar words include: remake, reconstruct, remodel
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REDO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "59. Said "guilty," say"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that appeal or request earnestly
  • Similar words include: plead
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "60. One of 26 in a marathon"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters
  • Similar words include: mi, knot, sea mile
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MILE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "62. Contents of an Excel spreadsheet"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn
  • Similar words include: datum, information, data point
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DATA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "65. Kisses, symbolically"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a colorless odorless inert gaseous element occurring in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts
  • Similar words include: atomic number 54, 10, ex
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: XES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "67. Like some dog kisses"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wetness caused by water
  • Similar words include: stiff, pixilated, blind drunk
  • Opposite of: dry
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WET

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

41 Across Clues
37 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: September 07, 2026 at 08:29 AM

Monday, August 10, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers August 10, 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. "Planet of the ___" 4
2A 5. Wood strip found in many Ikea bed supports 4
3A 9. Take pleasure in 5
4A 14. Size opposite of mini- 4
5A 15. Prepares to throw a dart, say 4
6A 16. Crystal-filled rock 5
7A 17. Newspaper opinion piece 4
8A 18. *Title of a 1990s ABC sitcom and a 1990s New Kids on the Block hit 10
9A 20. Cereal often found with pretzels in a party snack mix 8
10A 22. Vertical jumping ability, in basketball lingo 3
11A 23. Sheep's cry 3
12A 24. "___ to Go!," 2024 Chappell Roan hit sometimes compared to the Village People's "Y.M.C.A." 3
13A 25. Attracted to people of any gender, for short 3
14A 28. *Detailed, real-time description of events 10
15A 33. Shape for a red-and-white striped Christmas candy 4
16A 34. Rodeo rope 5
17A 35. Foggy mental state 4
18A 36. Raisins, when on a celery-and-peanut-butter "log" 4
19A 37. Wrinkly citrus fruit 4
20A 38. "What a shame" 5
21A 39. Riverbank deposit 4
22A 40. Prompted, on stage 4
23A 41. Lyft competitor 4
24A 42. Zellweger of "Bridget Jones's Diary" 5
25A 43. Joint sometimes bent in protest 4
26A 44. *How to tackle big writing projects, per a seminal Anne Lamott book 10
27A 46. Go on and on and on 3
28A 47. LAX posting 3
29A 48. Frito-___ 3
30A 49. Not just some or most 3
31A 50. Got off the ground, as a start-up company 8
32A 55. *Many an off-road vehicle ... or a literal description of the answer to each asterisked clue (including this one!) 10
33A 59. Otherworldly glow 4
34A 60. It means slow (not big!) in music 5
35A 61. "Well, ___ that special!" 4
36A 62. Poetry competition 4
37A 63. "See what I'm talkin' 'bout?" 5
38A 64. Brooklyn basketballers ... and what they swish 4
39A 65. Effortlessness 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. "Planet of the ___""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of various primates with short tails or no tail at all
  • Similar words include: copycat, aper, ape
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: APES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Wood strip found in many Ikea bed supports"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a thin strip (wood or metal)
  • Similar words include: spline
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "9. Take pleasure in"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that derive or receive pleasure from; get enjoyment from; take pleasure in
  • Similar words include: relish, savour, love
  • Opposite of: suffer
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENJOY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Size opposite of mini-"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long skirt ending below the calf
  • Opposite of: mini
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAXI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Prepares to throw a dart, say"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
  • Similar words include: purport, object, calculate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Crystal-filled rock"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (mineralogy) a hollow rock or nodule with the cavity usually lined with crystals
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GEODE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Newspaper opinion piece"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. *Title of a 1990s ABC sitcom and a 1990s New Kids on the Block hit"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Cereal often found with pretzels in a party snack mix"

8 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Vertical jumping ability, in basketball lingo"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Similar words include: up
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "23. Sheep's cry"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cry made by sheep
  • Similar words include: blat, blate, bleat
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BAA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. "___ to Go!," 2024 Chappell Roan hit sometimes compared to the Village People's "Y.M.C.A.""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning
  • Similar words include: red-hot, blistering, live
  • Opposite of: cold
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "25. Attracted to people of any gender, for short"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cooking utensil consisting of a wide metal vessel
  • Similar words include: pan off, tear apart, pan out
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. *Detailed, real-time description of events"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "33. Shape for a red-and-white striped Christmas candy"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a stick that people can lean on to help them walk
  • Similar words include: lambaste, lambast, flog
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "34. Rodeo rope"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that belgian composer (1532-1594)
  • Similar words include: Roland de Lassus, reata, rope
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LASSO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "35. Foggy mental state"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "36. Raisins, when on a celery-and-peanut-butter "log""

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

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: pismire, ant, emmet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. Wrinkly citrus fruit"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large sweet juicy hybrid between tangerine and grapefruit having a thick wrinkled skin
  • Similar words include: tangelo, ugli fruit
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UGLI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "38. "What a shame""

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "39. Riverbank deposit"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that mud or clay or small rocks deposited by a river or lake
  • Similar words include: silt up
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SILT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "40. Prompted, on stage"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that assist (somebody acting or reciting) by suggesting the next words of something forgotten or imperfectly learned
  • Similar words include: remind, prompt, cue
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CUED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "41. Lyft competitor"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "42. Zellweger of "Bridget Jones's Diary""

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "43. Joint sometimes bent in protest"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "44. *How to tackle big writing projects, per a seminal Anne Lamott book"

10 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "46. Go on and on and on"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that informal terms for the mouth
  • Similar words include: maw, yip, gob
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "47. LAX posting"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

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 Fatherland and Liberty, Euskadi ta Askatasuna, Basque Homeland and Freedom
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "48. Frito-___"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a narrative song with a recurrent refrain
  • Similar words include: repose, put, pose
  • Opposite of: stand, arise
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "49. Not just some or most"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that quantifier; used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
  • Similar words include: totally, whole, entirely
  • Opposite of: partly, some
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "50. Got off the ground, as a start-up company"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that set up or found
  • Similar words include: plunge, set in motion, launch
  • Opposite of: abolish
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAUNCHED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "55. *Many an off-road vehicle ... or a literal description of the answer to each asterisked clue (including this one!)"

10 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "59. Otherworldly glow"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sensation (as of a cold breeze or bright light) that precedes the onset of certain disorders such as a migraine attack or epileptic seizure
  • Similar words include: gloriole, halo, aureole
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AURA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "60. It means slow (not big!) in music"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (music) a composition or passage that is to be performed in a slow and dignified manner
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LARGO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "61. "Well, ___ that special!""

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "62. Poetry competition"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that winning all or all but one of the tricks in bridge
  • Similar words include: jibe, bang, sweep
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLAM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "63. "See what I'm talkin' 'bout?""

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "64. Brooklyn basketballers ... and what they swish"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a computer network consisting of a worldwide network of computer networks that use the tcp/ip network protocols to facilitate data transmission and exchange
  • Similar words include: mesh, net income, network
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "65. Effortlessness"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Spanish love 4
2D 2. Big ___ (nickname of baseball's David Ortiz) 4
3D 3. Company bigwig 4
4D 4. *Next to each other, like many washers and dryers 10
5D 5. Strut down the "RuPaul's Drag Race" runway, say 6
6D 6. Lo-cal 4
7D 7. Visa or Mastercard rival, informally 4
8D 8. Small recipe amt. 3
9D 9. Home of the Great Pyramid 5
10D 10. Loch ___ monster 4
11D 11. Scribble (down) 3
12D 12. Sappho's "___ to Aphrodite" 3
13D 13. Slangy affirmative 3
14D 19. Lifted, as one's spirits 6
15D 21. ___ San Lucas, Mexico 4
16D 24. Venture, as a guess 6
17D 25. Pressed sandwich 6
18D 26. Part of a reindeer's rack 6
19D 27. Prepared one's home for a new arrival 6
20D 28. Spirited and determined 6
21D 29. "___ Beach: The Real Orange County" (MTV reality show of the mid-aughts) 6
22D 30. Catching some Z's 6
23D 31. Irrational fear 6
24D 32. Word before printer or pointer 5
25D 33. *Considered individually 10
26D 38. In a nonobvious way 6
27D 42. "Deadpool" actor Reynolds 4
28D 45. Says out loud without thinking 6
29D 47. Spot for a roller skater's pad 5
30D 49. Best Picture winner found hiding in "and the Oscar goes to ..." 4
31D 50. "Heads, I win. Tails, you ___!" (sneaky coin flip agreement) 4
32D 51. Parent's sister 4
33D 52. Hawaiian storytelling dance 4
34D 53. Times of one's life, say 4
35D 54. Title for Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson 4
36D 55. Take to the sky 3
37D 56. Acorn-bearing tree 3
38D 57. Caterer's coffee dispenser 3
39D 58. Above-water sign of a shark 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Spanish love"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (roman mythology) god of love; counterpart of greek eros
  • Similar words include: Cupid
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Big ___ (nickname of baseball's David Ortiz)"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Company bigwig"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the chief executive department of the united states government
  • Similar words include: White House
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EXEC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. *Next to each other, like many washers and dryers"

10 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Strut down the "RuPaul's Drag Race" runway, say"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a square dance figure; partners circle each other taking sideways steps
  • Similar words include: jaunt, ruffle, excursion
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SASHAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Lo-cal"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having relatively few calories
  • Similar words include: light, low-cal, calorie-free
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LITE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Visa or Mastercard rival, informally"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a stock exchange in new york
  • Similar words include: American Stock Exchange, Curb
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMEX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Small recipe amt."

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Home of the Great Pyramid"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a republic in northeastern africa known as the united arab republic until 1971; site of an ancient civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 bc
  • Similar words include: United Arab Republic, Egyptian Empire, Arab Republic of Egypt
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EGYPT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Loch ___ monster"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a strip of land projecting into a body of water
  • Similar words include: cape
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Scribble (down)"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a brief (and hurriedly handwritten) note
  • Similar words include: touch, hint, pinch
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: JOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Sappho's "___ to Aphrodite""

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lyric poem with complex stanza forms
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ODE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Slangy affirmative"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "19. Lifted, as one's spirits"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that float on the surface of water
  • Similar words include: buoy, buoy up
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BUOYED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. ___ San Lucas, Mexico"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "24. Venture, as a guess"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune
  • Similar words include: luck, gamble, run a risk
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAZARD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. Pressed sandwich"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that indian grammarian whose grammatical rules for sanskrit are the first known example of descriptive linguistics (circa 400 bc)
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PANINI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Part of a reindeer's rack"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that deciduous horn of a member of the deer family
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANTLER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. Prepared one's home for a new arrival"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that inhabit a nest, usually after building
  • Similar words include: nestle, nuzzle, draw close
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NESTED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "28. Spirited and determined"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that marked by courage and determination in the face of difficulties or danger; robust and uninhibited; ; -judith crist
  • Similar words include: spunky, feisty, gutsy
  • Opposite of: gutless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLUCKY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "29. "___ Beach: The Real Orange County" (MTV reality show of the mid-aughts)"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a body of water cut off from a larger body by a reef of sand or coral
  • Similar words include: lagoon, lagune
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAGUNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "30. Catching some Z's"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in a state of sleep
  • Similar words include: departed, benumbed, at rest
  • Opposite of: awake
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASLEEP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "31. Irrational fear"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations
  • Similar words include: phobic disorder, phobic neurosis
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PHOBIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "32. Word before printer or pointer"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; an optical device that produces an intense monochromatic beam of coherent light
  • Similar words include: optical maser
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LASER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "33. *Considered individually"

10 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "38. In a nonobvious way"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in a subtle manner
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SUBTLY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. "Deadpool" actor Reynolds"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "45. Says out loud without thinking"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that utter impulsively
  • Similar words include: blunder, blurt, blurt out
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLURTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "47. Spot for a roller skater's pad"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that hinge joint between the forearm and upper arm and the corresponding joint in the forelimb of a quadruped
  • Similar words include: human elbow, elbow joint, cubitus
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELBOW

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30D: "49. Best Picture winner found hiding in "and the Oscar goes to ...""

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that formerly a large constellation in the southern hemisphere between canis major and the southern cross; now divided into carina and pyxis and puppis and vela
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARGO

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31D: "50. "Heads, I win. Tails, you ___!" (sneaky coin flip agreement)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
  • Similar words include: turn a loss, mislay, fall back
  • Opposite of: profit, win
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOSE

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32D: "51. Parent's sister"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
  • Similar words include: auntie, aunty
  • Opposite of: uncle
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AUNT

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33D: "52. Hawaiian storytelling dance"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a polynesian rain dance performed by a woman
  • Similar words include: hula-hula, Hawaiian dancing
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HULA

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34D: "53. Times of one's life, say"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period marked by distinctive character or reckoned from a fixed point or event
  • Similar words include: epoch, geological era, era
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERAS

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35D: "54. Title for Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that informal terms for a (young) woman
  • Similar words include: wench, bird, doll
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DAME

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36D: "55. Take to the sky"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

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37D: "56. Acorn-bearing tree"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
  • Similar words include: oak tree
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAK

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38D: "57. Caterer's coffee dispenser"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: URN

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39D: "58. Above-water sign of a shark"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
  • Similar words include: Little Phoebe, V, Phoebe
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIN

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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

39 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

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Last updated: August 10, 2026 at 05:00 AM