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Wednesday, September 2, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers September 02, 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. "Melts in your mouth" candies ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme 6
2A 7. Mattress or memo follower 3
3A 10. Maine city near the mouth of the Kennebec River 4
4A 14. Mama Morton of "Chicago," for one 6
5A 15. Meaning of "mono-" 3
6A 16. Marco Polo made his way across it 4
7A 17. Much of Mali 6
8A 18. Meet and glance off a bumper, as a pool ball might 8
9A 20. Multicolored implements in many art drawers 12
10A 22. Markdown on Cyber Monday, e.g. 4
11A 24. Maroon and mahogany, for two 6
12A 25. Man's "monkey suit" 3
13A 26. Mom-to-aunt moniker 3
14A 28. Muscular part of a marathoner 3
15A 29. Marshall Mathers ___ Eminem 3
16A 32. Met melody 4
17A 34. Make sure not to miss it! 3
18A 36. Made eyes at in the manner of a satyr 5
19A 38. Marauder's Map encryption phrase in "Harry Potter" 15
20A 42. Minced-meat cake 5
21A 43. Male meower 3
22A 44. "Mega cool!," in modern lingo 4
23A 45. Multiple-choice selection on a midterm, say: Abbr. 3
24A 46. Making out openly or a mobile device, in brief 3
25A 49. Modern-day name for the American Messenger Co. 3
26A 51. Make free (of), maybe 3
27A 52. Munificent man 6
28A 54. Maximum measure of attractiveness, say 4
29A 56. M.L.B. M.V.P. nicknamed the "Commerce Comet" 12
30A 60. Midwest state that's home to Moline 8
31A 61. Many-toothed metal tool 6
32A 65. Much-heard sound from a horse in motion 4
33A 66. Martial arts master Bruce 3
34A 67. Maneuver a monoplane, e.g. 6
35A 68. Mechanics might provide them for their work: Abbr. 4
36A 69. Modern modem inits. 3
37A 70. Maniacs, maybe 6

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. "Melts in your mouth" candies ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "7. Mattress or memo follower"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a number of sheets of paper fastened together along one edge
  • Similar words include: embellish, fill out, lodgings
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Maine city near the mouth of the Kennebec River"

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: bathtub, bathing tub, bathroom
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BATH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Mama Morton of "Chicago," for one"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a married woman (usually middle-aged with children) who is staid and dignified
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MATRON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Meaning of "mono-""

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
  • Similar words include: unrivaled, 1, ace
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ONE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Marco Polo made his way across it"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population; it is joined to europe on the west to form eurasia; it is the site of some of the world's earliest civilizations
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Much of Mali"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the world's largest desert (3,500,000 square miles) in northern africa
  • Similar words include: Sahara Desert
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAHARA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "18. Meet and glance off a bumper, as a pool ball might"

8 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a glancing rebound
  • Similar words include: carom, resile, bound
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RICOCHET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Multicolored implements in many art drawers"

12 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Markdown on Cyber Monday, e.g."

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a particular instance of buying or selling
  • Similar words include: flock, allot, sight
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "24. Maroon and mahogany, for two"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that spectacles that are darkened or polarized to protect the eyes from the glare of the sun
  • Similar words include: nuance, shade off, shade
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHADES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "25. Man's "monkey suit""

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that semiformal evening dress for men
  • Similar words include: black tie, tuxedo, dinner jacket
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUX

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "26. Mom-to-aunt moniker"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a female person who has the same parents as another person
  • Similar words include: Si, Systeme International d'Unites, si
  • Opposite of: brother
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "28. Muscular part of a marathoner"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part of the limb between the knee and ankle
  • Similar words include: branch, wooden leg, pegleg
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "29. Marshall Mathers ___ Eminem"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "32. Met melody"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

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!

17A: "34. Make sure not to miss it!"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

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: pool cue, prompt, clue
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "36. Made eyes at in the manner of a satyr"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that look at with amorous intentions
  • Similar words include: ogle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OGLED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "38. Marauder's Map encryption phrase in "Harry Potter""

15 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Minced-meat cake"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that small flat mass of chopped food
  • Similar words include: cake
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PATTY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. Male meower"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (ethnic slur) offensive and derogatory name for a black man who is abjectly servile and deferential to whites
  • Similar words include: tomcat, turkey cock, tom turkey
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "44. "Mega cool!," in modern lingo"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that street names for marijuana
  • Similar words include: sess, skunk, smoke
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOPE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "45. Multiple-choice selection on a midterm, say: Abbr."

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the part of the nervous system of vertebrates that controls involuntary actions of the smooth muscles and heart and glands
  • Similar words include: Associate in Nursing, autonomic nervous system, AN
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "46. Making out openly or a mobile device, in brief"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lightweight consumer electronic device that looks like a hand-held computer but instead performs specific tasks; can serve as a diary or a personal database or a telephone or an alarm clock etc.
  • Similar words include: organizer, organiser, personal organizer
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PDA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "49. Modern-day name for the American Messenger Co."

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "51. Make free (of), maybe"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that relieve from
  • Similar words include: free, disembarrass
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "52. Munificent man"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone who has or gives or receives a part or a share
  • Similar words include: partaker
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHARER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "54. Maximum measure of attractiveness, say"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sun (or solar disc) which was the deity of a monotheistic cult under the pharaoh akhenaten
  • Similar words include: Aton
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "56. M.L.B. M.V.P. nicknamed the "Commerce Comet""

12 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "60. Midwest state that's home to Moline"

8 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a midwestern state in north-central united states
  • Similar words include: Land of Lincoln, Prairie State, IL
  • Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ILLINOIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "61. Many-toothed metal tool"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a handsaw for cutting with the grain of the wood
  • Similar words include: splitsaw
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIPSAW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "65. Much-heard sound from a horse in motion"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the sound of a horse's hoofs hitting on a hard surface
  • Similar words include: clippety-clop, clip-clop, clump
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "66. Martial arts master Bruce"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states filmmaker whose works explore the richness of black culture in america (born in 1957)
  • Similar words include: Lee Yuen Kam, lee side, Bruce Lee
  • Opposite of: windward
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "67. Maneuver a monoplane, e.g."

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that operate an airplane
  • Similar words include: pilot, fly
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVIATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "68. Mechanics might provide them for their work: Abbr."

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that standard time in the 5th time zone west of greenwich, reckoned at the 75th meridian; used in the eastern united states
  • Similar words include: EST, Eastern Standard Time, Eastern Time
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "69. Modern modem inits."

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a generic name for digital lines that are provided by telephone companies to their local subscribers and that carry data at high speeds
  • Similar words include: digital subscriber line
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DSL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "70. Maniacs, maybe"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an insane person
  • Similar words include: maniac, madman, lunatic
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MADMEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Metric measurements: Abbr. 3
2D 2. Motorists make up this org. 3
3D 3. Maximum degree in math 3
4D 4. Molière's or Mamet's field 5
5D 5. Maxims discouraging misconduct 6
6D 6. Minor mishap 4
7D 7. Many a mailbox locale 5
8D 8. Marmot or marmoset 6
9D 9. Month multiplied by 120 6
10D 10. Musters support for, as a mission 5
11D 11. Men's tennis champ with a Presidential Medal of Freedom 4
12D 12. Measure of a membership 4
13D 13. Milliners manufacture them 4
14D 19. Milwaukie and Mount Hood are here 6
15D 21. Matter to mull over 5
16D 22. Malodorous Malaysian fruit 6
17D 23. Manifests in the material world 6
18D 25. Major metropolis on a bay of the same name 5
19D 27. Map word in Marseille 3
20D 29. Main man for Bill Clinton, 1993-2001 6
21D 30. Maintain, as movie footage 6
22D 31. Made a basic math calculation 5
23D 33. Magician's or marionettist's performance 3
24D 35. Movement of money digitally from bank to bank, in brief 3
25D 37. Meander mindlessly (about) 3
26D 39. Mild-mannered characteristic? 6
27D 40. Miss badly, maybe 5
28D 41. Music magnifier at a concert 3
29D 47. Made a mere 24 hours ago 6
30D 48. Military groups that meet in battle 6
31D 50. Mouth moistener 6
32D 52. Moves merrily 5
33D 53. Mobile stand at a meeting 5
34D 55. Meh ... or medium-temp 5
35D 56. Miniature maze runners 4
36D 57. Major misfortunes 4
37D 58. Medical mass 4
38D 59. Means of transport in a mine 4
39D 62. Musician Cooke who sang "You Send Me" 3
40D 63. Made a meal of 3
41D 64. Ming-Na of 1998's "Mulan" 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Metric measurements: Abbr."

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a metric unit of length equal to one thousandth of a meter
  • Similar words include: millimeter, millimetre, mm
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Motorists make up this org."

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta associated with old age and hypertension
  • Similar words include: abdominal aortic aneurysm
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AAA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Maximum degree in math"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that last or greatest in an indefinitely large series
  • Similar words include: n-th
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NTH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Molière's or Mamet's field"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
  • Similar words include: dramatic event, dramatic play, play
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRAMA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Maxims discouraging misconduct"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that motivation based on ideas of right and wrong
  • Similar words include: morality, lesson, ethics
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MORALS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Minor mishap"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sharp protuberance
  • Similar words include: rip, tear, rent
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNAG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Many a mailbox locale"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a structure attached to the exterior of a building often forming a covered entrance
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PORCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Marmot or marmoset"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
  • Similar words include: fleshly, beast, creature
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANIMAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Month multiplied by 120"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period of 10 years
  • Similar words include: decennary, X, 10
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DECADE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Musters support for, as a mission"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine
  • Similar words include: stake, rear, support
  • Opposite of: advance, front
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BACKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Men's tennis champ with a Presidential Medal of Freedom"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that united states tennis player who was the first black to win united states and english singles championships (1943-1993)
  • Similar words include: Arthur Ashe, Arthur Robert Ashe
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASHE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Measure of a membership"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a relative position or degree of value in a graded group
  • Similar words include: level, grade, tier up
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Milliners manufacture them"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim
  • Similar words include: lid, hat, chapeau
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HATS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "19. Milwaukie and Mount Hood are here"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in northwestern united states on the pacific
  • Similar words include: Beaver State, OR
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OREGON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Matter to mull over"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an important question that is in dispute and must be settled
  • Similar words include: yield, outcome, result
  • Opposite of: recall
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISSUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "22. Malodorous Malaysian fruit"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tree of southeastern asia having edible oval fruit with a hard spiny rind
  • Similar words include: Durio zibethinus, durion, durian tree
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DURIAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "23. Manifests in the material world"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. Major metropolis on a bay of the same name"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a resort city in western florida; located on tampa bay on the gulf of mexico
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAMPA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. Map word in Marseille"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "29. Main man for Bill Clinton, 1993-2001"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "30. Maintain, as movie footage"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "31. Made a basic math calculation"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make an addition (to); join or combine or unite with others; increase the quality, quantity, size or scope of
  • Similar words include: append, tot, summate
  • Opposite of: subtract, take away
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADDED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "33. Magician's or marionettist's performance"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body
  • Similar words include: work, human activity, routine
  • Opposite of: refrain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "35. Movement of money digitally from bank to bank, in brief"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a newt in its terrestrial stage of development
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EFT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "37. Meander mindlessly (about)"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling or lightheadedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months
  • Similar words include: anxiety reaction, jazz around, generalized anxiety disorder
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Mild-mannered characteristic?"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a punctuation mark (-) used between parts of a compound word or between the syllables of a word when the word is divided at the end of a line of text
  • Similar words include: dash, hyphenate
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HYPHEN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "40. Miss badly, maybe"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that feel sadness
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MOURN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "41. Music magnifier at a concert"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the basic unit of electric current adopted under the systeme international d'unites
  • Similar words include: adenylic acid, A, adenosine monophosphate
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "47. Made a mere 24 hours ago"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "48. Military groups that meet in battle"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a permanent organization of the military land forces of a nation or state
  • Similar words include: Army, USA, regular army
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARMIES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "50. Mouth moistener"

6 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

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!

32D: "52. Moves merrily"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a gait in which steps and hops alternate
  • Similar words include: hop, cut, skip over
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SKIPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "53. Mobile stand at a meeting"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an upright tripod for displaying something (usually an artist's canvas)
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EASEL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "55. Meh ... or medium-temp"

5 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that moderately warm
  • Similar words include: halfhearted, half-hearted, lukewarm
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEPID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "56. Miniature maze runners"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
  • Similar words include: computer mouse, mouse, black eye
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MICE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "57. Major misfortunes"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
  • Similar words include: ill, ailment, complaint
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ILLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "58. Medical mass"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a lump of material formed from the content of a liquid
  • Similar words include: curdle, coagulate, clog
  • Opposite of: homogenize
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "59. Means of transport in a mine"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a conveyance that transports passengers or freight in carriers suspended from cables and supported by a series of towers
  • Similar words include: trolley car, tramway, tramcar
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRAM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "62. Musician Cooke who sang "You Send Me""

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a guided missile fired from land or shipboard against an airborne target
  • Similar words include: surface-to-air missile
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "63. Made a meal of"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "64. Ming-Na of 1998's "Mulan""

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a common cyst of the skin; filled with fatty matter (sebum) that is secreted by a sebaceous gland that has been blocked
  • Similar words include: sebaceous cyst, steatocystoma, pilar cyst
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WEN

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: September 02, 2026 at 08:00 AM

Friday, June 19, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers June 19, 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: Moderate

Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!

Across Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1A 1. Cut of beef used in Santa Maria-style barbecue 6
2A 7. ___ Wilson, four-time M.V.P. of the 27-Down 3
3A 10. Common export, nowadays 3
4A 13. Field trip? 11
5A 16. Section of a timeline 3
6A 17. Chef's complimentary bite 11
7A 18. Staff 3
8A 19. Reacted to capturing a championship, perhaps 4
9A 20. Dish often served with tartar sauce, informally 10
10A 22. Terrorizer of Amity Island, in a 1975 blockbuster film 5
11A 24. Finishes filming 5
12A 25. Epitome of thinness 5
13A 27. Mushroom named for its resemblance to a body part 7
14A 29. "You've gotta be kidding me!" 11
15A 32. Off-grid connection? 3
16A 33. Former attorney general Bill 4
17A 34. Short cut 3
18A 35. "___ Green" (Kermit the Frog song) 4
19A 36. Skater who lit the Olympic cauldron in 1998 3
20A 37. Political philosopher who wrote "The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly" 11
21A 41. Maker of sole music? 7
22A 43. Succeed in 5
23A 44. Stamp purchase 5
24A 45. Companion of Ash and Misty in PokΓ©mon anime 5
25A 47. Cold one enjoyed during a hot wash 10
26A 49. Word with ball or board 4
27A 53. Spot for a flask 3
28A 54. "That sounds brave ... but very stupid!" 11
29A 56. Date in France? 3
30A 57. One concerned with transparency in the workplace? 11
31A 58. Bench press target, informally 3
32A 59. Hebrew name meaning "high" 3
33A 60. Chinese revolutionary Sun ___ 6

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Cut of beef used in Santa Maria-style barbecue"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "7. ___ Wilson, four-time M.V.P. of the 27-Down"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Common export, nowadays"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "13. Field trip?"

11 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "16. Section of a timeline"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "17. Chef's complimentary bite"

11 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "18. Staff"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a long thin implement made of metal or wood
  • Similar words include: pole, retinal rod, rod cell
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Reacted to capturing a championship, perhaps"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that shed tears because of sadness, rage, or pain
  • Similar words include: weep, cry
  • Opposite of: laugh
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WEPT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Dish often served with tartar sauce, informally"

10 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Terrorizer of Amity Island, in a 1975 blockbuster film"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any of numerous elongate mostly marine carnivorous fishes with heterocercal caudal fins and tough skin covered with small toothlike scales
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHARK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "24. Finishes filming"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "25. Epitome of thinness"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small adhesive disk of paste; used to seal letters
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAFER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. Mushroom named for its resemblance to a body part"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. "You've gotta be kidding me!""

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "32. Off-grid connection?"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Former attorney general Bill"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Short cut"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. "___ Green" (Kermit the Frog song)"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "36. Skater who lit the Olympic cauldron in 1998"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "37. Political philosopher who wrote "The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly""

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. Maker of sole music?"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "43. Succeed in"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "44. Stamp purchase"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any broad thin expanse or surface
  • Similar words include: weather sheet, bed sheet, flat solid
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHEET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "45. Companion of Ash and Misty in PokΓ©mon anime"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "47. Cold one enjoyed during a hot wash"

10 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "49. Word with ball or board"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals
  • Similar words include: nose candy, Baron Snow of Leicester, hoodwink
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNOW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "53. Spot for a flask"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a workplace for the conduct of scientific research
  • Similar words include: laboratory, science laboratory, research laboratory
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "54. "That sounds brave ... but very stupid!""

11 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "56. Date in France?"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "57. One concerned with transparency in the workplace?"

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that someone skilled in blowing bottles from molten glass
  • Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GLASSBLOWER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "58. Bench press target, informally"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "59. Hebrew name meaning "high""

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "60. Chinese revolutionary Sun ___"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Spring event 4
2D 2. Twin city? 4
3D 3. Morning announcement 4
4D 4. Tries to identify, as a medical issue 8
5D 5. Red state 3
6D 6. 20-Across, e.g. 7
7D 7. A military parade might go through it 4
8D 8. Director of "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible II" 7
9D 9. Admitted fault 7
10D 10. Sudden reversal of fortune, in literature 10
11D 11. Mentions one's ring size, maybe 10
12D 12. They're hot, until they're not 4
13D 14. Film ___ 4
14D 15. Certain canine 4
15D 21. Conned 3
16D 23. Clothing line 3
17D 25. "Too bad!" 10
18D 26. Preferring to keep one's feet on the ground? 10
19D 27. See 7-Across 4
20D 28. French director Clair 4
21D 29. Last words? 4
22D 30. Instrument usually pitched in C 4
23D 31. Awards season announcement, for short 3
24D 35. What might go off the rails? 8
25D 37. Guitarist who played the first-ever rock concert at the Sistine Chapel 7
26D 38. Item in a basket at the dinner table 7
27D 39. Felt completely confident in 7
28D 40. Insta post 3
29D 42. Patch, say 3
30D 45. "All ___ are off!" 4
31D 46. Losing side in the Battle of Shiloh, informally 4
32D 47. Insult, metaphorically 4
33D 48. Children of, in Hebrew 4
34D 50. What's going on 4
35D 51. Willie ___, first Black player in the N.H.L. 4
36D 52. Run-down 4
37D 55. Like 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Spring event"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid
  • Similar words include: thawing, melt, unthaw
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THAW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Twin city?"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that capital and largest city of italy; on the tiber; seat of the roman catholic church; formerly the capital of the roman republic and the roman empire
  • Similar words include: Eternal City, Roma, capital of Italy
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROME

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Morning announcement"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Tries to identify, as a medical issue"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Red state"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. 20-Across, e.g."

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. A military parade might go through it"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a curved shape in the vertical plane that spans an opening
  • Similar words include: patronising, prankish, wicked
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Director of "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible II""

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Admitted fault"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Sudden reversal of fortune, in literature"

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sudden and unexpected change of fortune or reverse of circumstances (especially in a literary work)
  • Similar words include: peripetia, peripety
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PERIPETEIA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Mentions one's ring size, maybe"

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. They're hot, until they're not"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an interest followed with exaggerated zeal
  • Similar words include: craze, rage, fad
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FADS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "14. Film ___"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "15. Certain canine"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a hard smooth ivory colored dentine that makes up most of the tusks of elephants and walruses
  • Similar words include: ivory, horn, detusk
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUSK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Conned"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that have or possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense
  • Similar words include: have got, bear, induce
  • Opposite of: abstain, refuse
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Clothing line"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the edge of a piece of cloth; especially the finished edge that has been doubled under and stitched down
  • Similar words include: ahem
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. "Too bad!""

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "26. Preferring to keep one's feet on the ground?"

10 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that suffering from acrophobia; abnormally afraid of high places
  • Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACROPHOBIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "27. See 7-Across"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "28. French director Clair"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "29. Last words?"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "30. Instrument usually pitched in C"

4 letters πŸ’­ 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!

23D: "31. Awards season announcement, for short"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "35. What might go off the rails?"

8 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "37. Guitarist who played the first-ever rock concert at the Sistine Chapel"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "38. Item in a basket at the dinner table"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "39. Felt completely confident in"

7 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "40. Insta post"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement
  • Similar words include: motion picture, photograph, moving-picture show
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "42. Patch, say"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fasten by sewing; do needlework
  • Similar words include: tailor, sew together, stitch
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "45. "All ___ are off!""

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the money risked on a gamble
  • Similar words include: look, count, depend
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BETS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "46. Losing side in the Battle of Shiloh, informally"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that `johnny' was applied as a nickname for confederate soldiers by the federal soldiers in the american civil war; `greyback' derived from their grey confederate uniforms
  • Similar words include: greyback, Johnny, Rebel
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REBS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "47. Insult, metaphorically"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a blow from a flat object (as an open hand)
  • Similar words include: smack, bolt, slapdash
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "48. Children of, in Hebrew"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "50. What's going on"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that information about recent and important events
  • Similar words include: news program, newsworthiness, intelligence
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEWS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "51. Willie ___, first Black player in the N.H.L."

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "52. Run-down"

4 letters πŸ’­ Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be dressed in
  • Similar words include: bear, haggard, wear out
  • Opposite of: new, refresh
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WORN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "55. Like"

3 letters πŸ’­ Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALA

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

33 Across Clues
37 Down Clues
70 Total Clues

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Last updated: June 19, 2026 at 08:52 AM