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Thursday, August 20, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers August 20, 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: Challenging

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. Sound like heaven 4
2A 5. Game of observation for travel 6
3A 11. Ad free 3
4A 14. Brief in pants 4
5A 15. Correct thoroughly 6
6A 16. Bad feel 3
7A 17. Try to place connoisseurs? 11
8A 19. Cells in compound 3
9A 20. Checks with style 5
10A 21. To cop 3
11A 22. Competition, for starters 5
12A 24. York ___ 5
13A 26. Place recording 6
14A 27. Signals over game 5
15A 29. Maturity approaching 5
16A 31. Crows to relatives 6
17A 32. Free booze 3
18A 33. Confidentiality of letters? 4
19A 37. "Done well" 5
20A 38. Short for "info flight" 3
21A 39. Sponge bath 5
22A 40. Nothing doing 4
23A 41. Say "minus C" 3
24A 42. Set off 6
25A 43. Practice Japanese 5
26A 45. Equal roughly 5
27A 46. Into light 6
28A 49. Nags about noise? 5
29A 51. Land of Spot 5
30A 52. On-off signs 3
31A 53. Lines some over draw 5
32A 57. For repentance some feel 3
33A 58. Details insignificant contests 11
34A 61. Spending limits it 3
35A 62. Forum discussion, popular once 6
36A 63. Cut short 4
37A 64. Rock-___ 3
38A 65. Out with ate, ate, ate 6
39A 66. Website gift custom 4

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Sound like heaven"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a chordophone that has a triangular frame consisting of a sounding board and a pillar and a curved neck; the strings stretched between the neck and the soundbox are plucked with the fingers
  • Similar words include: dwell, mouth organ, mouth harp
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "5. Game of observation for travel"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an overland journey by hunters (especially in africa)
  • Similar words include: hunting expedition, campaign
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAFARI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "11. Ad free"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protein manufactured exclusively by the prostate gland; psa is produced for the ejaculate where it liquifies the semen and allows sperm cells to swim freely; elevated levels of psa in blood serum are associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer
  • Similar words include: prostate specific antigen
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Brief in pants"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Correct thoroughly"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Bad feel"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that aromatic bulb used as seasoning
  • Similar words include: garlic, trouble, pain
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AIL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. Try to place connoisseurs?"

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Cells in compound"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (biochemistry) a long linear polymer of nucleotides found in the nucleus but mainly in the cytoplasm of a cell where it is associated with microsomes; it transmits genetic information from dna to the cytoplasm and controls certain chemical processes in the cell
  • Similar words include: ribonucleic acid
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RNA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Checks with style"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cloth having a crisscross design
  • Similar words include: tartan
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLAID

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. To cop"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. Competition, for starters"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. York ___"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "26. Place recording"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that workplace for the teaching or practice of an art
  • Similar words include: studio apartment
  • Opposite of: location
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STUDIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "27. Signals over game"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a noisemaker (as at parties or games) that makes a loud noise when you blow through it
  • Similar words include: tusk, trump, automobile horn
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HORNS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "29. Maturity approaching"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that fully developed or matured and ready to be eaten or used
  • Similar words include: mature, advanced, ripe
  • Opposite of: green
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIPER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. Crows to relatives"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large black bird with a straight bill and long wedge-shaped tail
  • Similar words include: devour, prey, guttle
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAVENS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "32. Free booze"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a reformer who opposes the use of intoxicating beverages
  • Similar words include: wry, prohibitionist, teetotal
  • Opposite of: wet, sweet
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "33. Confidentiality of letters?"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. "Done well""

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political figure) who kills by a surprise attack and often is hired to do the deed
  • Similar words include: assassin, assassinator
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BRAVO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "38. Short for "info flight""

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "39. Sponge bath"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the dried fibrous part of the fruit of a plant of the genus luffa; used as a washing sponge or strainer
  • Similar words include: loofah, loufah sponge, luffa
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOOFA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "40. Nothing doing"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the state of an engine or other mechanism that is idling
  • Similar words include: stagnate, dead, groundless
  • Opposite of: run, work
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDLE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "41. Say "minus C""

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "42. Set off"

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that bear the expenses of
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEFRAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "43. Practice Japanese"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "45. Equal roughly"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "46. Into light"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "49. Nags about noise?"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the characteristic sounds made by a horse
  • Similar words include: nicker, whinny, whicker
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEIGH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "51. Land of Spot"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small island
  • Similar words include: isle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ISLET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "52. On-off signs"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in south central united states
  • Similar words include: okeh, Oklahoma, Sooner State
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "53. Lines some over draw"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a just detectable amount
  • Similar words include: decipher, hint, hunt
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRACE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "57. For repentance some feel"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that european strong-scented perennial herb with grey-green bitter-tasting leaves; an irritant similar to poison ivy
  • Similar words include: repent, regret, sorrow
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "58. Details insignificant contests"

11 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "61. Spending limits it"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tight-fitting headdress
  • Similar words include: hood, detonator, capital
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "62. Forum discussion, popular once"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "63. Cut short"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small piece of anything (especially a piece that has been snipped off)
  • Similar words include: nip off, clip, snippet
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "64. Rock-___"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38A: "65. Out with ate, ate, ate"

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that live like a pig, in squalor
  • Similar words include: farrow, devour, guttle
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PIGGED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39A: "66. Website gift custom"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. URL starter 4
2D 2. Asian sea currently undergoing replenishment efforts 4
3D 3. Civil rights icon Parks 4
4D 4. Shift the gears of, in a way ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues 12
5D 5. ID in some data breaches 3
6D 6. Elite H.S. class covering the Constitution 5
7D 7. Visionary ... or what you'll need to return to when solving this puzzle's Down clues 15
8D 8. Loads 4
9D 9. Babe in the Hundred Acre Wood 3
10D 10. One advocated for by the National Prison Project 6
11D 11. Whittled (down) 5
12D 12. Biblical mount 5
13D 13. It's worth remembering! 5
14D 18. "No idea" 6
15D 23. Distinctive expression ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues 12
16D 25. Feature of San Francisco's Lombard Street 3
17D 26. Mole, e.g. 3
18D 27. Firm 4
19D 28. Like many cricket fields 4
20D 30. Plan to contribute to, for short 3
21D 31. One of 1,909 for Willie Mays, for short 3
22D 34. "___ the Explorer" 4
23D 35. Some distance away 4
24D 36. Declare 3
25D 38. "Oh no! A mouse!" 3
26D 39. What the second number indicates in men's jeans sizes 6
27D 41. Univ. with an annual Mystery Hunt 3
28D 42. Eager response to "Wanna join?" 3
29D 44. Goes nuts for 6
30D 46. Around 5
31D 47. Garden-variety 5
32D 48. Wasn't paying attention 5
33D 50. Lauder of cosmetics 5
34D 52. Designer Cassini 4
35D 54. "I don't really care / If ya think I'm strange / I ___ gonna change": Joan Jett 4
36D 55. N.F.L. commentator Collinsworth 4
37D 56. Arthur Ashe Courage Award, e.g. 4
38D 59. Letter after chi 3
39D 60. The "S" of E.S.T.: Abbr. 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. URL starter"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a protocol (utilizing tcp) to transfer hypertext requests and information between servers and browsers
  • Similar words include: hypertext transfer protocol
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HTTP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Asian sea currently undergoing replenishment efforts"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Civil rights icon Parks"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that large genus of erect or climbing prickly shrubs including roses
  • Similar words include: genus Rosa
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROSA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Shift the gears of, in a way ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues"

12 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. ID in some data breaches"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Elite H.S. class covering the Constitution"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Visionary ... or what you'll need to return to when solving this puzzle's Down clues"

15 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Loads"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Babe in the Hundred Acre Wood"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. One advocated for by the National Prison Project"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of several resident of a dwelling (especially someone confined to a prison or hospital)
  • Similar words include: yard bird, yardbird, convict
  • Opposite of: outpatient
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INMATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Whittled (down)"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that decrease gradually or bit by bit
  • Similar words include: whittle, peel, trim
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PARED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Biblical mount"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mountain peak in the southern sinai peninsula (7,500 feet high); it is believed to be the peak on which moses received the ten commandments
  • Similar words include: Sinai Peninsula, Mount Sinai, Sinai Desert
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SINAI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. It's worth remembering!"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a siege and massacre at a mission in san antonio in 1836; mexican forces under santa anna besieged and massacred american rebels who were fighting to make texas independent of mexico
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALAMO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. "No idea""

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "23. Distinctive expression ... or a hint to this puzzle's Across clues"

12 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "25. Feature of San Francisco's Lombard Street"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a radioactive transuranic element produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons
  • Similar words include: atomic number 99, E, Es
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ESS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "26. Mole, e.g."

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors
  • Similar words include: descry, undercover agent, spot
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "27. Firm"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
  • Similar words include: knockout, heavy, difficult
  • Opposite of: soft, easy
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HARD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "28. Like many cricket fields"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a closed plane curve resulting from the intersection of a circular cone and a plane cutting completely through it
  • Similar words include: ovate, ellipse, prolate
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OVAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "30. Plan to contribute to, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a militant organization of irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive british forces from northern ireland and achieve a united independent ireland
  • Similar words include: Provisional IRA, Irish Republican Army, wrath
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. One of 1,909 for Willie Mays, for short"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a run that is the result of the batter's performance
  • Similar words include: run batted in
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RBI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. "___ the Explorer""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Some distance away"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (old-fashioned) at or from or to a great distance; far
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AFAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "36. Declare"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the chance to speak
  • Similar words include: pronounce, articulate, aver
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. "Oh no! A mouse!""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. What the second number indicates in men's jeans sizes"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place
  • Similar words include: distance, duration
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LENGTH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "41. Univ. with an annual Mystery Hunt"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an engineering university in cambridge
  • Similar words include: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "42. Eager response to "Wanna join?""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the united states federal department charged with conservation and the development of natural resources; created in 1849
  • Similar words include: Interior, Interior Department, Department of the Interior
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DOI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "44. Goes nuts for"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "46. Around"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "47. Garden-variety"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure
  • Similar words include: common
  • Opposite of: unusual
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: USUAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "48. Wasn't paying attention"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that be able to accommodate for sleeping
  • Similar words include: sleep, log Z's, catch some Z's
  • Opposite of: wake
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLEPT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "50. Lauder of cosmetics"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "52. Designer Cassini"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "54. "I don't really care / If ya think I'm strange / I ___ gonna change": Joan Jett"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "55. N.F.L. commentator Collinsworth"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "56. Arthur Ashe Courage Award, e.g."

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "59. Letter after chi"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of pressure
  • Similar words include: pounds per square inch
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "60. The "S" of E.S.T.: Abbr."

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a communicable infection transmitted by sexual intercourse or genital contact
  • Similar words include: venereal infection, dose, sexually transmitted disease
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STD

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

39 Across Clues
39 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: August 20, 2026 at 04:04 AM

Saturday, June 20, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers June 20, 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: Challenging

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. Dad's pop, perhaps 9
2A 10. Attempt, informally 5
3A 15. One might be used to launch promotional materials 9
4A 16. It's often set on the stove while cooking 5
5A 17. That's not the whole story! 9
6A 18. Fancy and then some 5
7A 19. Like the eyes of an American coot 3
8A 20. Be prepared to take a weight off someone's shoulders? 4
9A 21. ___ Howard, activist known as the "Mother of Pride" 6
10A 22. Said who's who or what's what? 4
11A 24. Allies often share one 5
12A 26. Turnovers, but not crumpets 4
13A 27. "Be my guest" and "Go right ahead" 3
14A 29. Fixture at a chocolate factory 3
15A 30. Rate of passage 4
16A 31. With 28-Down, set hanging by a door 5
17A 34. Soprano Fleming 5
18A 36. Call for a pass? 3
19A 37. "I've done better" 15
20A 40. Hooter 3
21A 41. Resonates beautifully 5
22A 42. What might lead to a pile of dirty laundry 5
23A 43. ___ Ewbank, Hall-of-Fame football coach 4
24A 45. I 3
25A 46. Margaret featured in "Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution" 3
26A 47. Punch 4
27A 48. State-sponsored "wealth redistribution" scheme 5
28A 50. Support of a sort 4
29A 54. "I'm not sure what to make of that" 6
30A 56. Helen with the podcast "Go Fact Yourself" 4
31A 58. Natural resource seen in arboretums? 3
32A 59. Blushing matter 5
33A 60. Creature whose appendages allow it to camouflage in masses of kelp 9
34A 62. N.B.A. analyst Burke 5
35A 63. "That's what they say, anyway" 9
36A 64. Smooth and shiny 5
37A 65. Celebratory opening 9

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Dad's pop, perhaps"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "10. Attempt, informally"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state of steady vigorous action that is characteristic of an activity
  • Similar words include: swing over, drop, dangle
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SWING

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "15. One might be used to launch promotional materials"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "16. It's often set on the stove while cooking"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a timepiece that measures a time interval and signals its end
  • Similar words include: timekeeper
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TIMER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "17. That's not the whole story!"

9 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "18. Fancy and then some"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that love intensely
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "19. Like the eyes of an American coot"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
  • Similar words include: red-faced, reddish, ruby
  • Opposite of: gain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "20. Be prepared to take a weight off someone's shoulders?"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "21. ___ Howard, activist known as the "Mother of Pride""

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "22. Said who's who or what's what?"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "24. Allies often share one"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an opposing military force
  • Similar words include: foe, opposition, foeman
  • Opposite of: friend
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENEMY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "26. Turnovers, but not crumpets"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. "Be my guest" and "Go right ahead""

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in south central united states
  • Similar words include: O.K., okeh, OK
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OKS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "29. Fixture at a chocolate factory"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tax levied on the difference between a commodity's price before taxes and its cost of production
  • Similar words include: tub, value-added tax, ad valorem tax
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "30. Rate of passage"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a fee levied for the use of roads or bridges (used for maintenance)
  • Similar words include: bell, price, cost
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOLL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "31. With 28-Down, set hanging by a door"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an extra component of a machine or other apparatus
  • Similar words include: excess, spare part, trim
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Soprano Fleming"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "36. Call for a pass?"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an affirmative
  • Similar words include: yeah
  • Opposite of: nay
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YEA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "37. "I've done better""

15 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "40. Hooter"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. Resonates beautifully"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that deliver by singing
  • Similar words include: blab out, tattle, blab
  • Opposite of: keep quiet
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SINGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "42. What might lead to a pile of dirty laundry"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that rescue equipment consisting of a device that fills with air and retards your fall
  • Similar words include: slide, slideway, sloping trough
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHUTE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "43. ___ Ewbank, Hall-of-Fame football coach"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "45. I"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "46. Margaret featured in "Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution""

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "47. Punch"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous
  • Similar words include: vivification, spiritedness, animation
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BRIO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "48. State-sponsored "wealth redistribution" scheme"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a game in which numbered balls are drawn at random and players cover the corresponding numbers on their cards
  • Similar words include: beano, keno, bingo
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOTTO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "50. Support of a sort"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "54. "I'm not sure what to make of that""

6 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "56. Helen with the podcast "Go Fact Yourself""

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "58. Natural resource seen in arboretums?"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "59. Blushing matter"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that makeup consisting of a pink or red powder applied to the cheeks
  • Similar words include: paint, blusher
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROUGE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "60. Creature whose appendages allow it to camouflage in masses of kelp"

9 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "62. N.B.A. analyst Burke"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (greek mythology) wife of nereus and mother of the nereids
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DORIS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "63. "That's what they say, anyway""

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "64. Smooth and shiny"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make slick or smooth
  • Similar words include: silken, silklike, flowing
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLEEK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "65. Celebratory opening"

9 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Destination for a day trip from Sorrento 5
2D 2. Got to 5
3D 3. Break the bank, say? 5
4D 4. What one might put on to impress others 3
5D 5. Plans, with "out" 4
6D 6. Website with a "Submit a Rumor" tab 6
7D 7. Bulb that becomes translucent when heated 5
8D 8. "That's a subject you should absolutely avoid" 15
9D 9. Fire ___ 3
10D 10. Big name in lights 4
11D 11. Like Belmont's Big Sandy, among Triple Crown racetracks 6
12D 12. "Nice try, wise guy" 9
13D 13. Jokey warning before diving into a niche topic 9
14D 14. One of a noted quintet 9
15D 21. Small storage units 5
16D 23. Stories of college students? 4
17D 25. Things that lions and zebras have in common 5
18D 28. See 31-Across 4
19D 31. Fair weather followers 9
20D 32. Saw getting turned on, say 9
21D 33. Chillaxing, more formally 9
22D 34. Man's name whose first four letters spell a word describing its last letter 5
23D 35. Score with some acid 4
24D 38. Arena 5
25D 39. "Get outta here!" 4
26D 44. Get down 6
27D 46. Some vacation rentals 6
28D 49. Moment of high spirits? 5
29D 51. "Got it" 5
30D 52. Rijeka native 5
31D 53. ___ Louis Gates Jr., host of PBS's "Finding Your Roots" 5
32D 55. Anchor position 4
33D 57. Shakehand or penhold, in table tennis 4
34D 60. ___ de Mayo (symbol on the flags of Argentina and Uruguay) 3
35D 61. Sound made when something snaps into place? 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Destination for a day trip from Sorrento"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island (part of campania) in the bay of naples in southern italy; a tourist attraction noted for beautiful scenery
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CAPRI

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Got to"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
  • Similar words include: pissed, irritated, chafe
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RILED

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Break the bank, say?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that become ground down or deteriorate
  • Similar words include: fret, eat away, gnaw
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ERODE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. What one might put on to impress others"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

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: represent, do, playact
  • Opposite of: refrain
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ACT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Plans, with "out""

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a diagrammatic representation of the earth's surface (or part of it)
  • Similar words include: map, represent, single-valued function
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Website with a "Submit a Rumor" tab"

6 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Bulb that becomes translucent when heated"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bulb of an onion plant
  • Similar words include: Allium cepa, onion plant
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ONION

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. "That's a subject you should absolutely avoid""

15 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Fire ___"

3 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: emmet, pismire
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Big name in lights"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
  • Similar words include: prima, wizard, asterisk
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Like Belmont's Big Sandy, among Triple Crown racetracks"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other
  • Similar words include: all-encompassing, spacious, panoptic
  • Opposite of: narrow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WIDEST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. "Nice try, wise guy""

9 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Jokey warning before diving into a niche topic"

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "14. One of a noted quintet"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "21. Small storage units"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sequence of 8 bits (enough to represent one character of alphanumeric data) processed as a single unit of information
  • Similar words include: byte
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BYTES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Stories of college students?"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a college or university building containing living quarters for students
  • Similar words include: hall, dormitory, residence hall
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DORM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "25. Things that lions and zebras have in common"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a persian prophet who founded manichaeism (216-276)
  • Similar words include: man, head of hair, mane
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MANES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. See 31-Across"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "31. Fair weather followers"

9 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that medium-sized eurasian thrush seen chiefly in winter
  • Similar words include: snow bunting, fieldfare, snowflake
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SNOWBIRDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "32. Saw getting turned on, say"

9 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "33. Chillaxing, more formally"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "34. Man's name whose first four letters spell a word describing its last letter"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Score with some acid"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make an etching of
  • Similar words include: engrave
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETCH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "38. Arena"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed
  • Similar words include: field of view, field of battle, subject
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FIELD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "39. "Get outta here!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "44. Get down"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an instrumental version of the blues (especially for piano)
  • Similar words include: boogie-woogie
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BOOGIE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "46. Some vacation rentals"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that one of the dwelling units in a condominium
  • Similar words include: condominium, condo
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CONDOS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "49. Moment of high spirits?"

5 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that slices of bread that have been toasted
  • Similar words include: crispen, drink, wassail
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "51. "Got it""

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "52. Rijeka native"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of the slavic people living in croatia
  • Similar words include: Croatian
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CROAT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "53. ___ Louis Gates Jr., host of PBS's "Finding Your Roots""

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a unit of inductance in which an induced electromotive force of one volt is produced when the current is varied at the rate of one ampere per second
  • Similar words include: Patrick Henry, Joseph Henry, H
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HENRY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "55. Anchor position"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a piece of furniture with a writing surface and usually drawers or other compartments
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DESK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "57. Shakehand or penhold, in table tennis"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the act of grasping
  • Similar words include: transfix, grasp, hold
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GRIP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "60. ___ de Mayo (symbol on the flags of Argentina and Uruguay)"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a colloid that has a continuous liquid phase in which a solid is suspended in a liquid
  • Similar words include: soh, so, colloidal solution
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "61. Sound made when something snaps into place?"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

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
35 Down Clues
72 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

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Last updated: June 20, 2026 at 07:12 AM