Master the NYT crossword from January 24, 1990 with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun.
Puzzle Difficulty: Tricky
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Strategic Hints (35 clues)
1A: "1. Covenant"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a written agreement between two states or sovereigns
- Similar words include: accord, treaty
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PACT
2A: "5. Pkg."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BDL
3A: "8. Screen vamp"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BARA
4A: "12. Support beam"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IBAR
5A: "13. Cote mothers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a member of a people living in southern benin and togo and southeastern ghana
- Similar words include: ewe, Ewe
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EWES
6A: "15. Spurred"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that force or impel in an indicated direction
- Similar words include: advocate, root on, cheer
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: URGED
7A: "16. It, in Mexico"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELLO
8A: "17. Sitarist Shankar"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RAVI
9A: "18. Weeper of myth"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (greek mythology) the daughter of tantalus whose boasting about her children provoked apollo and artemis to slay them all; niobe was turned to stone while bewailing her loss
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NIOBE
10A: "19. Turn down trash?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REFUSEREFUSE
11A: "22. Smorgasbord smack?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BUFFETBUFFET
12A: "26. Talisman"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a trinket or piece of jewelry usually hung about the neck and thought to be a magical protection against evil or disease
- Similar words include: talisman
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AMULET
13A: "29. Reduced in price"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ONSALE
14A: "30. Highway divisions"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a narrow way or road
- Similar words include: lane
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LANES
15A: "31. Rawboned one"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who is unusually thin and scrawny
- Similar words include: garrotte, garrote, garotte
- Opposite of: fat person
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCRAG
16A: "34. Interdiction"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a decree that prohibits something
- Similar words include: ostracize, banish, forbiddance
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BAN
17A: "35. Midpts."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CTRS
18A: "36. Mock"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that treat with contemptuous disregard
- Similar words include: jeer, gibe, scoff
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: FLOUT
19A: "37. Move like a butterfly"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a sudden quick movement
- Similar words include: flutter, dart, fleet
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: FLIT
20A: "38. Refreshed the inner man"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that goddess of criminal rashness and its punishment
- Similar words include: deplete, exhaust, eat on
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATE
21A: "39. Senior member"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a man who is the senior member of a group
- Similar words include: dean
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DOYEN
22A: "40. Compound with two double bonds"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DIENE
23A: "41. Carolina river"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PEEDEE
24A: "43. ___ Antilles"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that of less size or importance
- Similar words include: less
- Opposite of: more, greater
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LESSER
25A: "44. Warsaw wax?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: POLISHPOLISH
26A: "48. Tiny time period?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MINUTEMINUTE
27A: "52. Practices prestidigitation"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the inner surface of the hand from the wrist to the base of the fingers
- Similar words include: palm, handle, thenar
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PALMS
28A: "55. Comparison word"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: THAN
29A: "56. Sinful"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that morally objectionable behavior
- Similar words include: wickedness, malign, iniquity
- Opposite of: goodness, good
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EVIL
30A: "57. Argosy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that group of aircraft operating together under the same ownership
- Similar words include: evanesce, fade, swift
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: FLEET
31A: "58. Golfer Ballesteros"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEVE
32A: "59. Change for a twenty"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
- Similar words include: 10, tenner, decade
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TENS
33A: "60. Bedecked"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that provide with clothes or put clothes on
- Similar words include: enclothe, tog, garment
- Opposite of: unclothed, undress
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CLAD
34A: "61. Checkers choice"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
- Similar words include: Red River, ruby, red ink
- Opposite of: gain
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RED
35A: "62. Surfeit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that fill to satisfaction
- Similar words include: fill, replete, satiate
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SATE
Down Clues - Strategic Hints (39 clues)
1D: "1. Stevedore's spot"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats
- Similar words include: wharf, wharfage, dock
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PIER
2D: "2. Up to snuff"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (usually followed by `to') having the necessary means or skill or know-how or authority to do something
- Similar words include: able-bodied, capable
- Opposite of: unable
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ABLE
3D: "3. Dogie"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that young of domestic cattle
- Similar words include: sura, calfskin
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CALF
4D: "4. Worries"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a source of difficulty
- Similar words include: fuss, hassle, disorder
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TROUBLES
5D: "5. Deprived"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that unhappy in love; suffering from unrequited love
- Similar words include: lovelorn, mourning, unbeloved
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEREFT
6D: "6. Doc, for one"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person who is markedly small
- Similar words include: gnome, midget, shadow
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DWARF
7D: "7. Mississippi River sight"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a formal reception of visitors or guests (as at a royal court)
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEVEE
8D: "8. Legal outlines"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that short tight-fitting underpants (trade name jockey shorts)
- Similar words include: brief, Jockey shorts, legal brief
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BRIEFS
9D: "9. Earlier than now"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that gone by; or in the past
- Similar words include: agone
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AGO
10D: "10. Confederate Johnny"
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 Reb, Rebel
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REB
11D: "11. Dog-days drink"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice
- Similar words include: fruit drink
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ADE
12D: "14. Put through a sieve"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that move as if through a sieve
- Similar words include: sieve, strain
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SIFT
13D: "15. Renownless"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that not famous or acclaimed
- Similar words include: obscure, unvalued, unappreciated
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: UNSUNG
14D: "20. Takes to court"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that french writer whose novels described the sordid side of city life (1804-1857)
- Similar words include: Sue, process, action
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SUES
15D: "21. Lusitania sinker"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: UBOAT
16D: "23. Aesopian output"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a deliberately false or improbable account
- Similar words include: allegory, fabrication, legend
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: FABLES
17D: "24. Mother of Galahad"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELAINE
18D: "25. Frame for drying clothes"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a framework with hooks used for stretching and drying cloth
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TENTER
19D: "26. Dogpatch creator"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALCAPP
20D: "27. Capuchin order founder ___ da Bascio"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MATTEO
21D: "28. Spin off the spool"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that unwind from or as if from a reel
- Similar words include: reel off
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: UNREEL
22D: "31. Wily"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that marked by skill in deception
- Similar words include: crafty, slick, guileful
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SLY
23D: "32. Cedar Rapids college"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: COE
24D: "33. Shutout spoiler"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a score in baseball made by a runner touching all four bases safely
- Similar words include: operate, footrace, running game
- Opposite of: idle, malfunction
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RUN
25D: "36. Mountain wind"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a warm dry wind that blows down the northern slopes of the alps
- Similar words include: fohn
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: FOEHN
26D: "37. Seines"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a net that will enclose fish when it is pulled in
- Similar words include: fishing net, fishnet
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: FISHNETS
27D: "39. Proceed no more"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that choose not to consume
- Similar words include: refrain, abstain
- Opposite of: consume
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DESIST
28D: "40. Lucy's mate"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DESI
29D: "42. Switched to the low beam"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that switch (a car's headlights) from a higher to a lower beam
- Similar words include: dip, slur, blur
- Opposite of: focus, undimmed
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DIMMED
30D: "43. Delineated"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that trace the shape of
- Similar words include: portray, outline, limn
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LIMNED
31D: "45. Expresses"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date
- Similar words include: place, assign, arrange
- Opposite of: call option, divest
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PUTS
32D: "46. Different"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied; - the white queen
- Similar words include: early, former
- Opposite of: same
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OTHER
33D: "47. Head for the exit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the period of time during which you are absent from work or duty
- Similar words include: exit, go away, pull up stakes
- Opposite of: disinherit, enter
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEAVE
34D: "49. Iris layer"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the part of the eye that contains the iris and ciliary body and choroid
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: UVEA
35D: "50. Hair dye"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color
- Similar words include: tinct, shade, tone
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TINT
36D: "51. Additionally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELSE
37D: "52. Promoted pvt."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a powerful greenhouse gas emitted during the production of aluminum
- Similar words include: perfluorocarbon
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PFC
38D: "53. Wholly"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that quantifier; used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
- Similar words include: wholly, whole, altogether
- Opposite of: partly, some
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALL
39D: "54. Grazing ground"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a unit of length of thread or yarn
- Similar words include: ley, pasture, pastureland
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LEA
Puzzle Stats
35 Across
39 Down
74 Total
