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

Monday, May 4, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers May 04, 2026 | Expert Breakdown & Tips

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

Quick Navigation - Table of Contents

Today's Puzzle Difficulty: Medium

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

Across Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1A 1. "The ___ is clear!" 5
2A 6. "Mamma Mia" group 4
3A 10. Spaces, as between teeth 4
4A 14. Author Joyce Carol ___ 5
5A 15. Devices for keyless entry 4
6A 16. Amo, amas, ___ 4
7A 17. "Sleepless in Seattle" or "Legally Blonde," informally 10
8A 19. Actress Dunham or Waithe 4
9A 20. Call from an ump 3
10A 21. Group of connected PCs 3
11A 22. Like some columns and bonds 5
12A 23. Methodical way for something to be built 12
13A 27. "This place is fire" 6
14A 30. Sidney who directed "12 Angry Men" and "The Wiz" 5
15A 31. Japanese camera giant 5
16A 32. "The Lion King" villain 4
17A 34. Soph., jr. and sr. 3
18A 37. Slogan encouraging the use of seatbelts 15
19A 41. Swiss peak 3
20A 42. Enormous 4
21A 43. New England state with the slogan "The Way Life Should Be" 5
22A 44. Used, as a chair 5
23A 47. Shaggy hairstyle 6
24A 48. Simple game requiring steady hands 12
25A 52. Improvise, as a speech 5
26A 53. When a plane is due, for short 3
27A 54. Used to be 3
28A 57. College figure 4
29A 58. Suddenly feels repulsed by a romantic partner ... or a hint to 17-, 23-, 37- and 48-Across 10
30A 62. Pole on a sailboat 4
31A 63. Tradition for many high school seniors 4
32A 64. Fasten, as a ship's rope 5
33A 65. In addition 4
34A 66. Levelheaded 4
35A 67. "Goodie" on classic radio 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. "The ___ is clear!""

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the shore of a sea or ocean
  • Similar words include: seashore, sea-coast, glide
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. "Mamma Mia" group"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "10. Spaces, as between teeth"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures
  • Similar words include: disruption, break, interruption
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Author Joyce Carol ___"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that english conspirator who claimed that there was a jesuit plot to assassinate charles ii (1649-1705)
  • Similar words include: Titus Oates, Joyce Carol Oates
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OATES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Devices for keyless entry"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a vest pocket to hold a pocket watch
  • Similar words include: watch pocket, watch chain, fob
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOBS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Amo, amas, ___"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. "Sleepless in Seattle" or "Legally Blonde," informally"

10 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Actress Dunham or Waithe"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a russian river in siberia; flows northward into the laptev sea
  • Similar words include: Lena River
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LENA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Call from an ump"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (baseball) a failure by a batter or runner to reach a base safely in baseball
  • Similar words include: verboten, tabu, kayoed
  • Opposite of: safe
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OUT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Group of connected PCs"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a local computer network for communication between computers; especially a network connecting computers and word processors and other electronic office equipment to create a communication system between offices
  • Similar words include: local area network
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. Like some columns and bonds"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the dialect of ancient greek spoken and written in attica and athens and ionia
  • Similar words include: Ionic dialect, Attic, Classical Greek
  • Opposite of: nonionic
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IONIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "23. Methodical way for something to be built"

12 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "27. "This place is fire""

6 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "30. Sidney who directed "12 Angry Men" and "The Wiz""

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Japanese camera giant"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "32. "The Lion King" villain"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mark left (usually on the skin) by the healing of injured tissue
  • Similar words include: scrape, cicatrice, mark
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SCAR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Soph., jr. and sr."

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
  • Similar words include: year, yr, twelvemonth
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "37. Slogan encouraging the use of seatbelts"

15 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "41. Swiss peak"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any high mountain
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "42. Enormous"

4 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that unusually great in size or amount or degree or especially extent or scope; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; - w.r.inge
  • Similar words include: immense, vast, Brobdingnagian
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HUGE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "43. New England state with the slogan "The Way Life Should Be""

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in new england
  • Similar words include: Pine Tree State, ME
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAINE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "44. Used, as a chair"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "47. Shaggy hairstyle"

6 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "48. Simple game requiring steady hands"

12 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "52. Improvise, as a speech"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "53. When a plane is due, for short"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "54. Used to be"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a state in northwestern united states on the pacific
  • Similar words include: exist, represent, comprise
  • Opposite of: differ
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "57. College figure"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an administrator in charge of a division of a university or college
  • Similar words include: James Byron Dean, doyen, James Dean
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEAN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "58. Suddenly feels repulsed by a romantic partner ... or a hint to 17-, 23-, 37- and 48-Across"

10 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "62. Pole on a sailboat"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a vertical spar for supporting sails
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MAST

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31A: "63. Tradition for many high school seniors"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a formal ball held for a school class toward the end of the academic year
  • Similar words include: promenade
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PROM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "64. Fasten, as a ship's rope"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that something to which a mountain climber's rope can be secured
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BELAY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "65. In addition"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in addition
  • Similar words include: as well, too, besides
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ALSO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "66. Levelheaded"

4 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that mentally healthy; free from mental disorder
  • Similar words include: reasonable
  • Opposite of: insane
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SANE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "67. "Goodie" on classic radio"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a song that was formerly popular
  • Similar words include: golden oldie
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OLDIE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. 2017 Pixar film set in Mexico 4
2D 2. Third-largest Hawaiian island 4
3D 3. Going ___ (fighting) 4
4D 4. Part of a min. 3
5D 5. Chiding sound 3
6D 6. Insurance company whose mascot is a duck 5
7D 7. Sound effect for a bop on the head 5
8D 8. Eng. channel 3
9D 9. Request 3
10D 10. Aplenty 6
11D 11. Bag of hotel room freebies, say 10
12D 12. Feel a suddenly overwhelming fear 5
13D 13. Serving of pancakes 5
14D 18. Move like a fairy 4
15D 22. Tech giant founded in 1911 3
16D 23. Voting group 4
17D 24. Skating locale 4
18D 25. Play loudly, as from a speaker 5
19D 26. Traditional circular dwelling 4
20D 27. Ancient Peruvian 4
21D 28. Cash drawer 4
22D 29. Plays hooky 10
23D 32. Shocks into silence 5
24D 33. Part of a gearwheel 3
25D 35. Nevada city near Lake Tahoe 4
26D 36. Bit of a staircase 4
27D 38. Flapjack franchise 4
28D 39. Reassurance after a loud crash, say 4
29D 40. Puts a limit on 4
30D 45. Resembling 6
31D 46. Spot for three men in a nursery rhyme 3
32D 47. Exam for a future doc 4
33D 48. Culinary personality Lakshmi 5
34D 49. Best imaginable 5
35D 50. Wyoming's Grand ___ National Park 5
36D 51. "Hi, you know who this is" 5
37D 54. Undomesticated 4
38D 55. Smoothie "superfood" 4
39D 56. Scottish terrier breed 4
40D 58. Rte. finder 3
41D 59. Long time in history 3
42D 60. Network for "Succession" and "The Wire" 3
43D 61. Slithery fish 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. 2017 Pixar film set in Mexico"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that tall palm tree bearing coconuts as fruits; widely planted throughout the tropics
  • Similar words include: coconut, Cocos nucifera, coconut palm
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COCO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Third-largest Hawaiian island"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island of central hawaii (between molokai and kauai); the chief island of the state
  • Similar words include: Oahu Island
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OAHU

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Going ___ (fighting)"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Part of a min."

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. Chiding sound"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that utter `tsk,' `tut,' or `tut-tut,' as in disapproval
  • Similar words include: tut, tut-tut
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TSK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Insurance company whose mascot is a duck"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Sound effect for a bop on the head"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Eng. channel"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. Request"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that inquire about
  • Similar words include: involve, demand, inquire
  • Opposite of: obviate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Aplenty"

6 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that in great numbers
  • Similar words include: abounding
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GALORE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. Bag of hotel room freebies, say"

10 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Feel a suddenly overwhelming fear"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
  • Similar words include: affright, terror, scare
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PANIC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Serving of pancakes"

5 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an orderly pile
  • Similar words include: hatful, sight, plenty
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STACK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Move like a fairy"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a sudden quick movement
  • Similar words include: fleet, dart, flutter
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FLIT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "22. Tech giant founded in 1911"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "23. Voting group"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a group of countries in special alliance
  • Similar words include: axis
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLOC

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "24. Skating locale"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that building that contains a surface for ice skating or roller skating
  • Similar words include: skating rink
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RINK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "25. Play loudly, as from a speaker"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a loud harsh or strident noise
  • Similar words include: clamor, claxon, cacophony
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BLARE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "26. Traditional circular dwelling"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a circular domed dwelling that is portable and self-supporting; originally used by nomadic mongol and turkic people of central asia but now used as inexpensive alternative or temporary housing
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: YURT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "27. Ancient Peruvian"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a ruler of the incas (or a member of his family)
  • Similar words include: Incan, Inka
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: INCA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "28. Cash drawer"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that unstratified soil deposited by a glacier; consists of sand and clay and gravel and boulders mixed together
  • Similar words include: money box, trough, public treasury
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TILL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "29. Plays hooky"

10 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "32. Shocks into silence"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "33. Part of a gearwheel"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a subordinate who performs an important but routine function
  • Similar words include: sprocket
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: COG

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "35. Nevada city near Lake Tahoe"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a city in western nevada at the foot of the sierra nevada mountains; known for gambling casinos and easy divorce and remarriage
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RENO

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "36. Bit of a staircase"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that any maneuver made as part of progress toward a goal
  • Similar words include: pace, ill-use, tread
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STEP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "38. Flapjack franchise"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "39. Reassurance after a loud crash, say"

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "40. Puts a limit on"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "45. Resembling"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "46. Spot for three men in a nursery rhyme"

3 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a relatively large open container that you fill with water and use to wash the body
  • Similar words include: bath, tubful, bathing tub
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TUB

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "47. Exam for a future doc"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "48. Culinary personality Lakshmi"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "49. Best imaginable"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain
  • Similar words include: saint, apotheosis, nonpareil
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IDEAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "50. Wyoming's Grand ___ National Park"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a member of the large western branch of sioux people which was made up of several groups that lived on the plains
  • Similar words include: Lakota, Teton Sioux, Teton Dakota
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TETON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "51. "Hi, you know who this is""

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "54. Undomesticated"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a wild primitive state untouched by civilization
  • Similar words include: unfounded, violent, waste
  • Opposite of: tame
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WILD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "55. Smoothie "superfood""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "56. Scottish terrier breed"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

40D: "58. Rte. finder"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a navigational system involving satellites and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on earth by computing the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver
  • Similar words include: Global Positioning System
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

41D: "59. Long time in history"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

42D: "60. Network for "Succession" and "The Wire""

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

43D: "61. Slithery fish"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the fatty flesh of eel; an elongate fish found in fresh water in europe and america; large eels are usually smoked or pickled
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EEL

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

35 Across Clues
43 Down Clues
78 Total Clues

More NYT Crossword Help

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Last updated: May 04, 2026 at 06:26 AM

Monday, July 20, 2026

XWordHint Crossword Answers July 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: 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. Scarecrow stuffing 5
2A 6. Ralph who ran for president four times 5
3A 11. Some HP products 3
4A 14. Ebb 5
5A 15. Top-tier group 5
6A 16. Tuna variety often used in sashimi 3
7A 17. On/off device 11
8A 19. Empty space between things 3
9A 20. Something at either end of a hammock, often 4
10A 21. Brain tests, for short 4
11A 22. "10 ___ or less" (sign at checkout) 5
12A 24. Golf club for teeing off 6
13A 26. Small orchard 5
14A 27. One with Q or Z is worth 10 points 12
15A 31. Audio genre designed to trigger tingling, for short 4
16A 33. Regret 3
17A 34. Pursue 4
18A 35. Young Yorkie, e.g. 3
19A 36. Better halves 7
20A 40. Blue state? 3
21A 41. GPS guesses 4
22A 43. April 15 deadline org. 3
23A 44. The last "A" in N.C.A.A.: Abbr. 4
24A 46. Cause of some rescreenings in an airport 12
25A 50. Like many English bogs 5
26A 51. Begin to grow choppers 6
27A 54. Measure around the middle 5
28A 55. Norse god of thunder 4
29A 57. Agricultural locale 4
30A 59. Chicken ___ king 3
31A 60. "My sympathies" ... or what could be said of 17-, 27- and 46-Across 11
32A 63. Rapper Tone ___ 3
33A 64. Reef material 5
34A 65. Winning Monopoly player's collection 5
35A 66. Had dinner, say 3
36A 67. Transmits 5
37A 68. Hockey feints 5

Across Clues - Strategic Hints

1A: "1. Scarecrow stuffing"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that plant fiber used e.g. for making baskets and hats or as fodder
  • Similar words include: drinking straw, pale yellow, stalk
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: STRAW

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2A: "6. Ralph who ran for president four times"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3A: "11. Some HP products"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small digital computer based on a microprocessor and designed to be used by one person at a time
  • Similar words include: microcomputer, personal computer, PC
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PCS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4A: "14. Ebb"

5 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that make less active or intense
  • Similar words include: let up, slack, slack off
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ABATE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5A: "15. Top-tier group"

5 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status
  • Similar words include: elect, elite group
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELITE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6A: "16. Tuna variety often used in sashimi"

3 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7A: "17. On/off device"

11 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8A: "19. Empty space between things"

3 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a conspicuous disparity or difference as between two figures
  • Similar words include: opening, crack, breach
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9A: "20. Something at either end of a hammock, often"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
  • Similar words include: tree diagram, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, corner
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TREE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10A: "21. Brain tests, for short"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a graphical record of electrical activity of the brain; produced by an electroencephalograph
  • Similar words include: electroencephalogram, encephalogram, EEG
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EEGS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11A: "22. "10 ___ or less" (sign at checkout)"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a distinct part that can be specified separately in a group of things that could be enumerated on a list
  • Similar words include: particular, token, detail
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ITEMS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12A: "24. Golf club for teeing off"

6 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the operator of a motor vehicle
  • Similar words include: device driver, number one wood
  • Opposite of: nondriver
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DRIVER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13A: "26. Small orchard"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small growth of trees without underbrush
  • Similar words include: plantation, woodlet, orchard
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GROVE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14A: "27. One with Q or Z is worth 10 points"

12 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15A: "31. Audio genre designed to trigger tingling, for short"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16A: "33. Regret"

3 letters Category: Wordplay

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: sorrow, regret, ruefulness
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RUE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17A: "34. Pursue"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the movement of a read/write head to a specific data track on a disk
  • Similar words include: assay, search, look for
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEEK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18A: "35. Young Yorkie, e.g."

3 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that young of any of various canines such as a dog or wolf
  • Similar words include: puppy, whelp
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PUP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19A: "36. Better halves"

7 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person's partner in marriage
  • Similar words include: partner, mate, better half
  • Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPOUSES

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20A: "40. Blue state?"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21A: "41. GPS guesses"

4 letters Category: Wordplay

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: ETAS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22A: "43. April 15 deadline org."

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the bureau of the treasury department responsible for tax collections
  • Similar words include: Internal Revenue Service
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23A: "44. The last "A" in N.C.A.A.: Abbr."

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24A: "46. Cause of some rescreenings in an airport"

12 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25A: "50. Like many English bogs"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that of or pertaining to or of the nature of peat
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEATY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26A: "51. Begin to grow choppers"

6 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that grow teeth; cut the baby teeth
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TEETHE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27A: "54. Measure around the middle"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the distance around a person's body
  • Similar words include: cinch
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GIRTH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28A: "55. Norse god of thunder"

4 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that (norse mythology) god of thunder and rain and farming; pictured as wielding a hammer emblematic of the thunderbolt; identified with teutonic donar
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: THOR

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29A: "57. Agricultural locale"

4 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that workplace consisting of farm buildings and cultivated land as a unit
  • Similar words include: produce, grow, raise
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FARM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30A: "59. Chicken ___ king"

3 letters Category: General Knowledge

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!

31A: "60. "My sympathies" ... or what could be said of 17-, 27- and 46-Across"

11 letters Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32A: "63. Rapper Tone ___"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33A: "64. Reef material"

5 letters Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a variable color averaging a deep pink
  • Similar words include: precious coral, red coral
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CORAL

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34A: "65. Winning Monopoly player's collection"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that performance of moral or religious acts
  • Similar words include: human activity, title, works
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEEDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35A: "66. Had dinner, say"

3 letters Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36A: "67. Transmits"

5 letters Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that cause to go somewhere
  • Similar words include: station, transport, get off
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SENDS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37A: "68. Hockey feints"

5 letters Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

Down Clues - Complete List

No. Clue Letters
1D 1. Add some seasoning to 4
2D 2. Car in "Thelma & Louise," informally 5
3D 3. Wild party 5
4D 4. Faith no more? 7
5D 5. More than damp 3
6D 6. Big name in baseball caps 6
7D 7. Sacha Baron Cohen persona 4
8D 8. Counterpart of dahs, in Morse code 4
9D 9. And more like that: Abbr. 3
10D 10. Put back on the payroll 6
11D 11. What search engine optimization hopes to increase 9
12D 12. Creature that blends into its surroundings 9
13D 13. Drinks daintily 4
14D 18. Prognosticator 4
15D 23. Young 'uns 4
16D 25. Bygone staples of home theaters, informally 4
17D 26. Utter delight 4
18D 28. Item for a painter or hairstylist 5
19D 29. Vehicle to and from school 3
20D 30. Barely get, with "out" 3
21D 31. Someone who's not thinking may be on this 9
22D 32. U.S./Soviet competition of the 1950s-'60s 9
23D 35. Get-up-and-go 3
24D 37. "It's a shame, really!" 4
25D 38. Monster of Tolkiendom 3
26D 39. Very wise 4
27D 42. 32-card card game 4
28D 45. Liberate 7
29D 47. Important consideration for A.I. programmers 6
30D 48. Bikini and others 6
31D 49. Spongy ball material 4
32D 52. "Frida" star Salma 5
33D 53. Slowly chip away at 5
34D 54. Fancy party 4
35D 55. Gull relative 4
36D 56. Lettuce unit 4
37D 58. "No ___, no fuss!" 4
38D 61. Opponent 3
39D 62. Unfamiliar 3

Down Clues - Strategic Hints

1D: "1. Add some seasoning to"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
  • Similar words include: saltiness, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, common salt
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SALT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

2D: "2. Car in "Thelma & Louise," informally"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

3D: "3. Wild party"

5 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

4D: "4. Faith no more?"

7 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the doctrine or belief that there is no god
  • Similar words include: godlessness
  • Opposite of: theism
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATHEISM

Remember this word for future puzzles!

5D: "5. More than damp"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that wetness caused by water
  • Similar words include: pissed, loaded, soaked
  • Opposite of: dry
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: WET

Remember this word for future puzzles!

6D: "6. Big name in baseball caps"

6 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

7D: "7. Sacha Baron Cohen persona"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

8D: "8. Counterpart of dahs, in Morse code"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the shorter of the two telegraphic signals used in morse code
  • Similar words include: dit, dot
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DITS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

9D: "9. And more like that: Abbr."

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

10D: "10. Put back on the payroll"

6 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

11D: "11. What search engine optimization hopes to increase"

9 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

12D: "12. Creature that blends into its surroundings"

9 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a changeable or inconstant person
  • Similar words include: chamaeleon, Chamaeleon
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CHAMELEON

Remember this word for future puzzles!

13D: "13. Drinks daintily"

4 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small drink
  • Similar words include: sip
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SIPS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

14D: "18. Prognosticator"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a person with unusual powers of foresight
  • Similar words include: oracle, prophet, prophesier
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SEER

Remember this word for future puzzles!

15D: "23. Young 'uns"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a small amount (especially of a drink)
  • Similar words include: summate, total, tote up
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOTS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

16D: "25. Bygone staples of home theaters, informally"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a magnetic tape recorder for recording (and playing back) tv programs
  • Similar words include: VCR, videocassette recorder
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: VCRS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

17D: "26. Utter delight"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that great merriment
  • Similar words include: mirth, hilarity, gleefulness
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GLEE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

18D: "28. Item for a painter or hairstylist"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a dense growth of bushes
  • Similar words include: coppice, copse, clash
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BRUSH

Remember this word for future puzzles!

19D: "29. Vehicle to and from school"

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport
  • Similar words include: motorbus, autobus, busbar
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BUS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

20D: "30. Barely get, with "out""

3 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

21D: "31. Someone who's not thinking may be on this"

9 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a cognitive state in which you act without self-awareness
  • Similar words include: automatic pilot, robot pilot
  • Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AUTOPILOT

Remember this word for future puzzles!

22D: "32. U.S./Soviet competition of the 1950s-'60s"

9 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

23D: "35. Get-up-and-go"

3 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that liveliness and energy
  • Similar words include: ginger, peppiness
  • Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PEP

Remember this word for future puzzles!

24D: "37. "It's a shame, really!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others
  • Similar words include: pathos, feel for, ruth
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PITY

Remember this word for future puzzles!

25D: "38. Monster of Tolkiendom"

3 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

26D: "39. Very wise"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics who is renowned for profound wisdom
  • Similar words include: salvia, sage-green
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAGE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

27D: "42. 32-card card game"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

28D: "45. Liberate"

7 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

29D: "47. Important consideration for A.I. programmers"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that motivation based on ideas of right and wrong
  • Similar words include: moral philosophy, ethical code, morals
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETHICS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

30D: "48. Bikini and others"

6 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon
  • Similar words include: atoll
  • Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ATOLLS

Remember this word for future puzzles!

31D: "49. Spongy ball material"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

32D: "52. "Frida" star Salma"

5 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that english economist (born in austria) noted for work on the optimum allocation of resources (1899-1992)
  • Similar words include: Friedrich August von Hayek
  • Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAYEK

Remember this word for future puzzles!

33D: "53. Slowly chip away at"

5 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

34D: "54. Fancy party"

4 letters 💭 Category: Proper Noun

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that a gay festivity
  • Similar words include: gala affair, jamboree, blowout
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GALA

Remember this word for future puzzles!

35D: "55. Gull relative"

4 letters 💭 Category: Wordplay

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that small slender gull having narrow wings and a forked tail
  • Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TERN

Remember this word for future puzzles!

36D: "56. Lettuce unit"

4 letters 💭 Category: Abbreviation

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
  • Similar words include: maneuver, headway, manoeuvre
  • Opposite of: tail, foot
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HEAD

Remember this word for future puzzles!

37D: "58. "No ___, no fuss!""

4 letters 💭 Category: Common Word

Solving Hints:

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

Remember this word for future puzzles!

38D: "61. Opponent"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

  • Think of something that an armed adversary (especially a member of an opposing military force)
  • Similar words include: enemy, foeman, opposition
  • Opposite of: friend
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FOE

Remember this word for future puzzles!

39D: "62. Unfamiliar"

3 letters 💭 Category: General Knowledge

Solving Hints:

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

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
39 Down Clues
76 Total Clues

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Last updated: July 20, 2026 at 06:29 AM