Master the NYT crossword from January 17, 1990 with our expert hint system. We provide synonyms, antonyms, and strategic clues to help you solve without spoiling the fun.
Puzzle Difficulty: Moderate
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Strategic Hints (39 clues)
1A: "1. Baltimore chops"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (baseball) a successful stroke in an athletic contest (especially in baseball)
- Similar words include: hitting, bump off, tally
- Opposite of: miss
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HITS
2A: "5. Addis ___, Ethiopian capital"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ABABA
3A: "10. "Get lost, Morris!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that singing jazz; the singer substitutes nonsense syllables for the words of the song and tries to sound like a musical instrument
- Similar words include: break away, fly the coop, scarper
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCAT
4A: "14. Jacob's twin"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (old testament) the eldest son of isaac who would have inherited the covenant that god made with abraham and that abraham passed on to isaac; he traded his birthright to his twin brother jacob for a mess of pottage
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ESAU
5A: "15. Seat in a bay window"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that joyful religious song celebrating the birth of christ
- Similar words include: Christmas carol
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CAROL
6A: "16. Corn bread"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cornbread often made without milk or eggs and baked or fried (southern)
- Similar words include: cornpone
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PONE
7A: "17. Goodyear orchestra?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RUBBERBAND
8A: "19. Wreck"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an irrecoverable state of devastation and destruction
- Similar words include: ruination, break, wrecking
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RUIN
9A: "20. Tough trip"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a journey by ox wagon (especially an organized migration by a group of settlers)
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TREK
10A: "21. Throw one's ___ the ring (run)"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HATINTO
11A: "23. A dry Burgundy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a city in central georgia to the southeast of atlanta
- Similar words include: maconnais
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MACON
12A: "26. Gone by"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that gone by; or in the past
- Similar words include: agone
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AGO
13A: "28. Do over, as a roof"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RETAR
14A: "29. Gives someone a lift"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that fill with high spirits; fill with optimism
- Similar words include: lift up, uplift, pick up
- Opposite of: depress
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELATES
15A: "31. Unchaste"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that combined with extraneous elements
- Similar words include: unclean
- Opposite of: clean, pure
Click to reveal answer
Answer: IMPURE
16A: "33. Finally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATLAST
17A: "34. Type of crocodile"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the world's longest river (4150 miles); flows northward through eastern africa into the mediterranean; the nile river valley in egypt was the site of the world's first great civilization
- Similar words include: Nile River
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NILE
18A: "35. "Treasure Island" auth."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: RLS
19A: "38. Entertainer Carter"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NELL
20A: "39. Evangelist McPherson"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AIMEE
21A: "41. Scrap"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a quarrel about petty points
- Similar words include: tiff, ptyalize, applaud
- Opposite of: boo
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SPAT
22A: "42. Cycle starter"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TRI
23A: "43. Fashion item"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a very short skirt
- Similar words include: miniskirt
- Opposite of: midi
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MINI
24A: "44. Brightest star in Aquila"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that double star 15.7 light years from earth; the brightest star in the aquila constellation
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALTAIR
25A: "46. Of a nerve"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that of or relating to the nervous system
- Similar words include: neuronic, nervous, neuronal
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NEURAL
26A: "48. ___ del Fuego"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TIERRA
27A: "49. Set off"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
- Similar words include: get down, get, start
- Opposite of: end
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEGAN
28A: "51. Actor Gulager"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CLU
29A: "53. Blair of "Marty""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BETSY
30A: "54. Coat, in a way"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cover or coat with a crust
- Similar words include: incrust, beset
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENCRUST
31A: "56. Blind, in falconry"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that sew up the eyelids of hawks and falcons
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEEL
32A: "58. "Woe is me!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism
- Similar words include: ala, unfortunately, unluckily
- Opposite of: fortunately, luckily
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALAS
33A: "59. Lofty Wright Brothers?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person of great ability and ambition
- Similar words include: highflier, highflyer
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HIGHFLIERS
34A: "64. Labor leader Conboy: 1870-1928"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SARA
35A: "65. Place for a VCR"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TVSET
36A: "66. First name in daredeviltry"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EVEL
37A: "67. Antimacassar"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that receptacle that holds odds and ends (as sewing materials)
- Similar words include: neaten, goodish, clean up
- Opposite of: untidy
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TIDY
38A: "68. Machine parts"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a toothed wheel that engages another toothed mechanism in order to change the speed or direction of transmitted motion
- Similar words include: power train, cogwheel, gear mechanism
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GEARS
39A: "69. Risqué"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest
- Similar words include: aphrodisiac, aphrodisiacal
- Opposite of: unsexy, anaphrodisiac
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SEXY
Down Clues - Strategic Hints (37 clues)
1D: "1. "Rings on ___ fingers ... ""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HER
2D: "2. Inst. at Ames"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ISU
3D: "3. Check"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the bill in a restaurant
- Similar words include: pill, yellow journalism, tabloid
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TAB
4D: "4. Accountant's partial sum"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the sum of part of a group of numbers
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SUBTOTAL
5D: "5. Seaport in Israel"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a unit of area (4840 square yards) used in english-speaking countries
- Similar words include: Akko, Akka, Accho
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ACRE
6D: "6. Rum cake"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a coffee cake flavored with orange rind and raisins and almonds
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BABKA
7D: "7. Heavenly Altar"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a constellation in the southern hemisphere near telescopium and norma
- Similar words include: genus Ara
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARA
8D: "8. Geniality"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a disposition to be friendly and approachable (easy to talk to)
- Similar words include: amiability, geniality, affability
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BONHOMIE
9D: "9. Star in "The Four Seasons""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALDA
10D: "10. More agile"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that moving quickly and lightly
- Similar words include: spry, agile, nimble
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SPRIER
11D: "11. Role for Geiger?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a person or thing having the same function or characteristics as another
- Similar words include: vis-a-vis, opposite number, similitude
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: COUNTERPART
12D: "12. Writer Loos"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ANITA
13D: "13. Drift"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the adult male singing voice above baritone
- Similar words include: tenor voice, strain
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TENOR
14D: "18. Birds of merit?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that bulky greyish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail; of europe and greenland
- Similar words include: Haliatus albicilla, white-tailed sea eagle, gray sea eagle
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERNES
15D: "22. "___ Love," Porter song"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that proper alignment; the property possessed by something that is in correct or proper alignment
- Similar words include: dependable, reliable, truthful
- Opposite of: untruthful, false
Click to reveal answer
Answer: TRUE
16D: "23. Intended"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that mean or intend to express or convey
- Similar words include: have in mind, think, signify
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MEANT
17D: "24. Modify"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
- Similar words include: neuter, interpolate, castrate
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALTER
18D: "25. Hilarious Mister Bell?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CALLINGCARD
19D: "27. Whitney's factory?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a room or establishment where alcoholic drinks are served over a counter
- Similar words include: bar, taproom, saloon
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GINMILL
20D: "30. Flight member"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that support consisting of a place to rest the foot while ascending or descending a stairway
- Similar words include: step
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STAIR
21D: "32. Kilt feature"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of various types of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and then pressing or stitching into shape
- Similar words include: plicate, ruffle, plait
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PLEAT
22D: "36. Retreats"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the habitation of wild animals
- Similar words include: lair, den
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAIRS
23D: "37. Ramble"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)
- Similar words include: rove, ramble, roll
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STRAY
24D: "40. Still"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (chemistry) not participating in a chemical reaction; chemically inert
- Similar words include: dormant, passive, static
- Opposite of: operational, active
Click to reveal answer
Answer: INACTIVE
25D: "41. Rainbow trouts, informally"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STEELIES
26D: "43. Lambda followers"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MUNU
27D: "45. Cause for a suit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living person
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LIBEL
28D: "47. Soho scuttlebutt"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EARSAY
29D: "49. Ron Perlman title role"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
- Similar words include: savage, creature, animate being
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BEAST
30D: "50. Zhou ___ of China"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ENLAI
31D: "52. Courtroom doorkeeper"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that irish prelate who deduced from the bible that creation occurred in the year 4004 bc (1581-1656)
- Similar words include: James Usher, James Ussher, Ussher
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: USHER
32D: "55. Lack, in brief"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SHTG
33D: "57. Frog's cousins"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a newt in its terrestrial stage of development
- Similar words include: eft
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EFTS
34D: "60. Org. started by J. Low"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a central management agency that sets federal policy for federal procurement and real property management and information resources management
- Similar words include: General Services Administration
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GSA
35D: "61. December 24, e.g."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (old testament) adam's wife in judeo-christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; god created eve from adam's rib and placed adam and eve in the garden of eden
- Similar words include: eventide, even, evening
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EVE
36D: "62. "Oedipus ___," Sophocles play"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom
- Similar words include: male monarch, king
- Opposite of: female monarch, queen
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REX
37D: "63. Nickname for Stallone"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that marked by skill in deception
- Similar words include: slick, tricksy, dodgy
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SLY
Puzzle Stats
39 Across
37 Down
76 Total