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
- Across Clues Table (37 clues)
- Across Clues - Detailed Hints
- Down Clues Table (39 clues)
- Down Clues - Detailed Hints
- Expert Solving Strategies
- Today's Puzzle Statistics
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NADER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3A: "11. Some HP products"
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AHI
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7A: "17. On/off device"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LIGHTSWITCH
Remember this word for future puzzles!
8A: "19. Empty space between things"
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"
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"
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)"
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"
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ASMR
Remember this word for future puzzles!
16A: "33. Regret"
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"
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."
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"
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?"
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"
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."
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."
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: POCKETCHANGE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
25A: "50. Like many English bogs"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: IFEELFORYOU
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32A: "63. Rapper Tone ___"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOC
Remember this word for future puzzles!
33A: "64. Reef material"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TBIRD
Remember this word for future puzzles!
3D: "3. Wild party"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAGER
Remember this word for future puzzles!
4D: "4. Faith no more?"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NEWERA
Remember this word for future puzzles!
7D: "7. Sacha Baron Cohen persona"
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"
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."
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ETC
Remember this word for future puzzles!
10D: "10. Put back on the payroll"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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""
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPACERACE
Remember this word for future puzzles!
23D: "35. Get-up-and-go"
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!""
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORC
Remember this word for future puzzles!
26D: "39. Very wise"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SKAT
Remember this word for future puzzles!
28D: "45. Liberate"
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"
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"
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"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NERF
Remember this word for future puzzles!
32D: "52. "Frida" star Salma"
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"
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"
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"
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"
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!""
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"
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"
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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