Master the NYT crossword from January 16, 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 (37 clues)
1A: "1. Mimic"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who copies the words or behavior of another
- Similar words include: imitator, copycat, emulator
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: APER
2A: "5. Bell and Kettle"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that informal terms for a mother
- Similar words include: mama, mamma, momma
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MAS
3A: "8. Yearned"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that feel physical pain
- Similar words include: yearn, ache, yen
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ACHED
4A: "13. Brood"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who wastes time
- Similar words include: lounger, moon around, dillydallier
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MOPE
5A: "14. Stone"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the dressed hairy coat of a mammal
- Similar words include: hide, pour, fur
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PELT
6A: "15. Archie or Grace"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states composer of works noted for their use of the american vernacular (1893-1969)
- Similar words include: Marianne Craig Moore, Dudley Moore, Henry Moore
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MOORE
7A: "16. Certain test"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of various water-soluble compounds having a sour taste and capable of turning litmus red and reacting with a base to form a salt
- Similar words include: battery-acid, back breaker, dose
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ACID
8A: "17. Arab chief"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an independent ruler or chieftain (especially in africa or arabia)
- Similar words include: emeer, amir, ameer
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EMIR
9A: "18. Cat-___-tails"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ONINE
10A: "19. Trickery"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HOCUSPOCUS
11A: "22. Pokey"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a prominent or sensational but short-lived news event
- Similar words include: invoke, flurry, shift
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STIR
12A: "23. Polar or ice follower"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a tight-fitting headdress
- Similar words include: roof, detonator, crownwork
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CAP
13A: "24. Worker for a company"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a worker who is hired to perform a job
- Opposite of: employer
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EMPLOYEE
14A: "26. Plotted"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
- Similar words include: intrigue, connive, scheme
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCHEMED
15A: "30. Rapid in a river"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SAULT
16A: "31. Chat"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that light informal conversation for social occasions
- Similar words include: gab, chitchat, small talk
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CAUSERIE
17A: "33. Nodule of stone"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (mineralogy) a hollow rock or nodule with the cavity usually lined with crystals
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GEODE
18A: "36. Abbr. at Kennedy"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ARR
19A: "37. Emulates a cheerleader"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition
- Similar words include: shout, scream, call
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: YELLS
20A: "40. One-tenth of XXX"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
- Similar words include: terzetto, troika, trinity
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: III
21A: "41. Italo ___, Italian Fascist leader"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BALBO
22A: "44. "See ___, alligator""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: YOULATER
23A: "47. Brigham or Robert"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any immature animal
- Similar words include: untested, Thomas Young, Loretta Young
- Opposite of: aged, old
Click to reveal answer
Answer: YOUNG
24A: "50. Altar boy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who assists a priest or minister in a liturgical service; a cleric ordained in the highest of the minor orders in the roman catholic church but not in the anglican church or the eastern orthodox churches
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ACOLYTE
25A: "51. Fortify"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that fortify by furnishing with battlements for defense
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EMBATTLE
26A: "54. Charpoy"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a sheath worn to protect a finger
- Similar words include: camp bed, crib, fingerstall
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: COT
27A: "55. Overwhelm"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a disorderly crowd of people
- Similar words include: mob, root, rabble
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ROUT
28A: "56. Olio"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a motley assortment of things
- Similar words include: farrago, odds and ends, jumble
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HODGEPODGE
29A: "61. Standards"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a standard or model or pattern regarded as typical
- Similar words include: norm, average
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NORMS
30A: "63. Cribs"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a container; usually has a lid
- Similar words include: bank identification number, ABA transit number, bin
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BINS
31A: "64. Evangelist Roberts"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an examination conducted by spoken communication
- Similar words include: unwritten, oral exam, viva
- Opposite of: anal, aboral
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ORAL
32A: "65. Aunt in "Oklahoma!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELLER
33A: "66. Collections of sayings"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that type genus of the anatidae: freshwater ducks
- Similar words include: ana, genus Anas, Ana
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ANAS
34A: "67. Catch a thief"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits
- Similar words include: apprehend, collar, nab
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NAIL
35A: "68. "Just ___": Nancy Reagan"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SAYNO
36A: "69. Roman household god"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LAR
37A: "70. "___ boy!""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ATTA
Down Clues - Strategic Hints (39 clues)
1D: "1. Shanghai nurse"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a woman hired to suckle a child of someone else
- Similar words include: maid, housemaid, wetnurse
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AMAH
2D: "2. Not much, in Mexico"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: POCO
3D: "3. The "Aeneid," e.g."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds
- Similar words include: heroic poem, heroic, epos
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EPIC
4D: "4. Solves a "weighty" problem"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cut down on; make a reduction in
- Similar words include: abbreviate, slim down, deoxidize
- Opposite of: expand, blow up
Click to reveal answer
Answer: REDUCES
5D: "5. Off. note"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a written proposal or reminder
- Similar words include: memoranda, memorandum
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MEMO
6D: "6. Movie restaurateur"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALICE
7D: "7. Plays the banjo"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that sound of strumming
- Similar words include: thrum, strum
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: STRUMS
8D: "8. Latin I word"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: AMO
9D: "9. Kind of table"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a small table fixed to a wall or designed to stand against a wall
- Similar words include: cabinet, console table, soothe
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CONSOLE
10D: "10. Giddy or haughty"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HOITYTOITY
11D: "11. Athlete Banks or Nevers"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERNIE
12D: "12. Steel-plow inventor"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states industrialist who manufactured plows suitable for working the prairie soil (1804-1886)
- Similar words include: John Deere
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DEERE
13D: "14. Piquant"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that having the piquant burning taste of peppers
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: PEPPERY
14D: "20. Identical"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a member of an indigenous nomadic people living in northern scandinavia and herding reindeer
- Similar words include: Lapp, Lapplander, Sami
- Opposite of: unlike, other
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SAME
15D: "21. Resort of a sort"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a health resort near a spring or at the seaside
- Similar words include: watering hole, health spa, watering place
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SPA
16D: "25. Box for fruit"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that ancient celtic god
- Similar words include: lugsail, block, lugworm
- Opposite of: unstuff
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LUG
17D: "26. Plant disease"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
- Similar words include: blackleg, rat, fink
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SCAB
18D: "27. Pedro's face"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: CARA
19D: "28. Tumult"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: __________
Click to reveal answer
Answer: HURLYBURLY
20D: "29. What Caesar cast"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a small cube with 1 to 6 spots on the six faces; used in gambling to generate random numbers
- Similar words include: become flat, pall, break down
- Opposite of: be born
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DIE
21D: "32. Bridge expert Culbertson"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELY
22D: "34. ___ of Worms: 1521"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a prescribed selection of foods
- Similar words include: dieting
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DIET
23D: "35. Ireland, to a Gael"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a republic consisting of 26 of 32 counties comprising the island of ireland; achieved independence from the united kingdom in 1921
- Similar words include: Irish Republic, Republic of Ireland, Ireland
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EIRE
24D: "38. Mauna ___"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LOA
25D: "39. It has a "sweet smell""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an event that accomplishes its intended purpose
- Similar words include: achiever, succeeder, winner
- Opposite of: loser, failure
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SUCCESS
26D: "42. Gondoliers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that someone who drives or rides in a boat
- Similar words include: boatman, boater, waterman
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: BOATMEN
27D: "43. "Include me ___": Sam Goldwyn"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (baseball) a failure by a batter or runner to reach a base safely in baseball
- Similar words include: come out of the closet, stunned, away
- Opposite of: safe
Click to reveal answer
Answer: OUT
28D: "45. Chicago attraction"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that fastener consisting of a metal ring for lining a small hole to permit the attachment of cords or lines
- Similar words include: intertwine, grummet, iteration
- Opposite of: open circuit, uncoil
Click to reveal answer
Answer: LOOP
29D: "46. City in central Pa."
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a town in central pennsylvania
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ALTOONA
30D: "48. Certain degree"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that last or greatest in an indefinitely large series
- Similar words include: n-th
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: NTH
31D: "49. Worldwide"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that involving the entire earth; not limited or provincial in scope
- Similar words include: planetary, worldwide, world
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GLOBAL
32D: "51. Sea birds"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that bulky greyish-brown eagle with a short wedge-shaped white tail; of europe and greenland
- Similar words include: white-tailed sea eagle, Haliatus albicilla, gray sea eagle
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ERNES
33D: "52. Scratch"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: MOOLA
34D: "53. Suburb of Minneapolis"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: EDINA
35D: "57. Growl"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GNAR
36D: "58. Mild oath"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: DRAT
37D: "59. Pace"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the rate of moving (especially walking or running)
- Similar words include: pace
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: GAIT
38D: "60. Actress Raines"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer
Answer: ELLA
39D: "62. Hit sign"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer
Answer: SRO
Puzzle Stats
37 Across
39 Down
76 Total
