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 lover who want that satisfying "aha!" moment.
Today is Puzzle Difficulty: Tricky
Pro Tip: Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues - they're usually the easiest entry points!
Across Clues - Strategic Hints (29 clues)
1A: "1. Accessory for overseas travel"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that device that enables something to be used in a way different from that for which it was intended or makes different pieces of apparatus compatible
- Similar words include: adapter
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ADAPTOR
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2A: "8. Camila with the hit 2022 album "Familia""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CABELLO
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3A: "15. Disassemble in order to understand"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: REVERSEENGINEER
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4A: "17. Ideal resolution"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: FAIRYTALEENDING
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5A: "18. Bit of a blind"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a thin strip (wood or metal)
- Similar words include: spline
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SLAT
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6A: "19. Button added to iPhone messages in 2022"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting
- Similar words include: blue-pencil, edit out, redact
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EDIT
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7A: "20. Like challenging kite-flying weather"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that blowing in puffs or short intermittent blasts
- Similar words include: puffy
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GUSTY
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8A: "21. Becky on "Full House" and Esther on "Sanford and Son""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
- Similar words include: aunty, aunt, auntie
- Opposite of: uncle
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AUNTS
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9A: "23. A little "Help here!"?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an internationally recognized distress signal in radio code
- Similar words include: soh, so, sol
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SOS
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10A: "24. Access, in a way"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOGINTO
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11A: "27. Regards with astonishment"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAPESAT
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12A: "31. ___ Gorman, "The Hill We Climb" poet"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AMANDA
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13A: "32. Stone to cast?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: EMMA
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14A: "33. For"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an athlete who plays for pay
- Similar words include: professional
- Opposite of: amateur, anti
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PRO
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15A: "34. Reveal all"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RAISETHECURTAIN
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16A: "37. One might walk right into a trap"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers
- Similar words include: emmet, pismire
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ANT
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17A: "38. Baroque stringed instrument"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any of a family of bowed stringed instruments that preceded the violin family
- Pattern: ____
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Answer: VIOL
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18A: "39. Plaza resident of fiction"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELOISE
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19A: "40. Apollo 13, for one"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an organization of missionaries in a foreign land sent to carry on religious work
- Similar words include: delegation, charge, foreign mission
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MISSION
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20A: "42. Made funny faces, say"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that act as or like a clown
- Similar words include: antic, clown, clown around
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CLOWNED
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21A: "43. Solo in space"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that imperial dynasty that ruled china (most of the time from 206 bc to ad 220) and expanded its boundaries and developed its bureaucracy; remembered as one of the great eras of chinese civilization
- Similar words include: Han dynasty
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HAN
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22A: "44. Inlay material on some guitars"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the iridescent internal layer of a mollusk shell
- Similar words include: mother-of-pearl
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NACRE
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23A: "45. Attacks"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HASAT
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24A: "48. Alternative to 53-Across"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that united states writer whose novels portray middle-class jewish life (born in 1933)
- Similar words include: Philip Roth, Philip Milton Roth
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROTH
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25A: "49. Blowout"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that an easy victory
- Similar words include: laugher, lark about, disport
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ROMP
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26A: "53. Some nest eggs"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRADITIONALIRAS
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27A: "56. Be ruthless"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TAKENOPRISONERS
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28A: "57. Brothers-to-be"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a deposit of personal property as security for a debt
- Similar words include: salute, pledge, subscribe
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PLEDGES
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29A: "58. Beloved kid on one's farm, maybe"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PETGOAT
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Down Clues - Strategic Hints (39 clues)
1D: "1. Yaps"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARFS
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2D: "2. "You're on!""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a particular instance of buying or selling
- Similar words include: mint, cover, administer
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: DEAL
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3D: "3. Brand of athletic shoes"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AVIA
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4D: "4. Relates (to)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that be relevant to
- Similar words include: concern, have-to doe with, appertain
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PERTAINS
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5D: "5. Cause headaches for"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something
- Similar words include: seek, sample, examine
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TRY
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6D: "6. Peacock's display"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a gaudy outward display
- Similar words include: fanfare, pomposity, inflation
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OSTENTATION
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7D: "7. Entertain at bedtime, maybe"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: READTO
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8D: "8. Website whose contributors might write about mice"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CNET
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9D: "9. Dating app filter"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that how long something has existed
- Similar words include: historic period, old age, maturate
- Opposite of: rejuvenate
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: AGE
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10D: "10. Where many gather to form a line?"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: BINGOPARLOR
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11D: "11. Ultimate function"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ENDUSE
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12D: "12. Attire for hula dancers"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that flower arrangement consisting of a circular band of foliage or flowers for ornamental purposes
- Similar words include: wreath, lei, chaplet
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LEIS
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13D: "13. Time of abstinence"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a period of 40 weekdays from ash wednesday to holy saturday
- Similar words include: contribute, bring, bestow
- Opposite of: borrow
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LENT
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14D: "14. Not-so-conservative party?"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that any act of immoderate indulgence
- Similar words include: saturnalia, debauchery, binge
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ORGY
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15D: "16. Clinton and Bush, for two"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ELIS
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16D: "22. Steadfast"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that going directly ahead from one point to another without veering or turning aside
- Similar words include: unswerving
- Pattern: ___________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: UNDEVIATING
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17D: "23. Founding father who is the only Supreme Court justice to have ever been impeached"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___________
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Answer: SAMUELCHASE
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18D: "24. Super Bowl LVI winner, in brief"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: _____
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Answer: LARAM
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19D: "25. Resident of the Arab world's oldest continuously independent state"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a native or inhabitant of oman
- Pattern: _____
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Answer: OMANI
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20D: "26. Equestrian's choices"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that the rate of moving (especially walking or running)
- Similar words include: pace, gait
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GAITS
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21D: "27. Sierra or Yukon"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: GMC
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22D: "28. Its national anthem has no words"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a parliamentary monarchy in southwestern europe on the iberian peninsula; a former colonial power
- Similar words include: Espana, Kingdom of Spain
- Pattern: _____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SPAIN
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23D: "29. Come about"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that come into existence; take on form or shape
- Similar words include: rebel, stand up, bob up
- Opposite of: fall, turn in
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARISE
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24D: "30. Buff"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that utter monotonously and repetitively and rhythmically
- Similar words include: chant, tone up, inflect
- Opposite of: toneless
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TONED
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25D: "32. Unakyu roll ingredient"
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
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26D: "35. Dearie"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HON
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27D: "36. Very, very tall"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that appear very large or occupy a commanding position
- Similar words include: eminent, lofty, hulk
- Pattern: ________
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOWERING
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28D: "41. Not directly in the sun"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that cast a shadow over
- Similar words include: fill in, shade, shadow
- Opposite of: unshaded
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SHADED
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29D: "42. Something very attractive"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that hairy aromatic perennial herb having whorls of small white purple-spotted flowers in a terminal spike; used in the past as a domestic remedy; strongly attractive to cats
- Similar words include: catmint, Nepeta cataria
- Pattern: ______
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: CATNIP
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30D: "44. Former queen of Jordan"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: NOOR
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31D: "45. URL letters"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a protocol (utilizing tcp) to transfer hypertext requests and information between servers and browsers
- Similar words include: hypertext transfer protocol
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: HTTP
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32D: "46. ___ Sea, body of water nowadays divided into "North" and "South""
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: ARAL
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33D: "47. Drink served hot or cold"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a reason for wanting something done
- Similar words include: interest, saki, rice beer
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: SAKE
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34D: "48. Criticizes viciously"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that a dissolute man in fashionable society
- Similar words include: crosscurrent, profligate, rakehell
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: RIPS
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35D: "50. ___ cow (black bovine with a white belt around its middle)"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that chocolate cookie with white cream filling
- Similar words include: oreo cookie
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: OREO
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36D: "51. Kate of "Fantastic Four""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that hindu god of death; opposite of kama
- Similar words include: Dolichotis patagonum
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: MARA
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37D: "52. Whisper in a classroom, maybe"
Solving Hints:
- Pattern: ____
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: PSST
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38D: "54. "Little piggy""
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that one of the digits of the foot
- Similar words include: toenail
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: TOE
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39D: "55. Studio locale"
Solving Hints:
- Think of something that (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
- Similar words include: mint, administer, mass
- Pattern: ___
Click to reveal answer (spoiler alert!)
Answer: LOT
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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
29 Across Clues
39 Down Clues
68 Total Clues
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