Deliberately malicious

The answer to “Deliberately malicious” in the New York Times crossword is WANTON — a 6-letter word. It most recently appeared in the New York Times crossword on August 2, 2026, a Sunday puzzle, at 46-Down. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Deliberately malicious” answer

WANTON (6 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is WANTON.

Why the answer is WANTON

This describes harm done with reckless, intentional cruelty rather than by accident 😈

What does WANTON mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of WANTON is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

When else has “Deliberately malicious” appeared?

New York Times reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

August 2, 2026 (most recent) → WANTON. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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