"___ down the hatches!"

The answer to “"___ down the hatches!"” in the New York Times crossword is BATTEN — a 6-letter word. It most recently appeared in the New York Times crossword on December 28, 2025, a Sunday puzzle, at 76-Across. 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.

“"___ down the hatches!"” answer

BATTEN (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 BATTEN.

Why the answer is BATTEN

BATTEN is the 6-letter solution that fits ""___ down the hatches!"" in the NYT Crossword crossword on December 28, 2025 (76-Across). Use the letter tiles above if you'd rather reveal it one letter at a time.

What does BATTEN mean?

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

When else has “"___ down the hatches!"” 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.

December 28, 2025 (most recent) → BATTEN. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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