"Empire of the ___" (1977 sci-fi film with an approval rating of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes)

The answer to “"Empire of the ___" (1977 sci-fi film with an approval rating of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes)” in the New York Times crossword is ANTS — a 4-letter word. It most recently appeared in the New York Times crossword on June 12, 2026, a Friday puzzle, at 19-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.

“"Empire of the ___" (1977 sci-fi film with an approval rating of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes)” answer

ANTS (4 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 ANTS.

Why the answer is ANTS

ANTS is the 4-letter solution that fits ""Empire of the ___" (1977 sci-fi film with an approval rating of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes)" in the NYT Crossword crossword on June 12, 2026 (19-Across). Use the letter tiles above if you'd rather reveal it one letter at a time.

When else has “"Empire of the ___" (1977 sci-fi film with an approval rating of 5% on Rotten Tomatoes)” 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.

June 12, 2026 (most recent) → ANTS. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

More clues from the NYT Crossword on June 12, 2026

Stuck elsewhere in the grid? Here are some of the crossing and nearby clues from the same puzzle — tap any for its answer and explanation.

• Pastry with Austrian origins, despite its name → DANISH
• Hidden gem → BESTKEPTSECRET
• One who might say "You wish!" → GENIE
• T, in Morse code → DASH
• Farm grazer → COW
• Velociraptor, e.g., informally → DINO
• Prefix with present → OMNI
• "___ it?" → ISNT

Want every clue in one place? The full New York Times answer list for June 12, 2026 is on that day's grid page, and today's live NYT Crossword answers are always one tap from the today page.

About the NYT Crossword

The New York Times crossword, edited by Will Shortz, is the most famous daily puzzle in the United States. It runs a 15×15 grid Monday through Saturday and a larger 21×21 grid on Sunday, and its difficulty deliberately ramps through the week: Monday is the most approachable, Saturday the toughest, with Thursday often reserved for a trick or twist like rebus squares. This page covers a Friday puzzle. A straight-definition entry is the kind of solid mid-grid answer that anchors the trickier crossings around it. Because the NYT reuses short, crossing-friendly words regularly, seeing them once makes them easier to spot next time.

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