"You cannot look at a sleeping ___ and feel tense": Jane Pauley

The answer to “"You cannot look at a sleeping ___ and feel tense": Jane Pauley” in the New York Times crossword is CAT — a 3-letter word. It most recently appeared in the New York Times crossword on August 1, 2025, a Friday puzzle, at 51-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.

“"You cannot look at a sleeping ___ and feel tense": Jane Pauley” answer

CAT (3 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 CAT.

Why the answer is CAT

CAT is the 3-letter solution that fits ""You cannot look at a sleeping ___ and feel tense": Jane Pauley" in the NYT Crossword crossword on August 1, 2025 (51-Down). Use the letter tiles above if you'd rather reveal it one letter at a time.

What does CAT mean?

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

When else has “"You cannot look at a sleeping ___ and feel tense": Jane Pauley” 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 1, 2025 (most recent) → CAT. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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