Out-of-head louts smoke in secret

The answer to “Out-of-head louts smoke in secret” in the The Times Cryptic crossword is OBSCURE — a 7-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Cryptic crossword on September 13, 2026, a Sunday puzzle, at 5-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.

“Out-of-head louts smoke in secret” answer

OBSCURE (7 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 OBSCURE.

Why the answer is OBSCURE

The wordplay trims a term for clumsy people before adding a smoky suggestion to mean hidden. 🌫️

What does OBSCURE mean?

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

When else has “Out-of-head louts smoke in secret” appeared?

The Times Cryptic 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.

September 13, 2026 (most recent) → OBSCURE. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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