One admitted to appalling missteps — I see trouble ahead

The answer to “One admitted to appalling missteps — I see trouble ahead” in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword is PESSIMIST — a 9-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Quick Cryptic crossword on August 21, 2026, a Friday puzzle, at 12-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.

“One admitted to appalling missteps — I see trouble ahead” answer

PESSIMIST (9 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 PESSIMIST.

What does PESSIMIST mean?

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

When else has “One admitted to appalling missteps — I see trouble ahead” appeared?

The Times Quick 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.

August 21, 2026 (most recent) → PESSIMIST. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

Frequently asked questions