"The ____ is -->

The answer to “"The ____ is -->” in the USA Today Quick Cross crossword is BALL — a 4-letter word. It most recently appeared in the USA Today Quick Cross crossword on September 16, 2026 at 1-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.

“"The ____ is -->” answer

BALL (4 letters)

Use the reveal tiles above to uncover the solution one letter at a time if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Prefer the full answer straight away? It's BALL.

What does BALL mean?

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

When else has “"The ____ is -->” appeared?

USA Today Quick Cross 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 16, 2026 (most recent) → BALL. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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