Pay to play

Latest answer — August 11, 2026

11 Down

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Clue explained

ANTE is the money a player puts into the pot before a poker hand begins, so it is literally pay to play.

Clue type:
Definition
Poker chips placed in front of a player before a hand.

USA Today Crossword

This clue's Tuesday, August 11, 2026 appearance

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Across

  1. 1Cries from wolves
  2. 6Undergarment that can be gender-affirming
  3. 9"Sadly . . ."
  4. 13Group for Ireland and Poland, for short
  5. 14"Good grief!"
  6. 15"___ get me started!"
  7. 16"I've had enough!"
  8. 18Wee bit
  9. 19ATM code
  10. 20Game that involves virtual calls?
  11. 22Boxing decision (Abbr.)
  12. 23Cuts into small cubes
  13. 24Country with about 4 million alpacas
  14. 26Perfect score for a diver
  15. 27Brazilian ballroom dance
  16. 31Teatro di Marcello city
  17. 32Bro's sibling, perhaps
  18. 33H.S. life skills class
  19. 34Drink with balls that might get stuck in a straw
  20. 36"Ah, got it"
  21. 37Arctic fishing device
  22. 38Route
  23. 39Empty stretches on a resume
  24. 40"I dunno" gesture
  25. 41Horse food
  26. 42"A rolling stone gathers no ___"
  27. 43Sneaky tactics
  28. 45Possesses
  29. 46Wiped out in a dramatic way
  30. 50Seasonal vaccine target
  31. 53Grad
  32. 54This is absolute mayhem!
  33. 56What a cartoon light bulb might represent
  34. 57Pointing Leonardo DiCaprio, e.g.
  35. 58Tolerate
  36. 59Rough voice feature
  37. 60Not post-
  38. 61Ski equipment

Down

  1. 1URL opener
  2. 2"Didn't see you there!"
  3. 3Stop nursing gradually
  4. 4"___ me know"
  5. 5It's a numbers game
  6. 6"Furthermore . . ."
  7. 7Get under control
  8. 8Like the god Huitzilopochtli
  9. 9Casual farewell
  10. 10Take a peek
  11. 11Pay to play
  12. 12Our sun, for one
  13. 14Hair goo
  14. 17Musician and activist Yoko ___
  15. 21Money in Mexico
  16. 22"X marks the spot" parchment, perhaps
  17. 24Pup
  18. 25Still-glowing coal
  19. 26"Sister, Sister" performer Mowry
  20. 28Flat-topped landforms
  21. 29Sounds from R2-D2
  22. 30Las Vegas WNBA team
  23. 31A grand slam adds four of these to the batter's total
  24. 32Do some stitching
  25. 33"Psst!"
  26. 35Prepare to advance a base on a fly out
  27. 36"Hooray!"
  28. 38"I'm innocent!"
  29. 41Warming device
  30. 42Zany
  31. 44Losing streak
  32. 45Half of a common pronoun pair
  33. 46"You've got a point"
  34. 47"Marriage Story" actor Alan
  35. 48Billiards sticks
  36. 49Simple top
  37. 50"Epic ___!"
  38. 51Miner's find
  39. 52Finds a purpose for
  40. 55First TV channel to begin transmitting by satellite

The answer to “Pay to play” in the USA Today crossword is ANTE — a 4-letter word. It most recently appeared in the USA Today crossword on August 11, 2026, a Tuesday puzzle, at 11-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.

“Pay to play” answer

ANTE (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 ANTE.

What does ANTE mean?

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

(noun)

  • a stake put up by a player in poker or brag before receiving cards

When else has “Pay to play” appeared?

USA Today 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 11, 2026 (most recent) → ANTE. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

Frequently asked questions

What is the answer to “Pay to play”?

The answer is ANTE, a 4-letter word. It most recently appeared in the USA Today crossword on August 11, 2026.

How many letters is the answer to “Pay to play”?

4 letters: ANTE.

When did this clue appear?

Most recently in the USA Today crossword on August 11, 2026 (a Tuesday puzzle), at 11-Down.

Can “Pay to play” have a different answer?

Yes — USA Today sometimes reuses a clue with a different solution to fit the grid. The answers we've recorded for each date it appeared are listed above when available.

Where can I find the rest of this day's USA Today answers?

The full grid for August 11, 2026 is on the USA Today answers page, with every clue and answer from that puzzle.

USA Today Crossword is published by USA Today; WordHint is an independent site and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher.

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