"The Phantom of the ___"

The answer to “"The Phantom of the ___"” in the USA Today crossword is OPERA — a 5-letter word. It most recently appeared in the USA Today crossword on August 12, 2026, a Wednesday puzzle, at 32-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.

“"The Phantom of the ___"” answer

OPERA (5 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 OPERA.

What does OPERA mean?

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

When else has “"The Phantom of the ___"” 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 12, 2026 (most recent) → OPERA. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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