Rotten to the core

The answer to “Rotten to the core” in the The Washington Post crossword is EVIL — a 4-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Washington Post crossword on October 11, 2026, a Sunday puzzle, at 80-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.

“Rotten to the core” answer

EVIL (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 EVIL.

What does EVIL mean?

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

When else has “Rotten to the core” appeared?

The Washington Post 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.

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

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