James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"
Crossword Answer — May 09, 2025
NYT Crossword
Friday, May 09, 2025
By Willa Angel Chen Miller and Erik Agard
Tap a square to reveal a letter.
Or reveal one clue at a time with the Hint and Answer buttons below.
NYT Crossword Clues
Across
Down
Crossword clues, hints, and answers
Across
- 1. Walks softly — Answer: PADS
- 5. Impossible to contact by ordinary means — Answer: OFFTHEGRID
- 15. "___, sing America" — Answer: ITOO
- 16. Feature focused on investigation and resolution — Answer: CRIMEDRAMA
- 17. Turf — Answer: LAND
- 18. Downward-facing dog? — Answer: CANISMAJOR
- 19. ___ text (label for a screen reader) — Answer: ALT
- 20. ___ Robert Jr., 2020 Gold Glove Award winner — Answer: LUIS
- 21. Encrust — Answer: CAKE
- 22. What might be caught Red-handed? — Answer: FLYBALL
- 24. Cracker topper — Answer: BRIE
- 27. Raise — Answer: HOIST
- 28. Popular vacation spot — Answer: SEASHORE
- 32. Talks up — Answer: TOUTS
- 33. It's not worth what it seems — Answer: PLAYMONEY
- 34. Kick out — Answer: OUST
- 35. Roughly 62% of its claimed territory is in Antarctica — Answer: CHILE
- 36. Fine-textured wood used in musical instruments — Answer: PEAR
- 37. Unfettered flow of goods — Answer: FREETRADE
- 39. It might turn up a turnip — Answer: SPADE
- 40. Software clients — Answer: USERBASE
- 41. Minuscule — Answer: TEENY
- 42. "That's my opinion, too" — Answer: SAME
- 43. Components of some makeovers — Answer: HAIRDOS
- 45. Boatload — Answer: SLEW
- 48. First-rate, in slang — Answer: BOSS
- 49. R&B;'s ___ Hill — Answer: DRU
- 50. "Be kind!" — Answer: HAVEAHEART
- 54. First name of the first Black woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature — Answer: TONI
- 55. What holding one's thumb up might indicate — Answer: INEEDARIDE
- 56. "How could ___?" — Answer: INOT
- 57. Cooking byproduct sometimes called "liquid gold" — Answer: PASTAWATER
- 58. Rescues, maybe — Answer: PETS
Down
- 1. Fragrant rice dish — Answer: PILAF
- 2. Day and night — Answer: ATALLHOURS
- 3. "Must I spell it out further?" — Answer: DONTYOUSEE
- 4. Turf — Answer: SOD. Hint: This green ground cover is often rolled out for a fresh lawn! 🌱
- 5. Like practices associated with pentacles — Answer: OCCULT
- 6. Enfeebled — Answer: FRAIL
- 7. Some scuba diving gear — Answer: FINS
- 8. "OMG, I didn't need to know that!" — Answer: TMI
- 9. "She's everything. ___ just Ken" (2023 movie tagline) — Answer: HES
- 10. Genre heard at many raves, for short — Answer: EDM
- 11. Pioneer in computer science who has a college at Yale named after her — Answer: GRACEHOPPER
- 12. Asian royal — Answer: RAJA
- 13. "Don't worry about me" — Answer: IMOK
- 14. Have the audacity — Answer: DARE
- 20. Colleen — Answer: LASS
- 23. Emotionally complex, in a way — Answer: BITTERSWEET
- 24. James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk" — Answer: BEALE
- 25. One-named singer in the 2023 hit "Prada" — Answer: RAYE
- 26. What one might subscribe to — Answer: ISM
- 28. "I'll let that ___ ..." — Answer: SLIDE
- 29. Not to be repeated — Answer: ONEANDDONE
- 30. Seeking comment? — Answer: READYORNOT
- 31. Title heroine who says "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you" — Answer: EYRE
- 32. Stir-fry protein option — Answer: TOFU
- 33. This, too, shall pass — Answer: PHASE
- 35. Squeeze — Answer: CRAM
- 38. Not yet final, in brief — Answer: TBA
- 39. Number of kings en España named Felipe — Answer: SEIS
- 41. Position at a food company — Answer: TASTER
- 43. Throng — Answer: HORDE
- 44. Boardroom group — Answer: SUITS
- 45. Mail — Answer: SHIP
- 46. Superboy's crush — Answer: LANA
- 47. Holiday lead-ins — Answer: EVES
- 48. Entice — Answer: BAIT
- 51. Antidiscrimination legis. of 1990 — Answer: ADA
- 52. ___ flakes (fruity Chinese snack) — Answer: HAW
- 53. Long period — Answer: ERA. Hint: Think of a significant stretch of time in history! 🕰️
- 54. What a boat shouldn't do — Answer: TIP
The answer to “James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"” in the New York Times crossword is BEALE — a 5-letter word. This clue ran in the New York Times crossword on May 9, 2025, a Friday puzzle, at 24-Down. If it's the entry standing between you and a clean grid, that's the word you need — and below you'll find why it fits, plus links to the day's other clues if more than one square is giving you trouble.
“James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"” answer
BEALE (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 BEALE.
Why the answer is BEALE
BEALE is the 5-letter solution that fits "James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"" in the NYT Crossword crossword on May 9, 2025 (24-Down). Use the letter tiles above if you'd rather reveal it one letter at a time.
When else has “James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"” appeared?
New York Times reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up before, and what the answer was each time — handy if you landed here from a puzzle on another date.
May 9, 2025 (this puzzle) → BEALE. We haven't indexed an earlier appearance of this exact clue yet.
More clues from the NYT Crossword on May 9, 2025
Stuck elsewhere in the grid? Here are some of the crossing and nearby clues from the same puzzle — tap any for its answer and explanation.
- Cracker topper → BRIE
- Popular vacation spot → SEASHORE
- It's not worth what it seems → PLAYMONEY
- Roughly 62% of its claimed territory is in Antarctica → CHILE
- Unfettered flow of goods → FREETRADE
- Emotionally complex, in a way → BITTERSWEET
- One-named singer in the 2023 hit "Prada" → RAYE
- What might be caught Red-handed? → FLYBALL
Want every clue in one place? The full New York Times answer list for May 9, 2025 is on that day's grid page, and today's live NYT Crossword answers are always one tap from the today page.
About the NYT Crossword
The New York Times crossword, edited by Will Shortz, is the most famous daily puzzle in the United States. It runs a 15×15 grid Monday through Saturday and a larger 21×21 grid on Sunday, and its difficulty deliberately ramps through the week: Monday is the most approachable, Saturday the toughest, with Thursday often reserved for a trick or twist like rebus squares. This page covers a Friday puzzle. A straight-definition entry is the kind of solid mid-grid answer that anchors the trickier crossings around it. Because the NYT reuses short, crossing-friendly words regularly, seeing them once makes them easier to spot next time.
Frequently asked questions
What is the answer to “James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"”?
The answer is BEALE, a 5-letter word. It appeared in the New York Times crossword on May 9, 2025.
How many letters is the answer to “James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"”?
5 letters: BEALE.
Where did this clue appear?
In the New York Times crossword on May 9, 2025 (a Friday puzzle), at 24-Down.
Can “James Baldwin's "If ___ Street Could Talk"” have a different answer?
Yes — New York Times 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 NYT Crossword answers?
The full grid for May 9, 2025 is on the NYT Crossword answers page, with every clue and answer from that puzzle.