NYT Crossword Clues & Answers - Dec 21

Present Time

By David Kwong

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NYT Crossword Clues

Across

  1. 1Some Arctic transports
  2. 10S.E.C. football powerhouse, for short
  3. 141950s hangout with a jukebox
  4. 20Game piece made of four squares
  5. 21"The Kite Runner" protagonist
  6. 22Skulks
  7. 23Joins gradually
  8. 24"Doggone it!"
  9. 25Treatment
  10. 26Blue colorant obtained from the indigo plant
  11. 27Wrangler alternative
  12. 28Brightly colored Mediterranean flowers
  13. 30Rap's Run-___
  14. 31Course catalog?
  15. 32When Aries transitions to Taurus
  16. 34Sweetly, on scores
  17. 35"I'll pass"
  18. 36Input of certain mining
  19. 38Montalbán who played Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"
  20. 40Timer setting
  21. 42Areas of influence
  22. 45Mental health org.
  23. 46Fraudulently make seem like
  24. 48Covers completely
  25. 49Wyoming peak
  26. 51Like a corporation with a new logo, perhaps
  27. 54Comment from someone caught in the rain
  28. 56Yellow avenue in Monopoly
  29. 58A bit off, say
  30. 59Hyatt alternative
  31. 60Hard-boiled genre
  32. 62TheForce.net for "Star Wars," for example
  33. 64Dark side
  34. 65Former big name in browsers
  35. 67U.F.O.-watching org.
  36. 68By way of, informally
  37. 70Kemo ___ (the Lone Ranger)
  38. 71Sailor's patron
  39. 72Fleetwood Mac hit named for a Celtic goddess
  40. 76Daddy
  41. 79Eponymous British financier James ___
  42. 81By saying this you mean well
  43. 82Wrap seller
  44. 83Adopted, as a pet
  45. 85Wasn't folded in a suitcase, say
  46. 87Developed, as baby teeth
  47. 89Sci-fi miniaturizer
  48. 91Emanations
  49. 93Boldly face
  50. 94Kind of cipher in which A becomes B, B becomes C, e.g.
  51. 95Guardians, on a scoreboard
  52. 96Bit of birdspeak
  53. 98Damp, mildewy quality
  54. 99They hold water
  55. 102Silence
  56. 103Lying faceup
  57. 104___ Park, Calif.
  58. 105Air
  59. 107Disney subsidiary
  60. 111A little help?
  61. 112Evaded, as a sensitive issue
  62. 114Some pings, in brief
  63. 115"Fie on ___!" (Shakespearean cry)
  64. 116Skips over
  65. 118Few and far between
  66. 119Regulars at parks with ramps, informally
  67. 121Reply after having one's memory jogged
  68. 122Some time ago
  69. 123"What's done is done!"
  70. 124Stick (to)
  71. 125Garden interloper
  72. 126Church parts crossing naves

Down

  1. 1Make furious
  2. 2"The Family Circus" cartoonist Bil ___
  3. 3Tennis line judge's ruling
  4. 4Duke Ellington classic with the lyric "That was my heart serenading you"
  5. 5West side of L.A.?
  6. 6"Is there still time for me to join you?"
  7. 751 to the hour
  8. 8Stage direction
  9. 9Phillipa of Broadway
  10. 10Grammy winner Erykah
  11. 11___ Gorman, "The Hill We Climb" poet
  12. 12Copy
  13. 13Iced-tea-and-lemonade refreshments
  14. 14Spending romp
  15. 15Output of certain mining
  16. 16Counterpart of a sub
  17. 17Fast start?
  18. 18Father, familiarly
  19. 19Mentally overpower, with "out"
  20. 28Like most moccasins
  21. 29Great Dane of cartoons, informally
  22. 33More livid
  23. 37Keister, in Leicester
  24. 392015 chart-topping hit for the Weeknd
  25. 40Symbolic for its time
  26. 41Shoe company with an iconic checkerboard design
  27. 42Descendant
  28. 43Apple: Fr.
  29. 44Is without
  30. 47Rabid in appearance
  31. 50Woman's nickname that sounds like two letters
  32. 51Rice-A-___
  33. 52"Borderlands" director ___ Roth
  34. 53Hiding place
  35. 55Gene pools?
  36. 57Org. with its own alphabet
  37. 61Abbr. not found on most smartphones
  38. 63"Aren't ___ lucky one?!"
  39. 66It has a lot of secretaries
  40. 67Shirt collar stiffener
  41. 69Where to find six "presents" in this puzzle?
  42. 71Knock 'em dead
  43. 72Coolidge who sang the theme for "Octopussy"
  44. 73Just getting started with
  45. 74Green shade
  46. 75What Joe Montana was in the '80s
  47. 76A TD scores six of these
  48. 77"Fancy, that!"
  49. 78Prickly denizen of coral reefs
  50. 80Famed lawyer in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial
  51. 81Most minimal
  52. 84Some Korean exports
  53. 86Calmed deceptively
  54. 88Baseball slugger's stat
  55. 90Bird used to deliver messages on "Game of Thrones"
  56. 92Blueprints
  57. 97Author Zora Neale ___
  58. 98Noodled on, with "over"
  59. 100Girlfriend in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
  60. 101Informant
  61. 103"Ta-ta!"
  62. 104Tricky pool shot
  63. 106Someone enjoying a walk in the park
  64. 108Mentally with it
  65. 109___ four
  66. 110Fits one inside the other
  67. 112Porcine : pigs :: cervine : ___
  68. 113Essential
  69. 117It might be good for a change
  70. 119One who knows the drill?: Abbr.
  71. 120Teslas, e.g., for short

Crossword clues, hints, and answers

Across

  1. 1. Some Arctic transports — Answer: SKIPLANES
  2. 10. S.E.C. football powerhouse, for short — Answer: BAMA
  3. 14. 1950s hangout with a jukebox — Answer: SODAOP
  4. 20. Game piece made of four squares — Answer: TETROMINO
  5. 21. "The Kite Runner" protagonist — Answer: AMIR
  6. 22. Skulks — Answer: PROWLS
  7. 23. Joins gradually — Answer: EASESINTO
  8. 24. "Doggone it!" — Answer: DARN
  9. 25. Treatment — Answer: REMEDY
  10. 26. Blue colorant obtained from the indigo plant — Answer: ANIL
  11. 27. Wrangler alternative — Answer: LEE
  12. 28. Brightly colored Mediterranean flowers — Answer: SUNROSES
  13. 30. Rap's Run-___ — Answer: DMC
  14. 31. Course catalog? — Answer: MENU
  15. 32. When Aries transitions to Taurus — Answer: APRIL
  16. 34. Sweetly, on scores — Answer: DOLCE
  17. 35. "I'll pass" — Answer: NAH
  18. 36. Input of certain mining — Answer: DATA
  19. 38. Montalbán who played Khan in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" — Answer: RICARDO
  20. 40. Timer setting — Answer: OVEN
  21. 42. Areas of influence — Answer: SPHERES
  22. 45. Mental health org. — Answer: APA
  23. 46. Fraudulently make seem like — Answer: POFFAS
  24. 48. Covers completely — Answer: COATS
  25. 49. Wyoming peak — Answer: TETON
  26. 51. Like a corporation with a new logo, perhaps — Answer: REBRANDED
  27. 54. Comment from someone caught in the rain — Answer: IMSOED
  28. 56. Yellow avenue in Monopoly — Answer: VENTNOR
  29. 58. A bit off, say — Answer: ONSALE
  30. 59. Hyatt alternative — Answer: OMNI
  31. 60. Hard-boiled genre — Answer: NOIR
  32. 62. TheForce.net for "Star Wars," for example — Answer: FANSITE
  33. 64. Dark side — Answer: YIN
  34. 65. Former big name in browsers — Answer: NETSCAPE
  35. 67. U.F.O.-watching org. — Answer: SETI
  36. 68. By way of, informally — Answer: THRU
  37. 70. Kemo ___ (the Lone Ranger) — Answer: SABE
  38. 71. Sailor's patron — Answer: STEO
  39. 72. Fleetwood Mac hit named for a Celtic goddess — Answer: RHIANNON
  40. 76. Daddy — Answer: POP
  41. 79. Eponymous British financier James ___ — Answer: BARCLAY
  42. 81. By saying this you mean well — Answer: BIEN
  43. 82. Wrap seller — Answer: DELI
  44. 83. Adopted, as a pet — Answer: TOOKIN
  45. 85. Wasn't folded in a suitcase, say — Answer: LAYFLAT
  46. 87. Developed, as baby teeth — Answer: GREWIN
  47. 89. Sci-fi miniaturizer — Answer: SHRINKRAY
  48. 91. Emanations — Answer: AURAS
  49. 93. Boldly face — Answer: BRAVE
  50. 94. Kind of cipher in which A becomes B, B becomes C, e.g. — Answer: CAESAR
  51. 95. Guardians, on a scoreboard — Answer: CLE
  52. 96. Bit of birdspeak — Answer: CHITTER
  53. 98. Damp, mildewy quality — Answer: MUST
  54. 99. They hold water — Answer: VESSELS
  55. 102. Silence — Answer: HUSH
  56. 103. Lying faceup — Answer: SUP
  57. 104. ___ Park, Calif. — Answer: MENLO
  58. 105. Air — Answer: ETHER
  59. 107. Disney subsidiary — Answer: ESPN
  60. 111. A little help? — Answer: ELF
  61. 112. Evaded, as a sensitive issue — Answer: DANCOUND
  62. 114. Some pings, in brief — Answer: IMS
  63. 115. "Fie on ___!" (Shakespearean cry) — Answer: THEE
  64. 116. Skips over — Answer: ELIDES
  65. 118. Few and far between — Answer: RARE
  66. 119. Regulars at parks with ramps, informally — Answer: SKATERATS
  67. 121. Reply after having one's memory jogged — Answer: YESYES
  68. 122. Some time ago — Answer: ONCE
  69. 123. "What's done is done!" — Answer: GETOVERIT
  70. 124. Stick (to) — Answer: ADHERE
  71. 125. Garden interloper — Answer: WEED
  72. 126. Church parts crossing naves — Answer: TRANSEPTS

Down

  1. 1. Make furious — Answer: STEAM
  2. 2. "The Family Circus" cartoonist Bil ___ — Answer: KEANE
  3. 3. Tennis line judge's ruling — Answer: ITSIN
  4. 4. Duke Ellington classic with the lyric "That was my heart serenading you" — Answer: PRELUDETOISS
  5. 5. West side of L.A.? — Answer: LOS
  6. 6. "Is there still time for me to join you?" — Answer: AMILATE
  7. 7. 51 to the hour — Answer: NINEPAST
  8. 8. Stage direction — Answer: ENTER
  9. 9. Phillipa of Broadway — Answer: SOO
  10. 10. Grammy winner Erykah — Answer: BADU
  11. 11. ___ Gorman, "The Hill We Climb" poet — Answer: AMANDA
  12. 12. Copy — Answer: MIRROR
  13. 13. Iced-tea-and-lemonade refreshments — Answer: ARNOLDPERS
  14. 14. Spending romp — Answer: SPREE
  15. 15. Output of certain mining — Answer: ORES
  16. 16. Counterpart of a sub — Answer: DOM
  17. 17. Fast start? — Answer: AWEDNESDAY
  18. 18. Father, familiarly — Answer: OLDMAN
  19. 19. Mentally overpower, with "out" — Answer: PSYCH
  20. 28. Like most moccasins — Answer: SLIPON
  21. 29. Great Dane of cartoons, informally — Answer: SCOOB
  22. 33. More livid — Answer: IRATER
  23. 37. Keister, in Leicester — Answer: ARSE. Hint: In British slang, it's a cheeky term for your backside! 🍑
  24. 39. 2015 chart-topping hit for the Weeknd — Answer: CANTFEEYFACE
  25. 40. Symbolic for its time — Answer: OFANERA
  26. 41. Shoe company with an iconic checkerboard design — Answer: VANS
  27. 42. Descendant — Answer: SCION
  28. 43. Apple: Fr. — Answer: POMME
  29. 44. Is without — Answer: HASNT
  30. 47. Rabid in appearance — Answer: FROTHING
  31. 50. Woman's nickname that sounds like two letters — Answer: EVIE
  32. 51. Rice-A-___ — Answer: RONI
  33. 52. "Borderlands" director ___ Roth — Answer: ELI
  34. 53. Hiding place — Answer: DEN
  35. 55. Gene pools? — Answer: DNABANKS
  36. 57. Org. with its own alphabet — Answer: NATO
  37. 61. Abbr. not found on most smartphones — Answer: OPER
  38. 63. "Aren't ___ lucky one?!" — Answer: ITHE
  39. 66. It has a lot of secretaries — Answer: CABINET
  40. 67. Shirt collar stiffener — Answer: STAY
  41. 69. Where to find six "presents" in this puzzle? — Answer: UNDERTHETREE
  42. 71. Knock 'em dead — Answer: SLAY
  43. 72. Coolidge who sang the theme for "Octopussy" — Answer: RITA
  44. 73. Just getting started with — Answer: NEWAT
  45. 74. Green shade — Answer: OLIVE
  46. 75. What Joe Montana was in the '80s — Answer: NINER
  47. 76. A TD scores six of these — Answer: PTS
  48. 77. "Fancy, that!" — Answer: OOH
  49. 78. Prickly denizen of coral reefs — Answer: PORCUPFISH
  50. 80. Famed lawyer in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial — Answer: CLARENCROW
  51. 81. Most minimal — Answer: BAREST
  52. 84. Some Korean exports — Answer: KIAS
  53. 86. Calmed deceptively — Answer: LULLED
  54. 88. Baseball slugger's stat — Answer: RBIS
  55. 90. Bird used to deliver messages on "Game of Thrones" — Answer: RAVEN
  56. 92. Blueprints — Answer: SCHEMATA
  57. 97. Author Zora Neale ___ — Answer: HURSTON
  58. 98. Noodled on, with "over" — Answer: MULLED
  59. 100. Girlfriend in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" — Answer: SLOANE
  60. 101. Informant — Answer: SOURCE
  61. 103. "Ta-ta!" — Answer: SEEYA
  62. 104. Tricky pool shot — Answer: MASSE
  63. 106. Someone enjoying a walk in the park — Answer: HIKER
  64. 108. Mentally with it — Answer: SHARP
  65. 109. ___ four — Answer: PETIT
  66. 110. Fits one inside the other — Answer: NESTS
  67. 112. Porcine : pigs :: cervine : ___ — Answer: DEER
  68. 113. Essential — Answer: NEED
  69. 117. It might be good for a change — Answer: DYE
  70. 119. One who knows the drill?: Abbr. — Answer: SGT
  71. 120. Teslas, e.g., for short — Answer: EVS

Here are the NYT Crossword answers for Sunday, December 21, 2025 — every solution for that day's 15×15 (21×21 on Sunday) puzzle, listed at the top of this page. Whether you're catching up on a puzzle you missed, settling a “what was the answer on December 21?” question, or checking a grid you finished that day, the complete clue-by-clue solution is right here. Looking for today's puzzle instead? Head to our live NYT Crossword answers page.

NYT Crossword answers for December 21, 2025

The full solution for the December 21 NYT Crossword is shown above, laid out clue by clue — every Across answer followed by every Down answer, exactly as that day's grid read. Each answer is listed separately, so you can check just the clue you were stuck on and leave the rest. This is the confirmed grid as published on Sunday, December 21.

Hints for the December 21 puzzle

Not ready for the full answer? Here are lighter, spoiler-free nudges for that day's grid, above the solutions. The December 21 puzzle fell on a Sunday, and with the New York Times crossword that matters: the grid gets harder as the week goes on, from an easy Monday to a fiendish Saturday, with a large themed puzzle on Sunday. So a Sunday grid tells you how much misdirection to expect — and if a clue that day seemed to make no sense, the weekday is usually the reason. Use the hints for the trickiest clues, then reveal the answers above only if you need them.

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Frequently asked questions

What were the NYT Crossword answers on December 21, 2025?

Every answer for the Sunday, December 21, 2025 NYT Crossword is listed at the top of this page — the confirmed grid as published that day.

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Today's live puzzle is on our NYT Crossword answers today page, updated the moment each new grid goes live.

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