"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden
Crossword Answer — May 21, 2026
NYT Crossword
Thursday, May 21, 2026
By Zhou Zhang and Mallory Montgomery
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. Gossiped-about duo — Answer: ITEM
- 5. River whose southernmost source is found in Burundi — Answer: NILE
- 9. Animal that expresses anger by spitting — Answer: LLAMA
- 14. Curbside call — Answer: TAXI
- 15. Egg's outline — Answer: OVAL
- 16. Traditional Vietnamese garment whose name means "long shirt" — Answer: AODAI
- 17. 2000 Eminem single with lines from his "biggest fan" — Answer: STAN
- 18. St. Benedict, for one — Answer: MONK
- 19. Central meeting points — Answer: NODES
- 20. timiL — Answer: BACKWARDSCAP
- 23. 50¢ or $1: Abbr. — Answer: AMT
- 24. Fish more formally known as a batomorph — Answer: RAY
- 25. Capital of Portugal, to natives — Answer: LISBOA
- 29. Crown of jewels — Answer: DIADEM
- 31. Penultimate Greek letter — Answer: PSI
- 33. One of four seen on Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" — Answer: ARM
- 34. Goat's cry — Answer: MAA
- 35. Golfer's suppor- — Answer: CUTOFFTEE
- 38. Move like a fox — Answer: SKULK
- 40. Get a lode of this! — Answer: ORE
- 41. John from Britain — Answer: ELTON
- 42. Evade — Answer: MINISKIRT
- 44. "Bad" beginning — Answer: MAL
- 45. Like news that everyone already knows — Answer: OLD
- 46. Legal boundaries? — Answer: ELS
- 47. Kind of cat with a black-and-white coat — Answer: TUXEDO
- 50. More melted, as a marshmallow — Answer: GOOIER
- 53. Tree alongside a ski run — Answer: FIR
- 54. Bro, e.g. — Answer: SIB
- 55. P | u | n | c | h | e | s — Answer: STRIPEDSOCKS
- 59. Sound of a perfect basketball shot — Answer: SWISH
- 62. "Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden — Answer: FURY
- 63. Ordered — Answer: BADE
- 64. Increase, as interest — Answer: PIQUE
- 65. German Ms. — Answer: FRAU
- 66. Pupil's surroundings — Answer: IRIS. Hint: The colored ring around the eye’s central opening helps regulate incoming light. 👁️
- 67. Environmentalist Adams — Answer: ANSEL
- 68. Site for many stars? — Answer: YELP
- 69. Sounds of disapproval — Answer: TSKS
Down
- 1. Short negative review — Answer: ITSBAD
- 2. Floor covering in a Japanese tearoom — Answer: TATAMI
- 3. "Bingo!" — Answer: EXACTAMUNDO
- 4. Stole material — Answer: MINK
- 5. Southern denial — Answer: NOMAAM
- 6. Something tickled on a piano — Answer: IVORY
- 7. "Buy ___. They're not making it anymore" (old saying) — Answer: LAND
- 8. Philanthropic group with a clock face in its logo — Answer: ELKS
- 9. The so-called "Pineapple Isle" — Answer: LANAI
- 10. Goes around and around — Answer: LOOPS
- 11. Make sense, with "up" — Answer: ADD
- 12. "Maggie ___," classic folk song covered by the Beatles — Answer: MAE
- 13. ChatGPT, Claude, etc. — Answer: AIS
- 21. Inflicts — Answer: WREAKS
- 22. Muse of history — Answer: CLIO
- 26. Lasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically — Answer: BATTLESCARS
- 27. Milkshake flavor — Answer: OREO
- 28. Gospel shout — Answer: AMEN
- 30. "Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes" painter, 1945 — Answer: DALI
- 31. Contented sounds — Answer: PURRS
- 32. "Changed my mind," in editing notation — Answer: STET
- 35. Curl — Answer: COIL
- 36. Hip-knee connectors — Answer: FEMURS
- 37. Source of linseed oil — Answer: FLAX
- 38. It's all a haze — Answer: SMOG
- 39. Drug bust unit — Answer: KILO
- 43. Model Miranda — Answer: KERR
- 47. Make neat — Answer: TIDYUP
- 48. Large-eyed African antelope with a duplicative name — Answer: DIKDIK
- 49. Fixate — Answer: OBSESS
- 51. Give out — Answer: ISSUE
- 52. Neighbor of Ricky and Lucy, on 1950s TV — Answer: ETHEL
- 53. Far from house-trained — Answer: FERAL
- 56. Dodgy — Answer: IFFY
- 57. 100% — Answer: PURE
- 58. End piece? — Answer: OBIT
- 59. Belinda's business on "The White Lotus" — Answer: SPA
- 60. Prevail — Answer: WIN
- 61. Some test figs. — Answer: IQS
The answer to “"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden” in the New York Times crossword is FURY — a 4-letter word. This clue ran in the New York Times crossword on May 21, 2026, a Thursday puzzle, at 62-Across. 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.
“"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden” answer
FURY (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 FURY.
Why the answer is FURY
FURY is the 4-letter solution that fits ""Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden" in the NYT Crossword crossword on May 21, 2026 (62-Across). Use the letter tiles above if you'd rather reveal it one letter at a time.
When else has “"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden” 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 21, 2026 (this puzzle) → FURY. We haven't indexed an earlier appearance of this exact clue yet.
More clues from the NYT Crossword on May 21, 2026
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.
- Make neat → TIDYUP
- Far from house-trained → FERAL
- Dodgy → IFFY
- 100% → PURE
- Ordered → BADE
- Some test figs. → IQS
- Increase, as interest → PIQUE
- Prevail → WIN
Want every clue in one place? The full New York Times answer list for May 21, 2026 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 Thursday 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 “"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden”?
The answer is FURY, a 4-letter word. It appeared in the New York Times crossword on May 21, 2026.
How many letters is the answer to “"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden”?
4 letters: FURY.
Where did this clue appear?
In the New York Times crossword on May 21, 2026 (a Thursday puzzle), at 62-Across.
Can “"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden” 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 21, 2026 is on the NYT Crossword answers page, with every clue and answer from that puzzle.