By Rafael Musa and Kate Chin Park

A
B
C
S
N
B
A
C
H
A
M
P
S
B
I
O
R
E
S
U
S
H
I
B
O
A
T
I
D
T
A
G
A
L
I
E
N
S
H
I
P
G
O
T
M
A
D
L
A
N
D
A
N
A
A
C
L
S
E
W
I
N
G
P
I
T
T
S
T
E
B
A
I
N
P
A
R
S
S
O
C
I
A
L
L
A
D
D
E
R
R
A
N
I
T
S
C
O
U
R
S
E
P
A
T
I
O
H
E
A
T
E
R
S
T
E
N
N
I
S
L
E
S
S
O
N
A
R
I
D
N
O
I
R
T
R
Y
B
R
I
E
S
O
A
K
S
S
W
A
P
P
I
G
T
H
U
S
T
E
C
H
N
O
L
O
G
A
R
I
T
H
M
R
A
I
D
S
U
S
E
R
E
R
R
O
R
A
L
L
O
T
S
I
D
E
S
T
E
P
S
S
E
E
M

Across

Down

Crossword clues, hints, and answers

Across

  1. 1. Main characters for an early reader — Answer: ABCS. Hint: Think of the basic symbols children learn before reading words. 🔤
  2. 5. They get rings for hoops — Answer: NBACHAMPS. Hint: Basketball champions traditionally receive jewelry for their title. 🏀
  3. 14. Skin-care brand known for its pore strips — Answer: BIORE. Hint: This brand’s nose strips are a familiar beauty-counter staple. 🧖
  4. 15. Large restaurant vessel shaped like another vessel — Answer: SUSHIBOAT. Hint: Picture a sushi platter styled as something that sails. ⛵
  5. 16. Conference handout — Answer: IDTAG. Hint: This small badge identifies attendees at a convention. 🎟️
  6. 17. Dubious sighting in the night sky — Answer: ALIENSHIP. Hint: Imagine a questionable report of a spacecraft encounter. 👽
  7. 18. Started to boil — Answer: GOTMAD. Hint: The phrase works for both heated water and an angry person. 🔥
  8. 20. Work, as a joke — Answer: LAND. Hint: A good punchline does this successfully with its audience. 😂
  9. 21. Romance author Huang — Answer: ANA. Hint: This author is known for contemporary love stories. 💕
  10. 22. They might be rehabbed with knee flexion — Answer: ACLS. Hint: These knee ligaments can require strengthening after injury. 🦵
  11. 23. His #33 was retired by the Knicks in 2003 — Answer: EWING. Hint: Think of the Hall of Fame center who led New York for years. 🏀
  12. 25. Winner of the 2025 Outstanding Drama Series Emmy, with "The" — Answer: PITT. Hint: The award-winning medical drama takes place in a busy hospital. 🏥
  13. 26. Personne canonisée: Abbr. — Answer: STE. Hint: French abbreviations use this for a canonized woman. ✝️
  14. 27. ___ Capital, investment firm co-founded by Mitt Romney — Answer: BAIN. Hint: Fill in the name of Romney’s well-known private-equity firm. 💼
  15. 28. Hits the mark, in a way — Answer: PARS. Hint: In golf, these scores meet the course’s expected standard. ⛳
  16. 29. Many people climb it — Answer: SOCIALLADDER. Hint: This metaphorical structure represents rising in status. 📈
  17. 33. Naturally concluded — Answer: RANITSCOURSE. Hint: A process that reaches its expected end can be described this way. 🏁
  18. 35. Ones giving a toast at an outdoor party? — Answer: PATIOHEATERS. Hint: These outdoor appliances warm guests while playfully suggesting toasted bread. 🔥
  19. 37. Court session, perhaps — Answer: TENNISLESSON. Hint: A session on a court may involve rackets instead of legal arguments. 🎾
  20. 39. Like much of Libya — Answer: ARID. Hint: Much of the country is desert-like and receives very little rain. 🏜️
  21. 41. Depicting the world bleakly and cynically — Answer: NOIR. Hint: A dark, fatalistic style often associated with crime stories. 🕵️
  22. 42. Put your back into it — Answer: TRY. Hint: A pep-talk command urging effort and determination. 💪
  23. 43. "Sweet dreams are made of cheese / Who am I to dis a ___?" (parody lyrics) — Answer: BRIE. Hint: The missing food in this playful lyric is a soft French cheese. 🧀
  24. 44. Is immersed — Answer: SOAKS. Hint: What rain does to clothes left on a line. 🌧️
  25. 46. Fair trade, say — Answer: SWAP. Hint: An exchange in which each side gets something from the other. 🔄
  26. 47. "It is not easy for a ___ to balance himself on a ladder": "Animal Farm" — Answer: PIG. Hint: The farm animal being discussed has a curly tail and a fondness for mud. 🐷
  27. 48. A word in closing — Answer: THUS. Hint: A formal little word meaning “therefore” or “in this way.” 📖
  28. 49. Relative of house music — Answer: TECHNO. Hint: A beat-driven electronic genre related to house. 🎛️
  29. 51. Inverse of an exponential function — Answer: LOGARITHM. Hint: The operation that undoes exponentiation. 🧮
  30. 54. Vikings' offense? — Answer: RAIDS. Hint: What Norse raiders might launch, or what a football team might mount unexpectedly. ⚔️
  31. 55. What a supposed bug is often revealed to be — Answer: USERERROR. Hint: The real culprit may be the person at the keyboard, not the software. 🖥️
  32. 56. Grant — Answer: ALLOT. Hint: To distribute or assign a share of something. 🎁
  33. 57. Deftly evades — Answer: SIDESTEPS. Hint: Avoids an issue or obstacle with nimble footwork. 🏃
  34. 58. Come off as — Answer: SEEM. Hint: Give the impression of being a certain way to others. 👀

Down

  1. 1. Nonhuman provider of medical advice — Answer: AIDOCTOR. Hint: A digital medical consultant that offers guidance without being human. 🤖
  2. 2. Neck topper — Answer: BOTTLECAP. Hint: A small top that seals a familiar container. 🧴
  3. 3. Shoves (in) — Answer: CRAMS. Hint: Packs something tightly into a limited space. 📦
  4. 4. Sonic system — Answer: SEGA. Hint: The game company behind Sonic the Hedgehog. 🎮
  5. 5. Org. featured in 1998's "Enemy of the State" — Answer: NSA. Hint: The U.S. intelligence agency known by three initials. 🕵️
  6. 6. Breaking character? — Answer: BULLINACHINASHOP. Hint: Someone who disrupts a delicate situation is compared to this clumsy visitor. 🐂
  7. 7. Like parts of Istanbul — Answer: ASIAN. Hint: Describes the side of Istanbul lying east of the Bosporus. 🌏
  8. 8. Common Chinese surname — Answer: CHENG. Hint: This family name is especially common among Chinese communities. 🧧
  9. 9. ___ legs — Answer: HIND. Hint: Look behind an animal for these rear appendages. 🐾
  10. 10. Stability aids, informally — Answer: ABS. Hint: A car’s braking system may rely on these safety features. 🚗
  11. 11. Soft, silky material — Answer: MOHAIR. Hint: This luxurious animal fiber is prized for its softness and sheen. 🧶
  12. 12. Depicts stylishly — Answer: PAINTS. Hint: Creates a fashionable visual portrayal. 🎨
  13. 13. Green day star, for short — Answer: STPAT. Hint: This festive nickname honors Ireland’s patron saint. 🍀
  14. 14. Humongous, slangily — Answer: BIGASS. Hint: A very casual way to call something enormous. 🐘
  15. 19. Stocked and sold, as goods — Answer: DEALTIN. Hint: Merchandise handled by a retailer has been both supplied and sold. 🛍️
  16. 24. August ___, "Fences" playwright — Answer: WILSON. Hint: The playwright behind Fences also wrote Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 🎭
  17. 25. Makes sense of — Answer: PARSES. Hint: Carefully breaks information down to understand it. 🔍
  18. 27. Deliberately exasperated — Answer: BAITED. Hint: Provoked someone intentionally to test their patience. 😈
  19. 28. More sassy — Answer: PERTER. Hint: Use a comparative adjective for someone with extra attitude. 💁
  20. 30. Indecisive way to end — Answer: INATIE. Hint: This describes a conclusion that leaves both sides even. ⚖️
  21. 31. Gets by — Answer: DOESOK. Hint: This casual phrase means manages adequately. 👍
  22. 32. Binary, in a way — Answer: DUALIST. Hint: Describes a thinker who sees reality as divided into two fundamental realms. ☯️
  23. 34. Former — Answer: ERSTWHILE. Hint: A literary way to refer to something from an earlier time. 🕰️
  24. 36. "Wow ... what are the chances?!" — Answer: SORANDOM. Hint: A playful reaction to an astonishing coincidence. 🎲
  25. 38. Publisher of the front-page headline "This sport is stupid anyway" after a U.S. loss at the World Cup, in brief — Answer: NYPOST. Hint: Think of the abbreviated New York tabloid known for bold headlines. 📰
  26. 39. Half-spoken, half-sung passages of an opera — Answer: ARIOSI. Hint: These operatic passages blend speechlike flow with lyrical melody. 🎼
  27. 40. Not fair — Answer: RIGGED. Hint: A contest secretly fixed in advance deserves this accusation. 🎯
  28. 43. Nearly 90 — Answer: BPLUS. Hint: A strong school mark just shy of the top grade 📚
  29. 44. It goes on top — Answer: SHIRT. Hint: This garment is worn over the torso 👕
  30. 45. Shockingly unconventional — Answer: OUTRE. Hint: A fashion choice so unusual it shocks convention 😲
  31. 46. Stepped-on instrument — Answer: SCALE. Hint: Step on this to find out how much you weigh ⚖️
  32. 48. "___ chic!" — Answer: TRES. Hint: Complete the French-flavored phrase praising someone’s style 🇫🇷
  33. 50. Time divisions — Answer: ERAS. Hint: These mark broad stretches of history ⏳
  34. 52. "___ You That Somebody?" (1998 Aaliyah hit) — Answer: ARE. Hint: Complete Aaliyah’s 1998 hit title, a question about being someone’s special person 🎵
  35. 53. Half of a couple — Answer: MRS. Hint: The title used by one member of a married pair 💍

Next NYT Crossword update in

--Hours
--Minutes
--Seconds

A new puzzle unlocks at 10 p.m. Eastern on weekdays and 6 p.m. Eastern on weekends (Sat, Aug 29, 10:10 PM UTC).

Recent NYT Crossword Answers

The last 7 days of solutions

Looking for today's NYT Crossword answers? The complete solution to the daily New York Times puzzle — dated August 29, 2026 — is at the top of this page, updated the moment the new grid is released. The Times crossword is the most famous puzzle in the world and, later in the week, one of the hardest, so getting wedged in a corner is part of the experience. Whether you want to confirm a finished grid, unlock a single square, or see the whole solution, every across and down answer is listed below.

Full NYT Crossword answer list for today

Every clue from today's grid next to its solution — the same answers as the board above, in one plain list you can scan without tapping.

Today's NYT Crossword answers

Today's full solution appears above, organised into Across and Down exactly as the puzzle numbers them. If you only need one answer, each is listed separately so you can reveal the clue that's blocking you and keep solving the rest. The grid is confirmed and refreshed daily as soon as the Times publishes it, and — because the puzzle's difficulty climbs through the week — we keep the layout identical every day so you always know where to look.

About the New York Times Crossword

The NYT Crossword has run since 1942 and has been edited by Will Shortz since 1993, making it the benchmark against which every other American crossword is measured. The weekday puzzle is a 15×15 grid; Sundays expand to a 21×21 grid with a title and theme. It's known for clever, layered clues — misdirection, puns, and themed twists — and for its “crosswordese,” the small stock of vowel-heavy words (ETUI, OREO, ERA, ALOE) that recur because they fit tight grids. Solving it requires a Games subscription, which is why so many solvers search for the answers when a clue defeats them.

The Monday-to-Saturday difficulty curve

The single most important thing to know about the Times crossword is that it gets harder as the week goes on — the grid size stays the same, but the cluing grows trickier:

DayDifficultyWhat to expect
MondayEasiestStraightforward, direct clues
TuesdayEasyA little more wordplay
WednesdayMediumThemes get more inventive
ThursdayTrickyRebus puzzles and gimmicks appear
FridayHardThemeless, wide-open grids
SaturdayHardestThe toughest cluing of the week
SundayMedium–hardLarge 21×21 themed puzzle

So if a Thursday clue seems to make no sense, that's by design — Thursdays often hide a trick, like multiple letters crammed into one square (a rebus). Knowing the day tells you how devious the clues are likely to be.

How to break a stubborn NYT clue

  • Solve the crossings first. In a 15×15 grid, every hard answer is crossed by others; three or four crossing letters usually reveal it.
  • Question the clue's angle. A question mark at the end of a clue signals a pun or play on words — read it less literally.
  • Mind the tense and number. Plurals end in S, past-tense answers often end in ED — free letters once you spot them.
  • Know the day. A baffling clue on a Monday is probably you overthinking; the same on a Saturday is probably genuine misdirection.
  • Use the solver for one answer. Our crossword solver lets you enter the clue and your known letters to reveal a single answer without spoiling the rest of the grid.

Browse past NYT Crossword answers

Every previous New York Times puzzle is archived on this page by date, with its complete across and down solutions. It's the fastest way to check yesterday's grid, revisit a Sunday you didn't finish, or look up a clue that's been nagging you. The archive updates automatically each day — today's answers roll into it as the next puzzle publishes — so it stays complete without spoiling the current day. Use the date picker above to jump to any past puzzle.

Browse more puzzles on the crossword solver, or use it to crack any clue from any publication.

Frequently asked questions

What are today's NYT Crossword answers?

The full Across and Down solution for today's puzzle (August 29, 2026) is listed at the top of this page, updated as soon as the Times releases it.

What time does the NYT Crossword come out?

The daily puzzle is released at 10 p.m. Eastern the night before on weekdays (7 p.m. Pacific) and 6 p.m. Eastern before weekends. We post the answers as soon as it goes live.

Why is the NYT Crossword harder later in the week?

By design: Monday is the easiest and Saturday the hardest, with cluing growing trickier each day. The Sunday puzzle is larger (21×21) and themed, at a medium-hard level.

How do I reveal just one answer?

Each answer is listed separately here, or use the crossword solver to reveal a single clue's answer from your known letters — without seeing the rest of the grid.

Where can I find past NYT Crossword answers?

Every previous puzzle is in the archive on this page, listed by date with full solutions, updated automatically each day.