The New York Times Mini crossword on March 23, 2025 featured a five-letter clue at 7-Across that stopped solvers mid-grid: "Component of muscle tissue." The answer was SINEW, a term that sits...
FOREBEAR. That's your answer if you're staring at eight blank squares and the clue reads "antecedent."
The term appeared in The Sun crossword on October 26, 2025, and crossword databases show it's the...
The grid sits half-finished. Six down needs a seven-letter answer for "European country," and you've got three letters filled in from crossing words. The problem? Seventeen nations fit that description.
This clue ranks...
DARK solves most benighted crossword clues. This four-letter answer appears in The Telegraph Quick, USA Today, and dozens of other daily puzzles, holding a 98% match rate across major crossword databases.
But the...
SWEEPSTAKES. Eleven letters that solve one of the more frequent crossword puzzles appearing in British and Irish publications. The clue "lotteries or races" has stumped solvers from The Independent to the Irish...
The seven-letter answer you're hunting for is FACE-OFF.
Crossword constructors love this clue because it works multiple ways: "start of play in ice hockey," "how hockey begins," or "method of starting and restarting...
The five-letter answer that stopped solvers cold last August? RUSES. The clue "Deceptive ploys" appeared at 8 Across in the New York Times Mini Crossword on Sunday, August 24, 2025, and while...
Mike Shenk sits in his Manhattan office, surrounded by dictionaries and reference books, doing what millions of solvers will attempt tomorrow morning. He's working through a crossword puzzle, but unlike commuters with...
