New York Times Crossword Answers

Wednesday, October 21 2026 · Updated today

Matching clues appear as you type. Know some letters? Try FIR? (? for unknown).

Hints & Answers

TODAY

NYT CrosswordAnswers · OCT 21 NYT MidiAnswers · OCT 21 NYT MiniAnswers · OCT 21

WordleHint & Answer · OCT 21

ConnectionsHints Today · OCT 21

StrandsTheme & Answers · OCT 21

Spelling BeePangram & Words · OCT 21

Letter BoxedSolution & Par · OCT 21

Today's NYT Crossword Answers

74 CLUES

Please find below all the New York Times Crossword answers for October 21 2026. In total there are 74 clues. Select a clue to see its answer and explanation.

Across

1Teacher's pet, say, in slang6 letters 7Cumming who won a Tony for "Cabaret"4 letters 11White lie3 letters 14Not well known6 letters 15Driving range?4 letters 16N.H.L.'s Mammoth, on scoreboards3 letters 17Driver's Ed: B11 letters 19Alt tab?3 letters 20Sporty vehicles, in brief4 letters 21Reunion attendee, for short4 letters 22Blunts5 letters 24Crop whose trade contributed to the Opium Wars3 letters 25Parisian permission3 letters 26Tender bend-er7 letters 28Gym: B+13 letters 31___ faire (festival with jousting)3 letters 32Life phase, informally3 letters 33In the thick of4 letters 34Had dinner at home5 letters 37Great sorrow3 letters 38Nutrition sources5 letters 39___ saltado (Peruvian stir-fry dish)4 letters 40Tavern3 letters 41Baby boy3 letters 42Wood shop: A13 letters 46Have the same opinion about7 letters 47Chemical suffix that indicates a double bond3 letters 48"A Nightmare on ___ Street"3 letters 51Scene that may begin "Follow that car!"5 letters 52Like a tennis player who didn't even swing, maybe4 letters 54Sneaker brand4 letters 55Province with Niagara Falls: Abbr.3 letters 56History: A+11 letters 59Look back on with regret3 letters 60At any point4 letters 61Stephen King's telekinetic teen of horror6 letters 62Figures in some rumored landings, for short3 letters 63Short Instagram posting4 letters 64Difficult, as a problem6 letters

Down

1Wrecked5 letters 2Like a passionate solver discovering a filled-in airline magazine crossword, say5 letters 3Edvard Munch painting, with "The"6 letters 4Fifth Avenue retailer4 letters 5Mono-3 letters 6Bird that gives pebbles as a courtship gesture7 letters 7Bravo preceder4 letters 8Made public8 letters 9Actress Dowd of "The Handmaid's Tale"3 letters 10"Can I help?"6 letters 11First and last, say8 letters 12"That checks out"8 letters 13Rotten apples8 letters 18Sly look, say4 letters 23Kyiv's country7 letters 25Bake-off need4 letters 27Sch. that's home to Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village3 letters 29Birds with a Baltimore species7 letters 30Physicist Ohm5 letters 34White tuna8 letters 35One that's hard to crack8 letters 36Airline headquartered in Dubai8 letters 37"Are you ready for this?"8 letters 38Fabulous, in slang4 letters 40Info that might include "Originally from ..."3 letters 41Open-air part of a cruise ship7 letters 43More profound6 letters 44Soak slowly4 letters 45Backslide6 letters 49Allowed5 letters 50Fellow crew member5 letters 53Shortcut key4 letters 54Musical lead-in to beat4 letters 57Blvd. crosser3 letters 58Tried for office3 letters

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1We solve it liveThe moment the puzzle drops — 10 p.m. ET on weekdays, 6 p.m. on weekends — our editors start solving.

2Every answer verifiedEach entry is checked against the published NYT solution before it goes live here — no guesses.

3Explained, not just listedEvery clue gets its own page with the answer, past appearances, and the traps to avoid.

Guides & tutorials

GUIDE 1

Find a clue in seconds

Type any part of a clue into the search box above — matching clues from every puzzle we've indexed appear instantly as you type, with your letters highlighted. Click one to jump straight to its answer and explanation.

GUIDE 2

Search with known letters

Solving on paper and stuck with a few letters filled in? Type what you have and use ? for each unknown square — for example FIR? suggests FIRS and every other matching answer from our database, right under the search box. Include at least two known letters in a row for the best suggestions.

GUIDE 3

Browse puzzles by date

Missed a day? Use the Puzzles by Date calendar to open any past puzzle, or browse month by month in the archive. Difficulty ramps through the week — Monday is the easiest, Friday and Saturday are the hardest, and Sunday is the big 21×21.

About this site

First and foremost we would like to thank you for visiting our website, which is the number one resource for all the New York Times Crossword Answers and Solutions. We have grouped each of the daily crossword puzzles by date so that you can easily find what you are looking for. If something is wrong or missing kindly let us know and we will be more than happy to help you out. Keep in mind that you need an active subscription in order to play the New York Times Crossword puzzle. You can do so either online (at nytimes.com/crosswords) or in the app available for both iOS and Android devices.

Frequently asked questions

Weekday puzzles drop at 10 p.m. ET the night before their print date, and weekend puzzles at 6 p.m. ET. We solve and verify each one the moment it drops, so answers are usually live here before midnight ET.

Yes. Every entry is checked against the officially published NYT solution before it appears on this site. If the Times issues a correction, we update within the hour.

No — we're an independent reference for solvers, not affiliated with The New York Times. To play the puzzle itself you'll need an NYT Games subscription at nytimes.com/crosswords.

Type the letters you already have and a ? for each unknown square — for example FIR? finds FIRS. Matching answers from every puzzle appear right under the search box, and the same trick works on the search page.

The full NYT Crossword, the Midi and the Mini, plus daily answers and hints for Wordle, Connections, Strands, Spelling Bee and Letter Boxed — every one updated the moment the new puzzle goes live.

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