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Crossword Difficulty: 7/10

NYT The Crossword Answer Yesterday — Thursday, May 14, 2026

Puzzle #23916 • Difficulty 7/10

Wordle solution today's Connections answer Mini Crossword daily answers today's Crosswordle Nerdle daily puzzle

Yesterday's NYT The Crossword Answer

Clues & Answers for Yesterday's NYT Crossword

Click a square to reveal its letter. Get hints below.

Across

1. Cliff formed by a fault
6. Avoided a tag, say
10. Penultimate Greek letter
13. "My fault entirely"
14. Taste perception first identified in 1908
15. Physics unit named for a physicist
16. Feature that debuted on Page 1 of The New York Times in 1997
18. Confucian "way"
19. Prime breeding environment for mosquitoes
20. Impression on some fancy sheets
22. Puente of "The Mambo Kings"
23. Traveled path
24. At sea, say
27. Powerful fireboat gear
30. Rationalist's theology
31. Decree
32. Part of an analogy
33. "___'s da breaks!"
34. Lovestruck
37. Flesh and blood
38. Biblical locale guarded by a flaming sword
40. Direction to bow, in music
41. Squeezing (out)
43. Gets bloated, say
45. Pair for a pool
46. Ruthless Athenian lawgiver
47. Tidy up, in a way
48. What collects in a puddle
49. Things often getting free refills
54. Simile segment
55. Broadcasting giant with hundreds of stations
57. ___ Friday
58. Origin of the words "sky" and "scrape"
59. Heather genus that's also a woman's name
60. Good periods
61. Former small-sized G.M. cars
62. Compound with a caret-shaped molecule, as depicted by this puzzle's circled letters

Down

1. Anatomical containers
2. Thicken
3. Palindrome on an Italian restaurant menu
4. September to April, in the oyster industry
5. Alternatives to hourly wages
6. Ecological concern
7. Trellis piece
8. "If u ask me"
9. Gossip about, informally
10. A peeling that's appealing?
11. Prolifically posting about one's kids online, in a neologism
12. Reassuring reply
14. "That … ain't it"
17. Essence
21. Certain tax-free bond, informally
23. Velocity, e.g.
24. Relatively unusual
25. Had to have right away
26. Races against the clock
27. Travel by pick-up?
28. "The Elder" or "The Younger" Roman
29. Strains to hear?
31. Hemlock relatives
35. Hand, at a hacienda
36. Group with a satellite truck
39. Palindrome on an Indian restaurant menu
42. Seven-stringed instrument that gave the guitar its name
44. Ancient book of divination
45. Member of a sluglike "Star Wars" species
47. Presaging disaster
48. Meaty pasta sauce
49. Long lunch?
50. Get ahead of
51. Cut and paste, e.g.
52. Force through a food mill
53. Go way up
56. Uprooting tool
15×15 grid · 37A / 37D · 74 words · Difficulty 7/10 ·#23916

Deep Dive

Word Analysis

Longest word: COLORPHOTOS (11 letters)

Shortest word: PSI (3 letters)

Average length: 5.2 letters

Total words: 74 (37 across, 37 down)

Grid Stats

Fill percentage: 85% (191/225 cells)

Unique letters used: 19

Grid dimensions: 15×15

Blocked cells: 34

Most Common Letters

A
38x
I
36x
S
34x
E
32x
O
32x

Puzzle Analysis

The Wednesday NYT Crossword offered a solid challenge. COLORPHOTOS and POTATOSKIN were strong fill. The intersection of COLORPHOTOS and POTATOSKIN felt natural. The hardest entry was likely NEEDEDASAP. It required a good amount of crossing fill. A 7/10 difficulty rating feels about right. Some longer entries demanded careful thought. Other spots were quicker. The puzzle provided a satisfying mental workout. It was a good mid-week test.

How to Play NYT The Crossword

The NYT Crossword is the flagship 15×15 grid puzzle published daily by The New York Times, larger and more challenging than the Mini and Midi.

Fill in the grid by solving Across and Down clues. Every answer intersects with other words at shared letters.

The puzzle always features a theme with a clever title. Theme answers span the longest entries in the grid.

Difficulty increases through the week: Monday is easiest, Saturday is hardest. Sunday puzzles are larger (21×21) but Wednesday-level difficulty.

Play at nytimes.com/crosswords. A new puzzle is available every day.

Tips & Strategy

  • Start with Monday puzzles to learn common crossword fill like ERA, ORE, ATE, OREO, and ALOE.
  • Read the theme title. It often hints at wordplay used in the longest answers.
  • Fill in crossing letters first. A single confirmed letter can crack a tricky clue.
  • Question marks in clues signal wordplay, puns, or non-literal interpretations.
  • Three-letter answers repeat across puzzles. Learn common ones like ERA, ORE, ATE, ALOE.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does NYT The Crossword repeat past grids?
No. Each NYT The Crossword puzzle is a unique grid that has never appeared before.
Where can I find all past NYT The Crossword solutions?
Our archive lists every past NYT The Crossword solution with all grid words, organized by date.
How many words are in each NYT The Crossword grid?
Grids typically contain 3-8 words crossing horizontally and vertically. Longer words generally indicate harder puzzles.

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