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NYT Crossword · The New York Times

The Crossword Clues, Hints & Answers for February 15, 2005

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

By Last updated How we make hints

This archive page covers the The Crossword from Tuesday, February 15, 2005. The daily crossword is the classic: a 15×15 grid on weekdays and a larger Sunday puzzle, with difficulty rising from a gentle Monday to a fiendish Saturday. Hints come first and the solution stays hidden until you ask for it.

76 clues · jump to Across or Down. Tap a tile for one letter, or Answer for the whole word.

Across clues & answers

  1. 5

    Smooth

  2. 18

    Ringers

  3. 22

    For each

  4. 25
  5. 28

    Tiny bit

  6. 29

    Ringers

  7. 35

    Ringers

  8. 45

    Ringers

  9. 51

    Tater

  10. 59

    Ringers

  11. 62
  12. 65

    Air hero

  13. 66
  14. 68
  15. 69

    Aft ends

Down clues & answers

  1. 1

    Cape ___

  2. 5

    Deli meat

  3. 10
  4. 12

    Raises

  5. 13

    Confused

  6. 23

    Hale

  7. 30
  8. 32

    Jokester

  9. 38
  10. 39

    A Gabor

  11. 40

    Habitués

  12. 45

    Evergreen

  13. 46
  14. 47

    Favorite

  15. 48

    Rule

  16. 49
  17. 50
  18. 55

    Semis

  19. 60
  20. 63

    Utilize

Know someone stuck on this one? The link opens on the hints, not the answer.

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Previous The Crossword answer

Monday, February 14, 2005

across

  • 1. Lavish entertainment: FETE
  • 5. At a distance: AFAR
  • 9. Russian country house: DACHA
  • 14. Realtor's unit: ACRE
  • 15. Exploration org.: NASA
  • 16. Actor Hawke: ETHAN
  • 17. Title for Jesus: THEGOODSHEPHERD
  • 20. Chi-town team: SOX
  • 21. Slimmer's regimen: DIET
  • 22. Contents of Bartlett's: QUOTES
  • 23. Peddle: VEND
  • 24. Mows: CUTS
  • 25. Lightest-colored: PALEST
  • 28. Pre-dye hair shade, often: GRAY
  • 29. Revolutionary Guevara: CHE
  • 32. Champion tennis servers: ACERS
  • 33. Russia's ___ Mountains: URAL
  • 34. "Slow down!": WHOA
  • 35. 1976 Walter Matthau/Tatum O'Neal movie: THEBADNEWSBEARS
  • 38. Private investigators, for short: TECS
  • 39. Iranian money: RIAL
  • 40. Africa's Sierra ___: LEONE
  • 41. Suffix with book or freak: ISH
  • 42. Baseball glove: MITT
  • 43. Expired: LAPSED
  • 44. Smooth, as a drive: PAVE
  • 45. One of the three H's in a summer weather forecast: HAZY
  • 46. Gas rating number: OCTANE
  • 49. Coarse fiber: JUTE
  • 50. "Ugh!": ICK
  • 53. 1958 best seller by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick: THEUGLYAMERICAN
  • 56. Concise: TERSE
  • 57. Shakespeare's stream: AVON
  • 58. Major-___ (bigwig): DOMO
  • 59. Name on a deed: OWNER
  • 60. Store: MART
  • 61. One more time: ANEW

down

  • 1. Chief parts of adipose tissue: FATS
  • 2. Sound in a long hallway: ECHO
  • 3. Big-mouthed carnivorous dinosaur, for short: TREX
  • 4. Hosp. brain readout: EEG
  • 5. Make sacred: ANOINT
  • 6. No longer bright: FADED
  • 7. Aide: Abbr.: ASST
  • 8. The old college cheer: RAH
  • 9. Second-in-command: DEPUTY
  • 10. One of the Three Musketeers: ATHOS
  • 11. Atkins of country music: CHET
  • 12. Big-eared hopper: HARE
  • 13. "No ifs, ___ or buts": ANDS
  • 18. Texas oil city: ODESSA
  • 19. Is, in math: EQUALS
  • 23. Predicate parts: VERBS
  • 24. Words moving along the bottom of a TV screen: CRAWL
  • 25. Singer Page: PATTI
  • 26. Suffers after overexercise: ACHES
  • 27. Bloodsucker: LEECH
  • 28. Terrific: GREAT
  • 29. Total confusion: CHAOS
  • 30. Singer Lena or Marilyn: HORNE
  • 31. Relaxed: EASED
  • 33. Come together: UNITE
  • 34. Tearful: WEEPY
  • 36. Twaddle: DRIVEL
  • 37. Sports jacket: BLAZER
  • 42. Christmas display sight: MANGER
  • 43. Underlying: LATENT
  • 44. Temporary halt: PAUSE
  • 45. Comedy: HUMOR
  • 46. Director Preminger: OTTO
  • 47. Prepare to swallow: CHEW
  • 48. Beach bird: TERN
  • 49. Coffee, slangily: JAVA
  • 50. Universally known figure: ICON
  • 51. Arrived: CAME
  • 52. "Well, what do you ___?!": KNOW
  • 54. Thanksgiving side dish: YAM
  • 55. Boise's home: Abbr.: IDA
Hints and full breakdown for Feb 14

More daily puzzle hints

How the week is built

  • Monday and Tuesday: straightforward definitions and familiar answers. These are the best days to learn.
  • Wednesday: a step up, often with a playful theme.
  • Thursday: the trick day, with rebus squares (several letters in one square) and answers that turn corners or skip squares.
  • Friday and Saturday: themeless and tough, with sly clues and long open sections.
  • Sunday: a bigger 21×21 grid with a theme, about as hard as a Wednesday or Thursday.

Crossword-solving habits worth building

  • Learn the common fill. Short vowel-heavy words such as ERA, OREO, ALOE and ETNA appear constantly because they help constructors connect sections.
  • Read clue signals. "?" means wordplay, "Abbr." means an abbreviation, "e.g." means an example of a category, and a foreign word in the clue hints at a foreign answer.
  • Find the theme. The longest answers usually share a gimmick; the title (on Sundays) or a "revealer" clue explains it.
  • Erase without fear. When crossings don't work, the wrong letter is usually in the answer you were most confident about.
  • Use targeted help. Reveal one letter here, or try our crossword solver with a pattern like ?R?S?.

The Crossword FAQ

When is the next crossword released?

Weekday puzzles go live at 10 p.m. Eastern Time the night before; weekend puzzles are released earlier in the evening.

What is a rebus square?

A square that holds more than one letter. Sometimes it holds a whole word or a symbol. They are most common on Thursdays.

Which day is the hardest?

Saturday is generally the hardest, followed by Friday. Sunday is larger but closer to midweek difficulty.

Can I see past crossword answers?

Yes. Each date we have covered is in the crossword archive.