NYT Crossword · The New York Times
The Crossword Clues, Hints & Answers for August 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
By WordFinderZ Puzzle TeamLast updated How we make hints
This archive page covers the The Crossword from Tuesday, August 18, 2009. 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.
Across clues & answers
- 14
- 56
- 67
- 69
- 71
Down clues & answers
- 10
- 41
- 62
Know someone stuck on this one? The link opens on the hints, not the answer.
Previous The Crossword answer
Monday, August 17, 2009
across
- 1. Container for serving wine: CARAFE
- 7. Kindergarten learning: ABCS
- 11. Sounds during backrubs: AHS
- 14. Witty: CLEVER
- 15. Lunch or dinner: MEAL
- 16. Gift at Honolulu airport: LEI
- 17. 1966: CESARROMERO
- 19. Norse war god: TYR
- 20. Treasury secretary Geithner: TIM
- 21. ___ guy (one who gets things done): GOTO
- 22. Flank: SIDE
- 23. Drinking cup: CHALICE
- 26. With 51-Across, roles for 17-, 38- and 62-Across: BATMAN
- 28. Big part of an elephant: EAR
- 29. Jacob's first wife: LEAH
- 32. Pictures at a hospital: XRAYS
- 33. City on the Black Sea: ODESSA
- 36. Actress Zellweger: RENEE
- 38. 1989: JACKNICHOLSON
- 42. Theater walkway: AISLE
- 43. Came out with: ISSUED
- 45. Solar phenomenon: FLARE
- 48. Laudatory poems: ODES
- 50. A pair: TWO
- 51. See 26-Across: JOKERS
- 53. Chinese blossom: TEAROSE
- 56. Big name in elevators: OTIS
- 57. Fashionable: CHIC
- 60. Official with a whistle: REF
- 61. ___ Tin Tin: RIN
- 62. 2008: HEATHLEDGER
- 66. "i" topper: DOT
- 67. French eleven: ONZE
- 68. Mark slightly longer than a hyphen: ENDASH
- 69. ___-cone: SNO
- 70. Be overrun (with): TEEM
- 71. Declares emphatically: SAYSSO
down
- 1. Roman 300: CCC
- 2. Ginger ___: ALE
- 3. Place to pull over: RESTAREA
- 4. Be of help to: AVAIL
- 5. Physicist Enrico: FERMI
- 6. Flub: ERR
- 7. Bullets and BBs: AMMO
- 8. Borscht vegetable: BEET
- 9. Chocolate substitute: CAROB
- 10. ___-mo: SLO
- 11. Nissan sedan: ALTIMA
- 12. Period of one's prime: HEYDAY
- 13. Fire truck sounds: SIRENS
- 18. Double curve: OGEE
- 22. Emphasize: STRESS
- 23. Pooh-bah hired by a board of directors: CEO
- 24. Muslim's pilgrimage: HADJ
- 25. Family groups: CLANS
- 27. Leaps in ice-skating: AXELS
- 30. Like parabolas: ARCED
- 31. When doubled, a villain's chuckle: HEH
- 34. Close calls, perhaps: SCARES
- 35. One taking to the slopes: SKIER
- 37. Static, e.g.: NOISE
- 39. Nobel Prize-winning U.N. workers' grp.: ILO
- 40. On empty: OUTOFGAS
- 41. 6:30 p.m. broadcast: NEWS
- 44. Female deer: DOE
- 45. Norwegian coastal features: FJORDS
- 46. Skin soother: LOTION
- 47. Like: AKINTO
- 49. Draw like Albrecht Dürer: ETCH
- 52. Where the action is: SCENE
- 54. Where the action is: ARENA
- 55. Helen who sang "I Am Woman": REDDY
- 58. Jimi Hendrix's "Purple ___": HAZE
- 59. See 62-Down: ITEM
- 62. With 59-Down, something flying off the shelves: HOT
- 63. ___ États-Unis: LES
- 64. Double curve: ESS
- 65. Letter between pi and sigma: RHO
More daily puzzle hints
- WordleGuess the five-letter word in six triesGuide & tips
- ConnectionsSort 16 words into four hidden groupsGuide & tips
- StrandsFind the themed words hidden in a letter gridGuide & tips
- Spelling BeeMake words from seven letters around a center letterGuide & tips
- Mini CrosswordA bite-size crossword you can finish over coffeeGuide & tips
- Connections: Sports EditionConnections with a sports-only word poolGuide & tips
- Letter BoxedChain words around a square using all 12 lettersGuide & tips
- Midi CrosswordThe mid-size crossword between the Mini and the dailyGuide & tips
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.