NYT Crossword · The New York Times
The Crossword Clues, Hints & Answers for October 4, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
By WordFinderZ Puzzle TeamLast updated How we make hints
This archive page covers the The Crossword from Saturday, October 4, 2014. 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
- 37
- 58
Down clues & answers
- 8
- 25
- 47
Know someone stuck on this one? The link opens on the hints, not the answer.
Previous The Crossword answer
Friday, October 3, 2014
across
- 1. Ones who get lighter sentences?: ARSONISTS
- 10. 1983 action comedy with the tagline "When these guys hit the streets, guess what hits the fan": DCCAB
- 15. "Hold on one cotton-pickin' minute!": NOTSOFAST
- 16. Band-Aid inventor Dickson: EARLE
- 17. Situation that's gone absurdly out of control: GOATRODEO
- 18. Car or cellphone feature: ALARM
- 19. Relative of Cie.: LTD
- 20. Exchange words: ILLTRADEYOU
- 22. Land of the poet Máirtín Ó Direáin: ERIN
- 24. Doctors' orders: DOSES
- 25. Order (around): BOSS
- 26. City on the Seine: ROUEN
- 28. Ill-tempered: TESTY
- 30. Victor at Gaines's Mill and Cold Harbor: LEE
- 31. One whose word is gospel?: STMARK
- 33. Steadiness in leadership: SUREHAND
- 35. ___ scale: MOHS
- 37. Corn bread: PONE
- 38. Pfizer cold and flu medicine: DIMETAPP
- 42. Result of equal opposing forces: STASIS
- 46. Number of African countries with español as an official language: UNO
- 47. Mild cigar: CLARO
- 49. Pioneer of Dadaism: ERNST
- 50. Auto parts giant: NAPA
- 52. Pope Francis and others: ICONS
- 54. "There!": TADA
- 55. Leading lady?: ALPHAFEMALE
- 58. Country with a red, white and blue flag: Abbr.: RUS
- 59. Dianne of "Parenthood," 1989: WIEST
- 60. Musical "Mr.": BOJANGLES
- 62. Like much slapstick: ANTIC
- 63. Either way: ATANYRATE
- 64. Choice words?: YESNO
- 65. Combined Latin/Jamaican/hip-hop genre: REGGAETON
down
- 1. Casting directors?: ANGLERS
- 2. Horticultural problem caused by overwatering: ROOTROT
- 3. Kind of rock: STADIUM
- 4. Direction from Luxembourg to Nürnberg: OST
- 5. "Me neither," formally: NORI
- 6. Response to a lousy deal: IFOLD
- 7. Pitiful group: SADLOT
- 8. Sub-Saharan tormentors: TSETSES
- 9. Amasses: STORESUP
- 10. No longer working: DEAD
- 11. Carr who wrote "The Alienist": CALEB
- 12. Company that makes Silly Putty: CRAYOLA
- 13. The Hebrew Hammer of Major League Baseball: ALROSEN
- 14. Puzzled: BEMUSED
- 21. Minute Maid Park team: ASTROS
- 23. Ronald who directed "The Poseidon Adventure": NEAME
- 27. College org. for sailors-to-be: NROTC
- 29. Musical matchmaker: YENTE
- 32. Muslim name that means "successor to Muhammad": KHALIF
- 34. Sympathy: HEART
- 36. Thumb key: SPACEBAR
- 38. "Chinatown" co-star: DUNAWAY
- 39. Queued: INALINE
- 40. Children: MOPPETS
- 41. Talk up: PROMOTE
- 43. Menace, in a way: SNARLAT
- 44. Results from: ISDUETO
- 45. Onetime Minnesota governor who ran for the G.O.P. presidential nomination nine times: STASSEN
- 48. Continuing obsessively: ONAJAG
- 51. Bret Harte/Mark Twain collaboration: AHSIN
- 53. Urban Dictionary fodder: SLANG
- 56. Record label for Cream and the Bee Gees: ATCO
- 57. "And Winter Came ..." singer, 2008: ENYA
- 61. M.A. hopeful's hurdle: GRE
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.