NYT Crossword · The New York Times

The Crossword Clues, Hints & Answers for August 20, 2022

Q: Can I see past crossword answers?

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

Saturday, August 20, 2022

By WordFinderZ Puzzle TeamLast updated Nov 3, 2026 at 1:09 PM ETHow we make hints

This archive page covers the The Crossword from Saturday, August 20, 2022. 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.

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

Across clues & answers

Down clues & answers

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

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Previous The Crossword answer

Friday, August 19, 2022

across

1. Former British colony whose national flag includes the Union Jack: FIJI
5. It might slowly grow on you: BEARD
10. Be hot and bothered: FUSS
14. Freshly: ANEW
15. Like Venus vis-à-vis Serena Williams: OLDER
16. Part of YOLO: ONCE
17. Putdown to a klutz, in dated slang: SMOOTHMOVEEXLAX
20. They're open to change: TIPJARS
21. From which we get "Hakuna matata": SWAHILI
22. Politician's platform: DAIS
23. Drags: TOKES
24. The drinks are on me!: BARMENU
27. Maximally neat: COOLEST
29. Opera daughter of Amonasro: AIDA
30. Green sort: INGENUE
32. Shot: TRY
33. Selfish demand: MEFIRST
34. Part of a cup: LIP
37. Sea that's fed by the Jordan River: GALILEE
38. Big name in sandals: TEVA
39. One in a state of disbelief: ATHEIST
42. Bigwig in the admissions dept.?: STPETER
44. Like some enemies: SWORN
45. Devil-may-care: RASH
46. Member of high society?: POTUSER
49. He wrote "All good things are wild and free": THOREAU
52. "Let me be frank …": IWONTMINCEWORDS
54. Writer who founded Objectivism: RAND
55. Striped cat: TABBY
56. Author of the six-book poem "Fasti": OVID
57. They move around in orbits: EYES
58. Knocks dead: SLAYS
59. Like casting Michael Keaton in "Birdman" as an actor who used to play a superhero: META

down

1. Unfading: FAST
2. Flying: INMIDAIR
3. What makes you question everything you know?: JEOPARDY
4. Literally, "sulfur island": IWOJIMA
5. See 25-Down: BOHR
6. Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the ___": ELMS
7. Big scene: ADO
8. Races, in a way: REVS
9. Acted sketchy?: DREW
10. Shelter from attack: FOXHOLE
11. As opposed to: UNLIKE
12. Runs up and down?: SCALES
13. Like policies prohibited by Title IX: SEXIST
18. Leave stunned, in a way: TASE
19. Go for a bite, say: EATOUT
24. Be up: BAT
25. With 5-Down, Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in atomic theory: NIELS
26. Ill-suited: UNFIT
27. Dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter: CERES
28. Dawn: ONSET
31. Jazz great Evans: GIL
33. Central part of town: Abbr.: MAINST
34. It's not your fault: LETSERVE
35. "Oh, just stop!": IVEHADIT
36. Something to shoot for: PAR
37. Kicking and screaming, often: GERUNDS
38. Russian ___ (iconic restaurant near New York's Central Park): TEAROOM
39. Have a target: ASPIRE
40. Involving a give-and-take: TWOWAY
41. Scorcher: HOTONE
43. Projecting front: PROW
47. Many fire dept. members, by training: EMTS
48. Mideast capital: RIAL
49. Big purveyor of frozen desserts: TCBY
50. Cries for attention: HEYS
51. Certification letters: USDA
53. L.A. and N.Y.C. are each represented in it twice: NBA

Hints and full breakdown for Aug 19

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.