NYT Crossword · The New York Times

The Crossword Clues, Hints & Answers for August 6, 2026

Q: Can I see past crossword answers?

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

Thursday, August 6, 2026

By WordFinderZ Puzzle TeamLast updated Nov 3, 2026 at 12:05 PM ETHow we make hints

This archive page covers the The Crossword from Thursday, August 6, 2026. 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.

74 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

Wednesday, August 5, 2026

across

1. With 6-Across, #1 hit: CHART
6. –: TOPPER
12. With 14-Across, ultimately fruitless: LEADING
14. –: NOWHERE
15. With 16-Across, beverage sold in pastel-colored cans: ARIZONA
16. –: ICEDTEA
17. With 18-Across, measures of search engine optimization: PAGE
18. –: RANKS
20. With 22-Across, pocket ID holder: CARD
22. –: CASE
26. With 28-Across, temple services?: HEAD
28. –: MASSAGES
32. With 34-Across, sequestration of a greenhouse gas: CARBON
34. –: STORAGE
35. With 36-Across, sparsely populated African land: WESTERN
36. –: SAHARA
37. With 39-Across, web crawlers, e.g.: INTERNET
39. –: BOTS
40. With 41-Across, loses all one's dough: GOES
41. –: BUST
43. With 46-Across, Starbuck vis-à-vis Captain Ahab: FIRST
46. –: MATE
50. With 54-Across, math that underpins computer logic: BOOLEAN
54. –: ALGEBRA
57. With 58-Across, member of the last undefeated N.C.A.A. Division I men's basketball team (1976): INDIANA
58. –: HOOSIER
59. With 60-Across, tallies attendees: COUNTS
60. –: NOSES

down

1. Michael of "Barbie": CERA
2. Alexander who served under Reagan, Nixon and Ford: HAIG
3. Axlike tool depicted in hieroglyphs: ADZE
4. City on Guanabara Bay, familiarly: RIO
5. Paramount ancestor, in brief: TNN
6. Apt rhyme of "clock": TOCK
7. Isn't settled up: OWES
8. High degree: PHD
9. Word with project or peeve: PET
10. Before, in a hymnbook: ERE
11. Stephen of "V for Vendetta": REA
12. One of 25 in a track 10K: LAP
13. Actress Teri: GARR
14. Writer Anaïs whose name is hidden in this clue: NIN
19. Capt.'s superior: ADM
20. Pole tossed in a Scottish game: CABER
21. Beautify: ADORN
22. Stone figure?: CARAT
23. Petri dish gels: AGARS
24. Company that debuted Sonic the Hedgehog: SEGA
25. Legal termination?: ESE
26. Proverbial waste maker: HASTE
27. Some Deco works: ERTES
29. "Well, I have to save my ___" (Shrek line): ASS
30. Total guesses: STABS
31. "Ooh-la-la!": SOHOT
32. Our "-zoic": CENO
33. Florence-to-Venice dir.: NNE
35. Part of a George Washington costume (though he rarely wore one): WIG
38. Cable channel with many reruns: TBS
42. Site of the 2002 and 2034 Winter Olympics: UTAH
43. Big success: FEAT
44. Actors McKellen and McShane: IANS
45. Messenger ___: RNA
46. Imbroglio: MESS
47. Rose's lover of 1920s Broadway: ABIE
48. Número de Caballeros in a 1944 film: TRES
49. Something that may be lent or bent: EAR
50. Pen letters?: BIC
51. Musical Yoko: ONO
52. Sch. in Norfolk, Va.: ODU
53. "Hamilton" star ___-Manuel Miranda: LIN
55. Apt name for a groundskeeper?: LON
56. Word that becomes its own synonym when "p" is added to the end: GOO

Hints and full breakdown for Aug 5

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.