Home/Archive/Feb 26, 2026

NYT Crossword — February 26, 2026

Thursday’s 15 × 15 puzzle, 74 clues. The full solution is below — answers stay masked until you reveal them, one clue or all at once.

0 of 74 revealed

1C

2I

3N

4C

5H

6E

7S

8D

9R

10E

11A

12M

13S

14S

O

N

A

T

I

N

A

15R

E

D

T

I

E

16A

N

T

E

A

T

E

R

17O

P

I

A

T

E

18L

A

A

19A

20F

O

O

T

21V

I

K

22I

23N

24G

25S

H

I

P

S

26B

27B

28Q

29O

R

E

C

A

R

T

30E

Y

E

31S

O

R

E

32E

L

I

A

33S

34T

W

O

D

35R

36O

M

A

N

N

U

37M

38E

39R

A

L

S

40J

I

V

E

41S

A

V

O

Y

42I

C

A

N

43S

44A

45Y

46N

A

T

A

47S

48H

49A

50G

E

L

51L

I

A

52B

I

L

I

T

I

E

S

53P

E

S

K

Y

54M

R

S

55P

56L

57U

R

A

L

58G

59A

60I

61N

62T

I

M

E

63I

O

N

I

Z

E

64U

N

N

A

I

L

E

D

65X

B

O

X

E

S

66M

A

N

G

L

E

S

Across

29 clues

8250,000 sheets

14Short piece of classical music

15Accessory for SpongeBob SquarePants

16Long-tongued animal

17Laudanum, e.g.

18Calif. M.L.B. team, on scoreboards

21Collectively, the reigns of all English monarchs named George

26Grill, informally

29Bit of mining equipment

30It's not pretty

32Walt Disney's middle name

34Like a plane, informally

35System in which XL is smaller than L … or a hint to interpreting the answers to the italicized clues

41"Stompin' at the ___" (Benny Goodman standard)

42"Based on my research …"

46___ Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow

51Superhuman strength, mind-reading, invisibility and four dozen other powers

54Title for a certain union member?

55Like cats and dogs

63Charge, in a way

64Loose, as floorboards

65☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

66Total on a chiliagon

Down

45 clues

1Nicolas Cage film set on a plane

2Amount measured in calories

3Highland refusal

4Org. that runs the "L"

5Alternative to a walk

667.5 deg. on a compass

7___ Connor, the Terminator's target in "The Terminator"

9Peaceful state

10Make some alterations

12Cambridge sch.

14Sudden attack

22Workers who sing the opening number in "Frozen"

23Queen of the Pride Lands

24Friendly look

25Ending of seven country names

28End of a proof

31Patronize, as an Airbnb

33Questionable, in slang

35Side dish eaten with curry

36Roundish, say

37Salon job, informally

38Assessment, informally

39Side dish eaten with curry

40Some fancy footwork

44Parts of naves

45Animal in some traditional Tibetan races

47Like a fish out of water, e.g.

48Mercury's mythological counterpart

49Half-___ (subpar, in slang)

55Shots, informally

57One, south of the border

59"Ballerina" star ___ de Armas

60You can stop right there!

61Remind too often

Click a clue for its own page with the answer and a short explanation.

Stats & info

Thursday, Feb 26, 2026

15×15

Grid size

74

Total entries

40/185

Black / letter cells

5.0

Avg entry length

13 ltrs

Longest entry

Tricky

Thursday difficulty

PuzzleThe Crossword

PublishedFeb 26, 2026

DayThursday

ThemeUntitled

ConstructorYitzi Snow

EditorWill Shortz

Clue split29 across · 45 down

Longest entries

35ASystem in which XL is smaller than L … or a hint to interpreting the answers to the italicized clues13 ltrs 21ACollectively, the reigns of all English monarchs named George11 ltrs 51ASuperhuman strength, mind-reading, invisibility and four dozen other powers11 ltrs 14AShort piece of classical music8 ltrs 16ALong-tongued animal8 ltrs

Thursday is the gimmick day: rebus squares, reversed entries and other tricks are fair game. This grid has 40 black squares and averages 5.0 letters per entry.