Home/Archive/May 21, 2026

NYT Crossword — May 21, 2026

Thursday’s 15 × 15 puzzle, 78 clues. The full solution is below — answers stay masked until you reveal them, one clue or all at once.

0 of 78 revealed

1I

2T

3E

4M

5N

6I

7L

8E

9L

10L

11A

12M

13A

14T

A

X

I

15O

V

A

L

16A

O

D

A

I

17S

T

A

N

18M

O

N

K

19N

O

D

E

S

20B

A

C

K

21W

A

R

D

S

22C

A

P

23A

M

T

24R

A

Y

25L

I

S

26B

27O

28A

29D

I

A

30D

E

M

31P

32S

I

33A

R

M

34M

A

A

35C

U

T

O

36F

37F

T

E

E

38S

39K

U

L

K

40O

R

E

41E

L

T

O

N

42M

I

N

I

S

43K

I

R

T

44M

A

L

45O

L

D

46E

L

S

47T

U

X

E

48D

49O

50G

O

O

51I

52E

R

53F

I

R

54S

I

B

55S

T

R

56I

57P

E

D

S

58O

C

K

S

59S

60W

61I

S

H

62F

U

R

Y

63B

A

D

E

64P

I

Q

U

E

65F

R

A

U

66I

R

I

S

67A

N

S

E

L

68Y

E

L

P

69T

S

K

S

Across

39 clues

1Gossiped-about duo

5River whose southernmost source is found in Burundi

9Animal that expresses anger by spitting

14Curbside call

15Egg's outline

16Traditional Vietnamese garment whose name means "long shirt"

172000 Eminem single with lines from his "biggest fan"

18St. Benedict, for one

19Central meeting points

2350¢ or $1: Abbr.

24Fish more formally known as a batomorph

25Capital of Portugal, to natives

29Crown of jewels

31Penultimate Greek letter

33One of four seen on Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man"

35Golfer's suppor-

38Move like a fox

40Get a lode of this!

41John from Britain

44"Bad" beginning

45Like news that everyone already knows

46Legal boundaries?

47Kind of cat with a black-and-white coat

50More melted, as a marshmallow

53Tree alongside a ski run

55P | u | n | c | h | e | s

59Sound of a perfect basketball shot

62"Beware the ___ of a patient man": John Dryden

64Increase, as interest

66Pupil's surroundings

67Environmentalist Adams

68Site for many stars?

69Sounds of disapproval

Down

39 clues

1Short negative review

2Floor covering in a Japanese tearoom

4Stole material

5Southern denial

6Something tickled on a piano

7"Buy ___. They're not making it anymore" (old saying)

8Philanthropic group with a clock face in its logo

9The so-called "Pineapple Isle"

10Goes around and around

11Make sense, with "up"

12"Maggie ___," classic folk song covered by the Beatles

13ChatGPT, Claude, etc.

22Muse of history

26Lasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically

27Milkshake flavor

30"Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes" painter, 1945

31Contented sounds

32"Changed my mind," in editing notation

36Hip-knee connectors

37Source of linseed oil

38It's all a haze

39Drug bust unit

43Model Miranda

48Large-eyed African antelope with a duplicative name

52Neighbor of Ricky and Lucy, on 1950s TV

53Far from house-trained

59Belinda's business on "The White Lotus"

61Some test figs.

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

Stats & info

Thursday, May 21, 2026

15×15

Grid size

78

Total entries

38/187

Black / letter cells

4.8

Avg entry length

12 ltrs

Longest entry

Tricky

Thursday difficulty

PuzzleThe Crossword

PublishedMay 21, 2026

DayThursday

ThemeUntitled

ConstructorZhou Zhang and Mallory Montgomery

EditorWill Shortz

Clue split39 across · 39 down

Longest entries

20AtimiL12 ltrs 55AP | u | n | c | h | e | s12 ltrs 3D"Bingo!"11 ltrs 26DLasting damage from a tough experience, metaphorically11 ltrs 35AGolfer's suppor-9 ltrs

Thursday is the gimmick day: rebus squares, reversed entries and other tricks are fair game. This grid has 38 black squares and averages 4.8 letters per entry.