Assuming you mean the Tuesday, December 9, 2025 New York Times crossword, its theme answer is HEDGEROWS. The title does not specify a year, so this page identifies the edition rather than treating December 9 as a year-independent answer key.
Identify the December 9 puzzle
The December 9, 2025 puzzle is a Tuesday 15-by-15 grid with 76 entries, constructed by Kate Hawkins and edited by Will Shortz. The puzzle record and full clue-and-answer list are available at XWord Info.
What is the theme?
The theme answer is HEDGEROWS, clued as “Verdant privacy features … or a punny description of the four longest answers in this puzzle.” Those long answers are AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, JUST SPITBALLING, FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH, and ONLY A THOUGHT BUT. Each sounds like a way to hedge or qualify a statement, fitting the theme’s wordplay.
Selected December 9 answers
Here are several clue-and-answer pairs from the 2025 grid:
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- “Goes on to say” — ADDS
- “Cup-shaped flower” — TULIP
- “Propellers of a shell” — OARS
- “Gossip, in slang” — TEA
- “Swim-bike-run race, for short” — TRI
- “Game with Skip and Reverse cards” — UNO
For the complete Across and Down key, use the XWord Info puzzle record.
Play or replay it through the NYT
The New York Times Crossword is a daily fill-in puzzle in which Across and Down answers intersect. NYT’s crossword help page describes weekday difficulty as increasing from Monday through Saturday, with the larger Sunday puzzle roughly at Wednesday-to-Thursday difficulty. Its guidance says Tuesday–Saturday puzzles become available at 10 p.m. Eastern the prior evening and Sunday and Monday puzzles at 6 p.m. Eastern the prior evening; release timing can change, so check the current NYT guidance.
To replay an older puzzle, use the NYT Crossword archive, which can be browsed by month and year. Archive access is available to Games and All Access subscribers; nonsubscribers have limited access. Archived puzzles can also be downloaded for offline play.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Reveal help without spoiling the whole grid
If you are solving in the NYT interface, its Check and Reveal tools can be applied to a square, a word, or the full puzzle, and hints may be available. NYT notes that using Check or Reveal affects streak qualification. You can consult the official help page for current tool details.
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