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Spoilers ahead. The likely match is the Friday, January 9, 2026 New York Times Crossword, puzzle No. 27,821, constructed by Greg Snitkin and Glenn Davis and edited by Will Shortz. The date alone is ambiguous across years; confirm that 2026 is the puzzle you mean before using these solutions.
January 9, 2026 NYT Crossword answers
Clues and answers are listed below, grouped by direction. Answers are in capitals to make them easy to scan.
Across
- Crush — PUPPY LOVE
- They get picked up at clubs — TABS
- Winning like crazy — ON A HEATER
- Surfing destinations, for short — URLS
- Places many Cubans are found — CIGAR BOXES
- Noggin — BEAN
- Clumsy oafs — OXES
- “You better believe it!” — HECK YEAH
- Bad thing to have in a poker game — TELL
- Dumps — STIES
- Apple core? — CPU
- Confirmation from a maître d’ — OUI
- “I didn’t do it!” — NOT ME
- Stealthy flier — AIR MARSHAL
- Bummer at a casino game — CRAP
- It often comes with the job — BENEFITS PACKAGE
- ___ Slush (frozen fruit drink) — ICEE
- “Watch your mouth!” — DON’T SASS ME
- Old-timey oath — NERTS
- Firm up — SET
- Eats — HAS
- Was rude on the road or the dance floor — CUT IN
- “Weed ’Em and ___,” gardening book whose title is a spoonerism — REAP
- Led the charge — CRUSADED
- Prepares for a wild night, maybe — NAPS
- Monopoly token retired in 2017 — BOOT
- He’s great for the time being — MR. RIGHT NOW
- Be just chillin’ — IDLE
- “Beats me!” — I’VE NO IDEA
- Jazz coda? — ZEES
- Unpack for the night, in a way — SET UP CAMP
Down
- Small bit, in Bogotá — POCO
- Windows alternative — UNIX
- Something you have trouble putting down — PAGE TURNER
- Gradually introduce, with “in” — PHASE
- The Beatles’ “___ Blues” — YER
- Varieties of this include chocolate and yellow — LAB
- “Then again …,” to a texter — OTOH
- Puzzles — VEXES
- Build — ERECT
- Footwear that lacks defined heels — TUBE SOCKS
- An “A” in geometry — AREA
- Dull — BLAH
- Often-redacted fig. — SSN
- Item that someone with cold feet might have — SKI
- Verb that fills in the blanks of its own synonym: _ _AR_ — YEN
- Be just chillin’ — LOAF
- Vividly shocking — LURID
- Kind of fever — CABIN
- Ballade or étude — PIECE
- Analogy words — IS TO
- Raccoon, humorously — TRASH PANDA
- It’s bubbling below the surface — MAGMA
- Pointers for some fighters? — ÉPÉES
- Rom-com plot points — MEET CUTES
- Channel offering deals — HSN
- There are more than 2.3 million in N.Y.C.: Abbr. — APTS
- Industrial cutter — LASER
- Oscar winner Blanchett — CATE
- Shady, in modern parlance — SUS
- Flat hat — TAM
- Elba who portrayed Nelson Mandela — IDRIS
- “Some ___!” — NERVE
- Shenanigan — ANTIC
- Java ingredient? — CODE
- Listing on a jobs website — ROLE
- Losing effort — DIET
- Wilde thing — POEM
- Cashless transaction — SWAP
- Ad or show follower — BIZ
- African grazer — GNU
- Challenge from a hard-hit ground ball, perhaps — HOP
How to find the archived puzzle
The New York Times Help Center says its Crossword Archive can be browsed by month and year. Games and All Access subscribers have archive access; people without those subscriptions have limited access. On the web, choose Daily or Mini, then select a month and year and choose the puzzle. In the Games app, open The Crossword or The Mini in Archives, navigate to the date, and select the puzzle to download it for play. See the NYT Crossword Archive help page.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Using Check or Reveal without losing a streak
The in-game lifesaver menu can check or reveal a square, an answer, or the whole puzzle. The NYT Help Center states that using Check or Reveal resets the Crossword Streak, so avoid those tools if maintaining the streak is important. The Help Center describes the puzzle as a grid of intersecting words and phrases with clues running Across and Down. Its current guidance says daily puzzles grow harder from Monday through Saturday, while Sunday is larger and approximately Wednesday/Thursday difficulty. Tuesday–Saturday puzzles are available at 10 p.m. Eastern the previous day; Sunday and Monday puzzles are available at 6 p.m. Eastern the previous day. These are service details that may change; consult the NYT Crossword help page for current information.
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