Enter a word to see all the clues used for it, or enter a pattern to see all answer words that match that pattern.
Standard matching: Patterns use ? for unknown single letters. For example, P??CH will find both POOCH and PEACH.
Use * to mean any number of letters.
A*Z finds both ADZ and ALCATRAZ, *CRY gets words that end with CRY, etc.
Up to 1000 results are shown from each word list.
This page finds words from Daily, Sunday and Variety puzzles, and also from a dictionary search. See FAQs for dictionary info.
You can use $v to mean a single vowel or $c to mean a consonant. The v and c must be lower case.
For consistency with other search engines, Y is always considered to be a consonant. Try these sample links:
$c??$c displays 4-letter answers that start and end with a consonant.
$v$v*$v$v returns words of any length that start and end with two vowels.
Some extensions are available using standard matching. For example,
[QJXZ]???[^A-M] finds 5-letter words starting with Q, J, Z, or Z
and ending with a letter not in the first half of the alphabet.
New regex matching (advanced): You can now choose to use full regular expression (regex) syntax in your searches.
You must explicitly click the RegEx button to perform a regular expression search.
Up to 10,000 results from the combined databases (Shortz, Variety, Pre-Shortz, Dictionary) are returned in a single list.
Standard matching patterns will not work in regex mode. The syntax is completely different.
XWord Info cannot help with regex syntax but the web is full of
helpful sites about this .
The Regex Dictionary has a particularly good tutorial .
The one extension I provide is that $c and $v can be used as shorthand for any consonant and any vowel.
Queries can be arbitrarily complex but here are a few simple ones to get you started.
Find words that include the string ABC somewhere inside:
ABC
Words that can be spelled using only the names of musical notes:
^[A-G]+$
Entries that do not include a vowel:
^[^AEIOU]*$
Words ending in c + 2 vowels + a single consonant:
C$v$v$c$
15-letter words containing neither A nor E:
^[^AE]{15}$
Words containing at least one Q and one V in any order:
(V.*Q)|(Q.*V)
89 entries were found. Click any date for context. Repeated clues show (number of occurrences.)
Date Grid Clue Author
Monday, April 1, 2013 38D Score after deuce (10) Gary J. Whitehead
Thursday, October 4, 2012 39A Deuce follower (8) Bill Thompson
Monday, September 3, 2012 29D Situation after deuce C. W. Stewart
Sunday, December 25, 2011 82A Score after deuce (10) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Monday, November 14, 2011 4D Deuce follower, in tennis (2) Mark Feldman
Sunday, June 5, 2011 80D Score right before a win, maybe Yaakov Bendavid
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 59A Deuce follower (8) Jay Kaskel
Saturday, July 24, 2010 24A Server's edge (2) David J. Kahn
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 8D Point before "game," maybe Michael Black
Sunday, January 17, 2010 104D Good situation for a server Cathy Allis
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 59D Tennis edge (4) Joe Krozel
Sunday, November 8, 2009 42D Score just before winning (2) Robert W. Harris
Saturday, October 24, 2009 19A Situation before many a game is won Paula Gamache
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 54D Score after deuce (10) Wayne and P. K. King
Sunday, March 29, 2009 61A Deuce follower (8) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Sunday, February 1, 2009 110A Score before winning a game, maybe Victor Fleming and Matt Ginsberg
Sunday, September 28, 2008 85D Score just before victory, maybe Cathy Allis Millhauser
Thursday, February 28, 2008 18A Deuce follower (8) Matt Ginsberg
Thursday, January 31, 2008 14A Score just before winning (2) Paula Gamache
Wednesday, October 3, 2007 61D Score after deuce (10) Robert Dillman
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 1D Score after deuce (10) John Underwood
Sunday, April 22, 2007 2D Tennis edge (4) Victor Fleming
Tuesday, January 30, 2007 60A Tennis score (17) Nancy Salomon
Thursday, June 15, 2006 30A Deuce follower (8) Adam Cohen
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 22A Possible score just before winning Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon
Friday, March 3, 2006 51D Score just before winning, maybe Tyler Hinman
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 2D Tennis score after deuce (9) Byron Walden
Friday, December 23, 2005 52A Tennis score (17) Manny Nosowsky
Sunday, September 25, 2005 51D Tennis score (17) Matt Skoczen
Saturday, June 11, 2005 32A Game point situation (2) Patrick Merrell
Sunday, January 9, 2005 1D Tennis edge (4) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Thursday, December 9, 2004 23A Score just before winning a game Paula Gamache
Monday, November 22, 2004 37A Tennis score after deuce (9) Gregory Paul
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 60A Tennis score after deuce (9) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Thursday, February 5, 2004 62A Tennis score (17) Alan Arbesfeld
Saturday, January 24, 2004 19A Serving edge Mark Diehl
Wednesday, January 14, 2004 32A Point after deuce (2) Fred Piscop
Friday, October 3, 2003 37D Tennis score (17) Manny Nosowsky
Tuesday, July 1, 2003 51D Tennis score after deuce (9) Karen M. Tracey
Thursday, May 22, 2003 15A Score after deuce (10) Dan Reichert
Monday, January 20, 2003 62A Tennis score after deuce (9) Alan Arbesfeld
Wednesday, December 11, 2002 29D Situation favoring the server (2) Alan Arbesfeld
Wednesday, November 27, 2002 54D Score after deuce (10) Ron O'Hair
Sunday, October 20, 2002 9D Server's edge (2) Harvey Estes and Nancy Salomon
Saturday, October 12, 2002 37A It may follow 40-40 William I. Johnston
Wednesday, June 26, 2002 15A Tennis score after deuce (9) Nancy Salomon
Wednesday, June 12, 2002 68A Score after deuce (10) Nancy Salomon and Bill Zais
Sunday, June 9, 2002 16D Score in tennis Randolph Ross
Thursday, September 13, 2001 27A Tennis edge (4) Robert H. Wolfe
Thursday, August 16, 2001 37A Server's edge, to Sampras Joe DiPietro
Monday, June 18, 2001 25A Deuce follower, in tennis (2) Sherry O. Blackard
Wednesday, June 6, 2001 38A Deuce follower (8) Richard Silvestri
Wednesday, May 30, 2001 52D Game point situation (2) Joe DiPietro
Saturday, March 24, 2001 62A Situation favoring the server (2) Mark Diehl
Sunday, January 21, 2001 22A Server's edge, on the court Con Pederson
Sunday, November 12, 2000 27A Game point, in tennis Joe DiPietro
Monday, May 15, 2000 51D Tennis score after deuce (9) Gregory E. Paul
Thursday, December 30, 1999 57D Tie-breaking point Alan Jay Weiss
Monday, October 11, 1999 60A Tennis score after deuce (9) Gregory E. Paul
Sunday, August 8, 1999 111D Tennis score (17) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Monday, July 12, 1999 45A Score after deuce, in tennis (2) Carol R. Blumenstein
Thursday, June 24, 1999 52D Point before "game" Jim Page
Tuesday, June 8, 1999 10D Score after deuce (10) Fred Piscop
Monday, May 10, 1999 60D Tennis score after deuce (9) Frances Hansen
Sunday, November 8, 1998 122A Tennis score (17) Fred Piscop
Monday, August 17, 1998 55D Score after deuce, in tennis (2) Gregory E. Paul
Saturday, April 25, 1998 51A Open score Jim Page
Tuesday, February 17, 1998 65A Point after deuce, maybe Mark Elliot Skolsky
Saturday, November 22, 1997 33D It's not the breaking point Matt Gaffney
Thursday, October 23, 1997 21A Court call Frances Hansen
Saturday, March 29, 1997 58A Service edge Fran and Lou Sabin
Monday, January 27, 1997 28D Tennis score (17) F. Piscop
Sunday, January 26, 1997 38D Deuce follower (8) S. Elliott
Tuesday, December 24, 1996 30D Point after deuce (2) E. C. Gorski
Sunday, November 3, 1996 117D Deuce follower (8) M. Nosowsky
Friday, August 9, 1996 34A Plus a point D. Tuller
Wednesday, July 3, 1996 48D Tennis score (17) F. Heaney
Sunday, June 9, 1996 12D Court situation M. Gaffney
Wednesday, March 20, 1996 2D Tennis score (17) G. Newman
Thursday, February 15, 1996 16A It follows deuce in tennis Matt Gaffney
Tuesday, July 25, 1995 61A Tennis score (17) Gregory E. Paul
Tuesday, May 16, 1995 53D Tennis score (17) David J. Kahn
Sunday, April 23, 1995 77D Score after deuce (10) Randolph Ross
Monday, October 10, 1994 10A Tennis score (17) Wayne Robert Williams
Tuesday, September 27, 1994 16A Tennis score (17) Eileen Lexau
Wednesday, August 31, 1994 63A Tennis score (17) Christopher Hurt
Thursday, April 7, 1994 24A Tennis score (17) Fred Piscop
Thursday, January 27, 1994 38A Court score Betty Jorgensen
Sunday, January 16, 1994 111A Tennis score (17) Ernst Theimer