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)
101 entries were found. Click any date for context. Repeated clues show (number of occurrences.)
Date Grid Clue Author
Saturday, May 18, 2013 1D Some of them have learned to sign Martin Ashwood-Smith
Monday, September 10, 2012 6A Big galoots (3) Andrea Carla Michaels
Thursday, September 6, 2012 28A Goons (6) Ben Pall
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 10A Mimics (4) Elizabeth A. Long
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 45D Knuckle draggers (2) Ron and Nancy Byron
Monday, August 29, 2011 6A "Planet of the ___" (3) Andrea Carla Michaels and Michael Blake
Thursday, June 2, 2011 27A Hired thugs Brendan Emmett Quigley
Sunday, February 6, 2011 111D Goons (6) David J. Kahn
Monday, May 17, 2010 33A Gorillas Jay Kaskel
Monday, February 8, 2010 69A Imitates Paula Gamache
Sunday, January 17, 2010 94D Galoots (3) Cathy Allis
Thursday, October 29, 2009 1D Galoots (3) Joe Krozel
Sunday, June 14, 2009 77D Big lugs Brendan Emmett Quigley
Saturday, February 21, 2009 50A Some early "astronauts" Mike Nothnagel and Byron Walden
Friday, July 4, 2008 69A Mimics mockingly John Underwood
Friday, June 13, 2008 51D Acts like Patrick Berry
Thursday, May 29, 2008 47D "Tarzan of the ___" John Farmer
Friday, April 25, 2008 49D Goons (6) Mike Nothnagel
Thursday, August 23, 2007 9D Makes like (4) Joe Krozel
Monday, April 30, 2007 1A King Kong's kin (4) Allan E. Parrish
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 32D King Kong's kin (4) Nancy Salomon and Harvey Estes
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 38D Knuckle draggers (2) Manny Nosowsky
Monday, October 9, 2006 54D "Planet of the ___" (3) Sarah Keller
Friday, September 8, 2006 39A Copiers David Bunker
Friday, April 28, 2006 1A Goons (6) Eric Berlin
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 26D Monkey's uncles? Elizabeth C. Gorski
Saturday, January 28, 2006 63A Lummoxes (2) Dana Motley
Sunday, November 6, 2005 119A Goons (6) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Tuesday, August 30, 2005 67A Parrots (2) Leonard Williams
Monday, August 22, 2005 23A Gorillas and such Lynn Lempel
Friday, August 5, 2005 24D Makes like (4) David Ainslie Macleod
Monday, May 30, 2005 55D Pals of Tarzan Lynn Lempel
Thursday, May 5, 2005 1D Hairy Halloween costumes Chris Sallade
Saturday, February 19, 2005 56D Pithecologists' study Brad Wilber
Sunday, November 7, 2004 94A Primatologist's study Con Pederson
Sunday, September 19, 2004 98D Makes like (4) Kyle Mahowald
Sunday, August 29, 2004 1D Mimics (4) Manny Nosowsky
Monday, July 19, 2004 29A Big galoots (3) Nancy Salomon and Kendall Twigg
Thursday, June 24, 2004 5A Animals of the species Pan troglodyte Patrick Merrell
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 55D Gibbons and gorillas Bob Frank and Nancy Salomon
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 69A Zoo houseful Allan E. Parrish
Tuesday, September 2, 2003 47A Level on the evolutionary ladder Ed Early
Wednesday, February 5, 2003 6D Zoo animals Ron O'Hair
Monday, September 23, 2002 16A Tarzan's raisers Peter Gordon
Thursday, April 11, 2002 5A Makes fun of, in a way Greg Staples
Sunday, March 31, 2002 96D Captors in a sci-fi classic Lynn Lempel
Tuesday, January 29, 2002 12D Forest swingers Zack Butler
Tuesday, January 22, 2002 1D Big galoots (3) Richard Chisholm
Monday, October 29, 2001 12D Simians (3) Richard Hughes
Thursday, October 4, 2001 35A "Great" beasts David J. Kahn
Friday, September 21, 2001 28D Real swingers? Brendan Emmett Quigley
Monday, July 30, 2001 10D Gorillas and chimps Nancy Kavanaugh
Tuesday, July 17, 2001 27D Bronx Zoo houseful Fred Piscop
Friday, July 13, 2001 49D Monkeys' uncles? Manny Nosowsky
Sunday, May 13, 2001 6D Extras in the opening of "2001: A Space Odyssey" Nancy Nicholson Joline
Monday, April 16, 2001 46D Earth rulers in a 1968 film Peter Gordon
Monday, January 8, 2001 18A Steps in human evolution Gregory E. Paul
Monday, November 20, 2000 59A Jungle swingers Randall J. Hartman
Thursday, June 1, 2000 52D Goons (6) David J. Kahn
Saturday, February 5, 2000 42A Henchmen Chuck Deodene
Wednesday, November 3, 1999 69A Subjects of Darwinian theory Greg Staples
Wednesday, October 6, 1999 57D King Kong's kin (4) Fred Piscop
Monday, September 27, 1999 48D Simians (3) Ed Early
Monday, August 30, 1999 6A "Planet of the ___" (3) Margaret Watson
Saturday, August 14, 1999 53D People preceders Joe DiPietro
Wednesday, August 11, 1999 15A Copies (4) Rich Norris
Sunday, August 1, 1999 19D Monkeys' uncles Randolph Ross
Sunday, October 11, 1998 124A Parodies Nancy Salomon, Marjorie Richter and Kelly Clark
Sunday, September 13, 1998 103A Lunks Cathy Millhauser
Monday, July 13, 1998 35D King Kong and others Bill Ballard
Wednesday, May 20, 1998 63A Greystoke's foster parents Frederick T. Buhler
Tuesday, April 21, 1998 69A Copies (4) Fred Piscop
Friday, February 20, 1998 2D "2001" characters Manny Nosowsky
Sunday, January 11, 1998 41A Some are "great" Nancy Joline and Peg Conner
Thursday, January 8, 1998 55D Fossey's fascination Nancy S. Ross
Tuesday, December 16, 1997 27D Copies (4) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Wednesday, December 10, 1997 36D Jungle creatures Jonathan Schmalzbach
Tuesday, May 20, 1997 69A Parrots (2) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Sunday, May 11, 1997 29A Primatologists' subjects Nancy Nicholson Joline
Monday, December 2, 1996 14A Mimics (4) D. L. Wilk
Sunday, October 27, 1996 122A Barbary beasts N. N. Joline
Sunday, October 13, 1996 98A "Tarzan" extras W. R. Williams
Saturday, September 7, 1996 45A They go bananas over bananas B. White
Wednesday, August 14, 1996 10A Copycats G. E. Sykes
Monday, April 22, 1996 19A Simians (3) S. B. Whitten
Tuesday, April 16, 1996 58D Chimps and such G. E. Paul
Saturday, March 30, 1996 35D Galoots (3) D. R. Stark
Tuesday, January 9, 1996 1D King Kong's kin (4) B. Gordon
Saturday, November 4, 1995 8D Zoo attractions Frank A. Longo
Monday, August 28, 1995 12D Copies (4) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Thursday, July 27, 1995 40A Lummoxes (2) Lois Sidway
Sunday, March 26, 1995 92A Takes after Rich Norris
Tuesday, March 7, 1995 61A Dian Fossey subjects Gregory E. Paul
Monday, January 23, 1995 70A Steps on the evolutionary ladder Sidney L. Robbins
Monday, November 21, 1994 14A Mimics (4) Norman S. Wizer
Sunday, November 13, 1994 2D Copyists Frank A. Longo
Wednesday, September 7, 1994 34A Gibbons (2) Cathy Millhauser
Thursday, June 23, 1994 38A Makes like (4) Trip Payne
Monday, June 6, 1994 49D Primates Robert Zimmerman
Thursday, March 31, 1994 63A "Greystoke" extras Mark Diehl
Monday, February 14, 1994 62A Gibbons (2) Nancy Joline