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)
98 entries were found. Click any date for context. Repeated clues show (number of occurrences.)
Date Grid Clue Author
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 64D Near-failing mark Daniel Kantor
Sunday, February 3, 2013 28A End to end? Dan Schoenholz
Tuesday, December 25, 2012 13D Actor Billy ___ Williams (7) Ellen Leuschner and Victor Fleming
Monday, August 20, 2012 37A Sandra of "Gidget" (3) Robert Cirillo
Sunday, July 1, 2012 33A Capital of Denmark? Dan Schoenholz
Thursday, October 13, 2011 5D Heavy-metal singer Snider John Farmer
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 22D Poor mark Robert W. Harris
Saturday, January 22, 2011 7D Gold finish? Victor Fleming
Monday, August 30, 2010 7D Ruby or Sandra of film Richard Chisholm
Sunday, June 20, 2010 107D Nearly failing Todd Gross and Ashish Vengsarkar
Thursday, April 29, 2010 1D Subpar grade David J. W. Simpson
Thursday, June 4, 2009 56D Near failure (2) Peter A. Collins and Joe Krozel
Thursday, January 22, 2009 27D It's barely passing Gary J. Whitehead
Thursday, June 12, 2008 55A Actor Billy ___ Williams (7) Alex Boisvert
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 31A Chef Boy-Ar-___ C. W. Stewart
Thursday, March 13, 2008 23A ___ Snider, frontman for rock's Twisted Sister Alan Arbesfeld
Sunday, January 27, 2008 124A Ruby ___ Mike Nothnagel
Sunday, December 23, 2007 109D Poor grade (2) Adam G. Perl
Monday, September 17, 2007 22D Joey with the Starliters Sarah Keller
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 23D Actor Billy ___ Williams (7) Bruce Adams
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 61D Actress Ruby (2) Holden Baker
Saturday, December 30, 2006 50A Near failure (2) Rich Norris
Saturday, December 2, 2006 50D Grand finale? Bob Klahn
Thursday, November 9, 2006 7D Improvement on an eff Byron Walden
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 23A Scottish river Adam Cohen
Tuesday, August 8, 2006 44D Actress Ruby (2) Ed Early
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 61D Barely passing grade Trip Payne
Saturday, April 29, 2006 27D Media center? Robert H. Wolfe
Sunday, March 19, 2006 121D Low mark (3) Michael Shteyman
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 13D Grade above ef Byron Walden
Saturday, January 14, 2006 29A Irish Sea feeder (2) David Quarfoot
Thursday, June 9, 2005 34A North Sea tributary David J. Kahn
Thursday, April 28, 2005 30D Ruby of film Elizabeth C. Gorski
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 58A Actor Billy ___ Williams (7) Victor Fleming and Nelson Hardy
Saturday, December 25, 2004 61D Wallace of "E.T." (3) Byron Walden
Sunday, December 12, 2004 106A Land's end? Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon
Thursday, November 18, 2004 32D Joey who sang "Peppermint Twist" Charles Barasch
Sunday, June 13, 2004 115A Joey ___ & the Starliters Richard Silvestri
Sunday, April 18, 2004 46A Sandra of "Gidget" (3) Richard Chisholm
Sunday, March 28, 2004 89D Sandra of "A Summer Place" David J. Kahn
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 60D River to Solway Firth Richard Silvestri
Sunday, November 23, 2003 99D Ruby, for one Leonard Williams
Sunday, November 16, 2003 6D River in Aberdeen Cathy Millhauser
Monday, October 13, 2003 35A Ruby or Sandra (2) Eric Berlin
Sunday, August 10, 2003 39A Hardly a mark to be proud of Cathy Millhauser
Thursday, June 19, 2003 7D Disappointing mark Randolph Ross
Monday, June 16, 2003 64D Fiddle-de-___ (2) Norma Johnson
Thursday, June 12, 2003 16D It'll barely pass you Patrick Merrell
Monday, February 24, 2003 1D Lousy grade Gregory E. Paul
Wednesday, February 5, 2003 61A Actor Billy ___ Williams (7) Ron O'Hair
Thursday, May 30, 2002 64A Singer Kiki Peter Gordon
Friday, May 17, 2002 53D Joey of the 60's twist craze Joe DiPietro
Monday, February 4, 2002 9D Sandra of "Gidget" (3) Gregory E. Paul
Friday, January 18, 2002 41A England/Wales boundary river Manny Nosowsky
Wednesday, September 26, 2001 13D Wallace of "E.T." (3) Stephen Budiansky
Tuesday, August 21, 2001 48A River to the North Sea (2) Sarah Keller
Sunday, August 12, 2001 97D Pee ___, Carolina river Nancy Nicholson Joline
Thursday, May 31, 2001 37D River to the North Sea (2) Robert H. Wolfe
Monday, April 23, 2001 50A Actor Billy ___ Williams (7) Gregory E. Paul
Sunday, October 1, 2000 5D Fiddle-de-___ (2) Nancy Nicholson Joline
Saturday, June 10, 2000 6D Irish Sea feeder (2) Glenton Petgrave
Sunday, March 26, 2000 29A Old-time actress Frances Manny Nosowsky
Sunday, March 12, 2000 112A River to the Irish Sea (2) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Sunday, February 27, 2000 43A Jay preceder (2) Harvey Estes
Sunday, January 23, 2000 44A Jay preceder (2) Joe DiPietro
Thursday, September 16, 1999 65A Low mark (3) Bill Ballard
Sunday, August 8, 1999 45D Low grade (2) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Saturday, May 22, 1999 13D Balmoral Castle's river A. J. Santora
Sunday, April 18, 1999 147A Bad mark Frank Longo
Sunday, February 7, 1999 99A Scottish river known for its salmon fishing Nancy Nicholson Joline
Sunday, December 20, 1998 105D Not a grade to be proud of Frances Hansen
Thursday, November 26, 1998 40A Low grade (2) David J. Kahn
Tuesday, November 17, 1998 26A Just-passing grade Arthur S. Verdesca
Thursday, November 5, 1998 14D Singer Joey with the 60's Starliters Nancy Salomon
Saturday, August 22, 1998 38D Fourth in a series David J. Kahn
Tuesday, February 3, 1998 12D "Look at Me, I'm Sandra ___" Nancy Salomon
Tuesday, January 20, 1998 13D Gidget portrayer Sandra Randall J. Hartman
Thursday, January 15, 1998 13D Low mark (3) Arthur S. Verdesca
Monday, October 13, 1997 45A Poor grade (2) Gregory E. Paul
Wednesday, September 3, 1997 13D Scenic Scottish river Hugh Davis
Sunday, February 23, 1997 33A Wallace of "E.T." (3) Nancy Nicholson Joline
Monday, January 27, 1997 9D Ruby or Sandra (2) F. Piscop
Sunday, January 19, 1997 57D Balmoral Castle river B. Klahn
Thursday, January 16, 1997 42A Hardly a mark of distinction W. R. Williams
Saturday, January 4, 1997 56D Aberdeen's river (2) M. W. Perry
Monday, November 4, 1996 21D Joey ___ & the Starliters (60's group) P. Wilson
Friday, September 20, 1996 57D Common middle name J. Page
Sunday, April 14, 1996 124D Inferior mark Henry Hook
Wednesday, March 6, 1996 33D Just passing mark N. S. Ross
Tuesday, November 21, 1995 30D Actor Billy ____ Williams (7) Thomas W. Schier
Tuesday, June 13, 1995 26D Scottish wear Trip Payne
Wednesday, April 5, 1995 5D One of the Tweedles Wayne Robert Williams
Sunday, January 29, 1995 36A Joey _____ and the Starliters Bryant White
Thursday, October 6, 1994 45A Peppermint Twister Joey Richard Silvestri
Wednesday, July 20, 1994 24A "Gidget" star Harvey Estes
Saturday, July 9, 1994 32D Aberdeen's river (2) Gerald R. Ferguson
Thursday, January 13, 1994 40D Heart of Billy Williams Harvey Estes
Wednesday, December 29, 1993 54D River to the Irish Sea (2) Harvey Estes