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)
Date Grid Clue Author
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 49D Ruhr city (5) Gene Newman
Thursday, November 29, 2012 52D Steel city of Germany Sharon Delorme
Saturday, July 14, 2012 26A City whose name means "eat" Brad Wilber and Doug Peterson
Thursday, July 12, 2012 35D City north of Bonn Pawel Fludzinski
Sunday, June 3, 2012 18D City that hosts the world's biggest annual game fair Patrick Berry
Saturday, April 7, 2012 30D European city whose name sounds like two letters of the alphabet Robert H. Wolfe
Saturday, October 15, 2011 25A Germany's University of Duisburg-___ Joon Pahk
Sunday, October 2, 2011 101A Industrial hub of Germany Eric Berlin
Sunday, July 17, 2011 88A City on the Ruhr (6) Daniel A. Finan
Friday, December 17, 2010 23A Where Alfred Krupp was born Patrick Berry
Monday, December 13, 2010 19A Industrial city of Germany (2) Patrick Blindauer
Thursday, April 1, 2010 33D City steel in Europe Lee Glickstein
Saturday, February 6, 2010 14D Ruhr Museum locale Frederick J. Healy
Sunday, January 3, 2010 66D City SSW of Münster Jeremy Newton
Sunday, November 1, 2009 50D City near Düsseldorf (2) Matt Ginsberg and Pete Muller
Sunday, August 2, 2009 11D Ruhr industrial city Patrick Berry
Monday, June 22, 2009 3D Ruhr Valley city (9) Fred Piscop
Thursday, May 21, 2009 13D Ruhr industrial hub (2) Patrick Blindauer
Monday, May 11, 2009 4D Krupp Works city (10) Fred Piscop
Sunday, April 19, 2009 17D Ruhr Valley city (9) Will Nediger
Sunday, February 8, 2009 93A German city whose name means "to eat" Alan Arbesfeld
Monday, January 5, 2009 11D German steel city (2) Andrea Carla Michaels
Saturday, November 1, 2008 65A City in North Rhine-Westphalia Donald K. Willing
Saturday, August 2, 2008 1A Prussia annexed it in 1802 Karen M. Tracey
Sunday, June 29, 2008 75A City WSW of Dortmund Tony Orbach and Patrick Blindauer
Sunday, June 15, 2008 80A City on the Ruhr (6) Jeremy Newton
Thursday, April 24, 2008 70A City NW of Frankfurt Michael Langwald
Sunday, March 2, 2008 26A 1802 acquisition of 25-Across Patrick Blindauer and Tony Orbach
Monday, February 25, 2008 72A Krupp Works city (10) Randall J. Hartman
Friday, February 22, 2008 10D Dine, in Düsseldorf (2) Mike Nothnagel and David Quarfoot
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 40D City north of Cologne (4) Patrick Blindauer
Wednesday, August 1, 2007 68A Ruhr Valley city (9) David J. Kahn
Monday, June 25, 2007 57D Ruhr Valley city (9) Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette
Sunday, January 14, 2007 48D City north of Cologne (4) Harvey Estes
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 27D City on the Ruhr (6) Jack McInturff
Saturday, October 7, 2006 61A Dine, in Düsseldorf (2) David Quarfoot
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 64A Krupp Works city (10) Michael J. Doran
Friday, August 4, 2006 55A Museum Folkwang site Manny Nosowsky
Sunday, December 18, 2005 87A German coal city Ethan Cooper and Michael Shteyman
Sunday, October 16, 2005 119A City north of Cologne (4) Con Pederson
Sunday, June 5, 2005 70A Ruhr Valley city (9) Patrick Merrell
Thursday, August 26, 2004 4D German steel city (2) Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke
Sunday, August 15, 2004 108A Krupp works city (10) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Monday, November 3, 2003 13D German industrial city (5) Marjorie Berg
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 69A Krupp Works city (10) Fred Piscop
Thursday, August 14, 2003 66A City near Oberhausen (2) Greg Staples
Wednesday, July 2, 2003 8D Ruhr Valley city (9) Barbara Olson
Tuesday, February 11, 2003 4D Ruhr city (5) Myles Callum
Wednesday, October 2, 2002 13D Krupp Works city (10) Eric Berlin
Saturday, July 27, 2002 48D Where the Krupps worked Robert H. Wolfe
Sunday, June 2, 2002 70D Krupp's headquarters Frank Longo
Thursday, May 9, 2002 15A Ruhr-al city? Cathy Millhauser
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 49A Ruhr city (5) Arlan and Linda Bushman
Monday, January 7, 2002 34D Ruhr Valley city (9) Peter Gordon
Monday, November 12, 2001 19A City near Oberhausen (2) Janice M. Putney
Wednesday, July 11, 2001 49A Krupp works city (10) Richard Silvestri
Saturday, June 16, 2001 6D It's near Gelsenkirchen Dana Motley
Tuesday, June 5, 2001 9A City near Düsseldorf (2) Peter Gordon
Monday, April 16, 2001 31D German industrial city (5) Peter Gordon
Sunday, January 21, 2001 102D Bad ___ (Lower Saxony city) Con Pederson
Sunday, July 2, 2000 10D Big Bertha's birthplace (2) Nancy Nicholson Joline
Sunday, June 25, 2000 27A Ruhr industrial hub (2) Cathy Millhauser
Wednesday, February 23, 2000 71A Krupp Works city (10) Fred Piscop
Saturday, May 15, 1999 52D Where Big Bertha was built Brendan Emmett Quigley
Monday, March 1, 1999 34D Ruhr industrial center Ed Early
Sunday, December 13, 1998 67D City in the Ruhr Richard Silvestri
Sunday, August 2, 1998 33A German electricity-producing city Nancy Nicholson Joline
Saturday, July 4, 1998 50A Museum Folkwang locale Harvey Estes
Monday, June 22, 1998 55D City on the Ruhr (6) Shannon Burns
Friday, June 19, 1998 60A Big Bertha's birthplace (2) A. J. Santora
Sunday, June 14, 1998 38A Have breakfast, e.g., in Germany Manny Nosowsky
Monday, March 30, 1998 40D German industrial city (5) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Tuesday, March 24, 1998 55D Krupp works city (10) Fred Piscop
Sunday, March 1, 1998 45D Krupp works site (2) Cathy Millhauser
Friday, February 20, 1998 50D City NE of Düsseldorf Manny Nosowsky
Friday, December 26, 1997 33D Scene of W.W. II aerial attacks Bob Sefick
Sunday, November 30, 1997 31D Nordrhein-Westfalen city Charles Deber
Tuesday, September 9, 1997 13D German Pittsburgh Elizabeth C. Gorski
Sunday, August 31, 1997 118A Krupp family city David J. Kahn
Wednesday, August 20, 1997 53D Ruhr city (5) Chuck Deodene
Monday, July 28, 1997 65A German industrial city (5) Patrick Jordan
Monday, June 23, 1997 62A Industrial city of Germany (2) Shannon Burns
Saturday, June 14, 1997 52D City acquired by Prussia, 1802 A. J. Santora
Saturday, May 3, 1997 66A City on the Ruhr (6) Rich Norris
Monday, March 10, 1997 34D Ruhr Valley city (9) Gregory E. Paul
Monday, October 28, 1996 26D German city north of Cologne R. Norris
Friday, August 9, 1996 14D Altendorf is a suburb of it D. Tuller
Monday, July 22, 1996 48D City on the Ruhr (6) S. L. Robbins
Saturday, January 27, 1996 52A Ruhr city (5) R. Norris
Sunday, September 17, 1995 109A Westphalian city Stanley Newman
Friday, August 25, 1995 65A City north of Cologne (4) Rich Norris
Tuesday, April 25, 1995 35A Krupp works city (10) Gregory E. Paul
Thursday, March 23, 1995 47A Ruhr valley city (9) Wayne Robert Williams
Friday, December 16, 1994 60A Bomb site of 1943-45 A.J. Santora
Tuesday, November 1, 1994 18D German industrial city (5) Christopher Page
Sunday, February 13, 1994 71D Krupp Works site (2) Cathy Millhauser