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)
94 entries were found. Click any date for context. Repeated clues show (number of occurrences.)
Date Grid Clue Author
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 39D Title fish in a Pixar film Ian Livengood
Tuesday, December 25, 2012 15A Verne captain (12) Ellen Leuschner and Victor Fleming
Monday, November 26, 2012 61D Pixar's "Finding ___" (2) Ed Sessa
Sunday, August 19, 2012 38D "Little" comics boy Freddie Cheng
Monday, July 23, 2012 69A Captain in "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" Lynn Lempel
Friday, May 11, 2012 58D Literary captain who says "I am not what you call a civilized man!" Natan Last
Sunday, January 1, 2012 24D Pixar title character (2) Patrick Berry
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 49A Captain of sci-fi Barry Boone
Sunday, June 5, 2011 15A Captain of fiction (2) Yaakov Bendavid
Monday, May 23, 2011 27D Pixar's "Finding ___" (2) Steve Salitan
Sunday, May 1, 2011 106D Verne captain (12) Xan Vongsathorn
Monday, September 13, 2010 16A Pixar's "Finding ___," 2003 Aimee Lucido, Brown University '13
Thursday, September 2, 2010 45A Nautilus leader Patrick Blindauer and Andrea Carla Michaels
Sunday, August 22, 2010 103A Pixar title character (2) Patrick Berry
Monday, June 7, 2010 34A Captain of Jules Verne's Nautilus Lynn Lempel
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 42D Nautilus captain (7) Kurt Krauss
Saturday, July 25, 2009 33D Seaman whose last words were "God and my country!" Victor Fleming
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 38D Nautilus skipper (2) Damon J. Gulczynski
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 40D Whom Marlin sought in a 2003 film Trip Payne
Sunday, July 27, 2008 151A Pixar fish Mike Nothnagel and David Quarfoot
Sunday, June 22, 2008 102D Fictional captain (2) Pamela Amick Klawitter
Monday, April 14, 2008 70A Nautilus captain (7) Christina Houlihan Kelly
Sunday, March 30, 2008 10A "Little ___ in Slumberland" (pioneering comic strip) Paula Gamache
Monday, March 17, 2008 41A Captain who said "Eat your pudding, Mr. Land" C. W. Stewart
Thursday, February 28, 2008 58D Fictional submariner (2) Matt Ginsberg
Sunday, February 3, 2008 73A Fictional submariner (2) Matt Ginsberg
Sunday, January 27, 2008 16D "Finding ___," 2003 film Mike Nothnagel
Thursday, December 20, 2007 15A Nautilus captain (7) Peter A. Collins
Thursday, September 27, 2007 67A Captain of literature (2) Peter Wentz
Wednesday, July 4, 2007 64A Old comics boy Patrick Blindauer
Sunday, June 10, 2007 131A "The Mysterious Island" captain Bob Klahn
Sunday, March 25, 2007 90D Verne skipper (3) Fred Piscop
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 13D Disney fish Peter A. Collins
Sunday, December 3, 2006 72A "Finding ___" Patrick Merrell
Sunday, November 19, 2006 104D Captain of the Nautilus (2) Tony Orbach
Wednesday, October 4, 2006 19A "Little ___ in Slumberland" (early comic) Adam Cohen
Friday, July 14, 2006 25A "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" captain Brendan Emmett Quigley
Thursday, May 18, 2006 16A Cartoon fish Peter A. Collins
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 56D Jules Verne captain (3) Nancy Salomon
Wednesday, January 4, 2006 26D Nautilus captain (7) John Minarcik and Nancy Salomon
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 42A "Little" boy of early comics Philip Thomson
Wednesday, September 28, 2005 19A Nautilus skipper (2) Randall J. Hartman
Tuesday, September 13, 2005 10A Disney clownfish Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke
Saturday, April 30, 2005 9D Captain in "The Mysterious Island" Nancy Salomon
Sunday, January 23, 2005 64A Fictional captain (2) Joe DiPietro
Saturday, December 18, 2004 27D Explorer of science fiction Dana Motley
Saturday, December 11, 2004 8D Lost fish of film James E. Buell
Tuesday, November 9, 2004 64A Captain of the Nautilus (2) Robert Dillman
Saturday, September 25, 2004 24D Title character in a 2003 film from 44-Down Byron Walden
Wednesday, July 7, 2004 57D Verne captain (12) Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon
Tuesday, April 6, 2004 52D Captain of fiction (2) Tony Orbach
Wednesday, December 31, 2003 52D Verne captain (12) Alan Arbesfeld
Sunday, November 23, 2003 16D Fish in a Disney film Leonard Williams
Monday, July 28, 2003 69A Verne captain (12) Gregory E. Paul
Tuesday, July 15, 2003 18D Verne's reclusive captain Harvey Estes
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 46D Verne skipper (3) John Greenman
Tuesday, February 18, 2003 56D Verne skipper (3) Holden Baker
Thursday, January 23, 2003 22A Captain of science fiction Cathy Millhauser
Thursday, June 20, 2002 49D Captain of literature (2) Steve Jones
Friday, February 15, 2002 17A Captain played in film by James Mason Sherry O. Blackard
Monday, July 16, 2001 51D Jules Verne captain (3) Peter Gordon
Wednesday, March 14, 2001 30D Verne mariner Greg Staples
Sunday, October 29, 2000 69D Ned Land's rescuer Karen Hodge
Tuesday, October 24, 2000 57A Verne hero Alan Arbesfeld
Sunday, October 22, 2000 50D Nautilus captain (7) Henry Hook
Monday, August 28, 2000 49D Nautilus captain (7) Richard Hughes
Thursday, March 30, 2000 17A Nautilus name Randolph Ross
Saturday, February 26, 2000 26A Little ___ (2) Bob Klahn
Monday, February 21, 2000 60A Verne captain (12) Randy Sowell
Monday, December 6, 1999 28D Nautilus captain (7) Gregory E. Paul
Thursday, November 4, 1999 29A "Little" comics fellow Matthew Lees
Thursday, September 2, 1999 23A "Little ___" (early comic strip) Joe DiPietro
Tuesday, August 3, 1999 19A Verne captain (12) Dave Tuller
Sunday, June 20, 1999 105D "Little ___" (2) Manny Nosowsky
Tuesday, April 20, 1999 38A Verne captain (12) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Tuesday, September 8, 1998 64A Verne's captain (3) Nancy Salomon
Saturday, May 9, 1998 6D Verne villain Rich Norris
Tuesday, November 25, 1997 8D Commander of the Nautilus Gregory E. Paul
Friday, November 21, 1997 7D Early comics name Chuck Deodene
Tuesday, November 11, 1997 60D Verne captain (12) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Tuesday, June 3, 1997 49D Verne's captain (3) Jonathan Schmalzbach
Sunday, November 10, 1996 70A Winsor McCay's "Little" one R. Hamel
Monday, February 12, 1996 52D Verne captain (12) S. Robbins
Sunday, January 14, 1996 31A Captain once played by Omar Sharif C. Millhauser
Sunday, November 26, 1995 5D King of early comics Harvey Estes
Tuesday, October 31, 1995 54D "20,000 Leagues" captain Rich Norris
Monday, August 21, 1995 34D Captain for many a league Sidney L. Robbins
Wednesday, May 31, 1995 52D Verne captain (12) Jonathan Schmatzbach
Thursday, April 6, 1995 61A Little chap of the comics Lois Sidway
Monday, March 6, 1995 49D Jules Verne captain (3) Randall J. Hartman
Monday, January 16, 1995 2D Verne's captain (3) Walter Covell
Monday, August 22, 1994 56A Verne captain (12) Sidney L. Robbins
Sunday, July 24, 1994 78D Nobody, in ancient Rome Matt Gaffney
Tuesday, December 21, 1993 71A James Mason sci-fi role of 1954 Janie Lyons