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
Monday, March 4, 2013 39D Make over (24) Ian Livengood
Monday, December 17, 2012 32D Fresh take, informally Elizabeth A. Long
Monday, November 5, 2012 56A Make over completely Andrea Carla Michaels
Thursday, April 19, 2012 42A Makeover (24) Sean Dobbin
Friday, May 13, 2011 14D Mulligan, say Joe Krozel
Monday, November 15, 2010 30D Edit menu command (2) Emily L. Lilly
Sunday, November 14, 2010 69A Start over on Patrick Berry
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 57D Give a makeover (2) Fred Piscop
Monday, March 8, 2010 6D Make over (24) Stanley Newman
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 69A Take from the top Alan Arbesfeld
Monday, May 18, 2009 60A Make over (24) Billie Truitt
Saturday, April 4, 2009 57A Edit menu command (2) Matt Ginsberg
Monday, February 9, 2009 14A Make over (24) Randall J. Hartman
Monday, January 26, 2009 36D Work over (2) Timothy Powell and Nancy Salomon
Monday, December 29, 2008 36A Make over (24) Kevin Donovan
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 29D Second serve, for example Matt Ginsberg
Thursday, May 22, 2008 70A Fix up (9) Richard Silvestri
Thursday, May 8, 2008 31A Change (2) Harvey Estes
Thursday, October 18, 2007 65A Makeover (24) Lucy Gardner Anderson
Sunday, October 14, 2007 22A Make over (24) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Monday, April 23, 2007 16A Make over (24) David Pringle
Monday, April 2, 2007 63A Decorate again Richard Hughes
Monday, March 5, 2007 26D Change the décor of (2) Fred Piscop
Monday, January 29, 2007 14A Change the décor of (2) Fred Piscop
Thursday, January 25, 2007 48D Make over (24) Manny Nosowsky
Thursday, January 18, 2007 29D Fix (4) Randolph Ross
Monday, August 14, 2006 10A Change, as the décor Gene Newman
Monday, July 24, 2006 5D Make over (24) Richard Chisholm
Friday, December 16, 2005 39A Fix (4) Joe DiPietro
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 51D Make over (24) Adam G. Perl
Sunday, October 16, 2005 121A Try again (3) Con Pederson
Monday, September 19, 2005 35D Make over (24) Timothy Powell
Friday, August 26, 2005 2D Renovation Joe DiPietro
Monday, July 18, 2005 18A Give new decor Randy Sowell
Thursday, July 14, 2005 21D Completely fix (2) Kevan Choset
Monday, January 10, 2005 18D Make a change in the decor David Pringle
Sunday, August 1, 2004 81A Make over (24) Randolph Ross
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 15A Fix up (9) Barry Silk
Monday, September 1, 2003 34D Make over (24) Barry Silk
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 51A Make over (24) Richard Hughes
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 37A Start over (3) Steven Kahn
Thursday, July 3, 2003 22D More than patch up Cathy Millhauser
Tuesday, April 15, 2003 14A Make over (24) Adam G. Perl
Monday, November 18, 2002 49A Start over (3) Nancy Salomon and Gail Grabowski
Wednesday, October 2, 2002 29D Fix up (9) Eric Berlin
Tuesday, October 30, 2001 22A Fix up (9) Barbara Olson
Sunday, June 10, 2001 31A Overhaul (8) Cathy Millhauser
Wednesday, April 18, 2001 41D Spruce up A. J. Santora
Monday, July 17, 2000 48A Fix up (9) Mitch Komro
Monday, July 3, 2000 64A Decorate anew (2) Marjorie Berg
Saturday, February 19, 2000 56A Fix (4) Rich Norris
Wednesday, November 24, 1999 65A Fix up (9) Greg Staples
Wednesday, November 10, 1999 30A Go over a second time Joan Yanofsky
Friday, October 29, 1999 14D Change (2) Nancy Salomon
Monday, September 27, 1999 33A Change the furnishings Ed Early
Friday, August 6, 1999 21A Makeover (24) Raymond Hamel
Monday, July 26, 1999 23A Overhaul (8) M. Francis Vuolo
Sunday, July 4, 1999 70D Fix up (9) Greg Staples
Tuesday, June 8, 1999 13D Decorate anew (2) Fred Piscop
Monday, May 24, 1999 15A Overhaul (8) Gregory E. Paul
Thursday, May 6, 1999 28A Fix (4) Matt Gaffney
Tuesday, April 27, 1999 57D Overhaul (8) Fred Piscop
Wednesday, March 3, 1999 57A Change the decor (5) Rich Norris
Monday, January 18, 1999 29D Fix up (9) Frederick T. Buhler
Thursday, October 29, 1998 54D Overhaul (8) Cathy Millhauser
Monday, October 26, 1998 58D Completely fix (2) Robert Dillman
Sunday, October 11, 1998 110A Make over (24) Nancy Salomon, Marjorie Richter and Kelly Clark
Sunday, September 13, 1998 126A Make over (24) Cathy Millhauser
Thursday, July 23, 1998 15A Fix up (9) Randall J. Hartman
Sunday, May 31, 1998 53D Overhaul (8) Cathy Millhauser
Friday, May 8, 1998 21A Word processor command Harvey Estes
Wednesday, April 22, 1998 27D Start from scratch (2) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Monday, October 27, 1997 62D Start over (3) Mark Gottlieb
Monday, October 13, 1997 68A Start all over Gregory E. Paul
Monday, September 22, 1997 67A Overhaul (8) Gregory E. Paul
Friday, August 29, 1997 5D Start again from scratch Mark Diehl
Thursday, February 20, 1997 7D Go back to square one on D. J. Kahn
Monday, February 10, 1997 7D Give a makeover (2) S. Burns
Wednesday, January 29, 1997 64A Change the decor (5) R. Hughes
Friday, January 17, 1997 23D Work over (2) B. Klahn
Friday, September 27, 1996 54D Give a face lift B. Sefick
Thursday, July 25, 1996 24A Update, maybe A. J. Santora
Tuesday, June 18, 1996 39D Make over (24) E. C. Gorski
Monday, April 22, 1996 62D Change the decorations S. B. Whitten
Saturday, February 17, 1996 16A Take it from the top Bob Sefick
Wednesday, January 10, 1996 54D Make over (24) M. Gaffney
Monday, October 23, 1995 18D Make over (24) Sidney L. Robbins
Thursday, September 21, 1995 29D Overhaul (8) Chuck Deodene
Wednesday, May 3, 1995 52D Give a new look Chuck Deodene
Tuesday, December 6, 1994 53A Change the decor (5) Wayne Robert Williams
Sunday, November 13, 1994 103D Start from scratch (2) Frank A. Longo
Monday, September 12, 1994 3D Effect a makeover (2) Sidney L. Robbins
Wednesday, August 3, 1994 46A Fix, artwise Richard Thomas
Monday, June 6, 1994 47A Effect a makeover (2) Robert Zimmerman
Wednesday, May 25, 1994 29D Second draft, informally Fred Piscop
Thursday, April 21, 1994 23D Make over (24) Timothy S. Lewis
Friday, March 11, 1994 59D Try again (3) A.J. Santora
Tuesday, March 8, 1994 7D Change the decor (5) Harvey Estes
Tuesday, March 1, 1994 12D Try again (3) D.J. Listort
Sunday, January 2, 1994 126D Write over Brian G. Tyler
Tuesday, December 21, 1993 7D Change the decor (5) Janie Lyons