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
Sunday, February 3, 2013 4D Level (20) Dan Schoenholz
Friday, January 25, 2013 27A Rank (7) Joe DiPietro
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 54D Layer (5) Peter A. Collins
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 67A Arena section Jim Hilger
Friday, September 14, 2012 48D Seating specification Peter A. Collins
Sunday, September 9, 2012 52D Seating area Kevin G. Der
Saturday, July 28, 2012 29D Second-___ Victor Fleming and Sam Ezersky
Thursday, July 26, 2012 45A Echelon (4) Joel Fagliano
Sunday, March 18, 2012 119A Echelon (4) Mike Nothnagel and Byron Walden
Monday, February 27, 2012 67A Wedding cake feature (5) Bill Thompson
Monday, October 24, 2011 20A Stadium area (3) Lynn Lempel
Sunday, September 4, 2011 71D Row (3) Dana Delany and Matt Ginsberg
Monday, June 27, 2011 56D Level (20) Joseph Samulak
Saturday, March 12, 2011 48A Hierarchy part Joon Pahk
Thursday, February 3, 2011 32D Cake part Matt Ginsberg
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 43A Part of a wedding cake Andrea Carla Michaels and Kent Clayton
Friday, November 12, 2010 58A Piece of cake? (2) Barry C. Silk
Sunday, October 31, 2010 117D Layer (5) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Monday, October 11, 2010 29D Stadium level (4) Robert Fisher
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 5D Auditorium balcony, e.g. Eshan Mitra, Brown University '12
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 26D Layer (5) Patrick Merrell
Monday, July 20, 2009 1D It may hang out in a sports stadium Pancho Harrison
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1A Level (20) Michael Langwald
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 48A Top-___ (best) John Greenman
Saturday, November 29, 2008 7D Arena ticket specification Barry C. Silk
Monday, May 26, 2008 51D Level (20) Mark Sherwood
Monday, March 10, 2008 41D Wedding cake feature (5) Ken Bessette
Friday, January 18, 2008 51D Top-___ (leading) Trip Payne
Saturday, November 17, 2007 22A Detail on some tickets Brad Wilber
Monday, October 29, 2007 39A Stadium section (4) Fred Piscop
Sunday, October 21, 2007 94A Level (20) Brendan Emmett Quigley
Thursday, August 2, 2007 57D Stadium part Robert Dillman
Monday, March 12, 2007 61A Level (20) Kevin Der
Thursday, February 8, 2007 27D Stratum (2) Dan Reichert
Friday, January 12, 2007 29D Rank (7) Sherry O. Blackard
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 50D Level (20) Nancy Salomon
Sunday, October 8, 2006 116D Seating datum Fred Piscop
Thursday, August 24, 2006 7D Ticket info, maybe (2) Gary Steinmehl
Thursday, July 20, 2006 21A Stage Kevin McCann
Thursday, July 13, 2006 47A Bleacher feature (5) Manny Nosowsky
Saturday, June 24, 2006 37D Bank (5) Harvey Estes
Sunday, March 12, 2006 25D Class (2) Daniel C. Bryant
Sunday, February 5, 2006 45A Level (20) Eric Berlin
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 21A Level (20) Alan Arbesfeld
Tuesday, August 16, 2005 11D Amphitheater section Randall J. Hartman
Sunday, May 29, 2005 34D Level (20) Frank Longo
Sunday, December 26, 2004 74A Keyboard section Hal Turner
Monday, October 25, 2004 3D Layer (5) Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette
Friday, August 27, 2004 47D Bank (5) Manny Nosowsky
Sunday, July 4, 2004 7D Rank (7) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Monday, May 17, 2004 11D Echelon (4) Ethan Cooper
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 2D Ticket info Randy Sowell
Monday, March 22, 2004 48D Seating level Kyle Mahowald
Monday, February 2, 2004 69A Section of seats Gregory E. Paul
Sunday, November 16, 2003 72D Seating section (3) Cathy Millhauser
Friday, August 8, 2003 40A Level (20) Myles Callum
Sunday, July 13, 2003 29D Factor in ticket pricing Randolph Ross
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 36D Bireme section Alan Arbesfeld
Thursday, April 17, 2003 7D Cake feature, sometimes Eric Berlin
Sunday, February 2, 2003 87A Rank (7) Mark Danna
Friday, October 18, 2002 24A Level (20) Manny Nosowsky
Tuesday, April 23, 2002 50D Seating section (3) Bob Peoples and Nancy Salomon
Thursday, November 1, 2001 28A Bank (5) Rich Norris
Tuesday, June 26, 2001 8D Echelon (4) Stephen Windheim
Saturday, June 2, 2001 20A Bank (5) Jim Page
Wednesday, March 7, 2001 8D Level (20) Noah Dephoure
Sunday, January 14, 2001 96D Seating section (3) Nancy Salomon
Wednesday, December 20, 2000 22A Level (20) Alan Arbesfeld
Thursday, October 19, 2000 24D Bank (5) Patrick Jordan
Tuesday, October 3, 2000 43D Opera house level Todd McClary
Friday, September 22, 2000 5D Level (20) Manny Nosowsky
Monday, August 7, 2000 46A Wedding cake feature (5) Nick Grivas
Thursday, April 27, 2000 59D Bleacher feature (5) Greg Staples
Saturday, April 8, 2000 46A Part of a seat assignment Rich Norris
Friday, November 26, 1999 43A Bleacher feature (5) Roger Phillips
Saturday, October 23, 1999 30D Rank (7) Frank Longo and Brendan Quigley
Tuesday, September 28, 1999 24A Layer (5) Elizabeth C. Gorski
Monday, August 30, 1999 49D Ballpark level Margaret Watson
Wednesday, August 25, 1999 59D Level (20) Richard Hughes
Wednesday, May 26, 1999 40D Stadium area (3) Randall J. Hartman
Thursday, April 29, 1999 41D Stratum (2) Adam Cohen
Friday, November 6, 1998 6D Piece of cake? (2) Bob Klahn
Wednesday, July 29, 1998 25D Tower part Elizabeth C. Gorski
Sunday, May 31, 1998 70D Bleacher feature (5) Cathy Millhauser
Sunday, April 5, 1998 93A Stadium level (4) David J. Kahn
Monday, February 2, 1998 65A Stadium section (4) Gregory E. Paul
Wednesday, January 28, 1998 3D Wedding cake feature (5) Mark Gottlieb
Monday, December 29, 1997 57D Bleacher feature (5) Gregory E. Paul
Sunday, December 21, 1997 83A Galley feature Frances Hansen
Tuesday, December 2, 1997 63D Stadium section (4) Alan Olschwang
Sunday, October 12, 1997 42D Ticket info, maybe (2) Nancy Salomon
Friday, September 5, 1997 2D Class (2) Harvey Estes
Friday, August 23, 1996 44A Fan belt? M. Ashwood-Smith
Monday, August 5, 1996 57A Stadium level (4) F. Piscop
Sunday, May 5, 1996 17D Category D. J. Kahn
Tuesday, April 30, 1996 51D Row (3) G. E. Paul
Saturday, March 30, 1996 58D Gallery (2) D. R. Stark
Wednesday, February 7, 1996 55D Deck (2) Frank A. Longo
Sunday, October 22, 1995 148A Rank (7) Matt Gaffney
Tuesday, September 19, 1995 18A Wedding cake feature (5) Janet R. Bender
Saturday, September 16, 1995 52A Stadium area (3) Bryant White
Wednesday, September 6, 1995 12D Stadium section (4) Peter Gordon
Saturday, July 1, 1995 4D Gallery (2) Eileen Lexau
Friday, September 16, 1994 54D Deck (2) Randolph Ross
Sunday, August 14, 1994 45D Row (3) Deborah Kathryn Trombley
Wednesday, August 3, 1994 61A Level (20) Richard Thomas
Saturday, July 23, 1994 10D Rank (7) Randolph Ross
Sunday, May 15, 1994 96D Level (20) Charles M. Deber
Wednesday, February 23, 1994 43A Level (20) Joel Davajan
Sunday, December 19, 1993 81A Stadium level (4) John M. Samson
Wednesday, December 8, 1993 35D Level (20) Norma Steinberg