This page is just for fun. It's a random collection of rare crossword answers; so rare that each appears only in a single Modern Era puzzle. Bogus entries (thematic words that make sense only in that crossword) are excluded.
There are 50,636 unique Modern Era answer words in the database.
Click any word to see it in the context of its puzzle. Words in this color did appear in pre-Shortz crosswords.
| Word | Date | Clue | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| BATTERIESNOTINCLUDED | Sun Dec 7, 2003 | In other words, mom or dad will be out at midnight searching for an open store | Sherry O. Blackard |
| BEARATTACK | Sat Jun 10, 2017 | Danger for a hiker | Mark Diehl |
| BETRAYAL | Mon Feb 13, 2023 | Backstabber's forte | Eric Rollfing |
| BETTERTHANSEX | Sat Oct 25, 2025 | Especially gratifying, so to speak | Byron Walden |
| CHACHACHA | Fri Jan 20, 2012 | Dance trio? | Patrick Berry |
| CHEAPDATES | Fri May 4, 2001 | Easy-to-please companions | Elizabeth C. Gorski |
| DELEAD | Fri Nov 5, 2004 | Remove plumbic traces from | Manny Nosowsky |
| DESIDERATA | Fri Aug 10, 2001 | Needed things | Manny Nosowsky |
| ESURIENCE | Sat Oct 14, 1995 | Greediness | Alex K. Justin |
| FERMEZLABOUCHE | Wed Jul 16, 1997 | "Pipe down, Pierre!" | Jonathan Schmalzbach |
| FEVERISH | Sat Sep 21, 2013 | Superexcited | Tim Croce |
| FLOORROUTINE | Tue Apr 2, 2024 | Gymnastics sequence involving tumbling | Billy Bratton |
| FRIEDGREENTOMATOES | Sun Jun 19, 2016 | 1991 film with the tagline "The secret of life? The secret's in the sauce" | David Woolf |
| GHANIAN | Sat Mar 7, 2009 | Dweller along Lake Volta | Joe Krozel |
| GUSHERS | Fri Feb 18, 2000 | Wildcatter's dream | Manny Nosowsky |
| HARDAT | Sun May 5, 2019 | Really busy doing | Samuel A. Donaldson and Doug Peterson |
| INTERMIAMI | Sat Sep 21, 2024 | Major League Soccer team with pink home jerseys | David Karp |
| ISMOREORLESSOK | Sun Feb 26, 2006 | Ambiguity ___ | Randolph Ross |
| LATEONSET | Sun Feb 8, 2015 | *Like puberty at age 16 | Jeremy Newton |
| MEMPHISBBQ | Sat Jul 29, 2023 | Some slow-cooked Southern fare, informally | Sam Ezersky |
| MIXEDFEELINGS | Tue Mar 17, 2020 | Ambivalence ... or a hint to 20-, 25- and 41-Across | Ross Trudeau |
| MLXX | Tue Oct 26, 2004 | 1070, in old Rome | Brendan Emmett Quigley |
| NAILUP | Mon Aug 11, 2014 | Seal, as a shipping crate | David Steinberg and Bernice Gordon |
| PALLAS | Sun Apr 27, 1997 | Goddess mentioned in "The Raven" | Matt Gaffney |
| PECUNIARY | Sat Oct 15, 1994 | Related to finances | Randolph Ross |
| PETTIER | Fri Nov 17, 2000 | Less grand | Manny Nosowsky |
| PHINEAS | Sat Dec 17, 2005 | Anthony Trollope's "___ Finn" | Patrick Berry |
| PUTTINGONWEIGHT | Sun May 11, 2014 | Backsliding, to a dieter | Peter A. Collins |
| REDRAWS | Sun Oct 23, 2016 | Gerrymanders, say | Ellen Leuschner and Jeff Chen |
| REMOTESENSORS | Fri Jan 21, 2005 | Earth-scanning satellites, e.g. | Frank Longo |
| SANDOR | Tue Apr 12, 1994 | Pianist Gyorgy | Ernie Furtado |
| STATUTELAW | Sat Feb 12, 2011 | Result of bill-passing | Joel Fagliano |
| TAXEXILE | Fri Feb 20, 2009 | Wealthy Cayman Islands resident, maybe | Paula Gamache |
| THEKINGSSPEECH | Wed Jan 13, 2021 | Address by a Sacramento N.B.A. player? | Matthew Stock |
| THETHIRDESTATE | Mon Nov 28, 2005 | They're neither nobility nor clergy | Kevan Choset |
| TOONEW | Thu Apr 17, 2008 | Jarringly unfamiliar | Byron Walden |
| TRAG | Sun Mar 30, 2008 | "King Lear" or "Hamlet": Abbr. | Paula Gamache |
| TWOMINUTEWARNING | Sun Feb 1, 2009 | *Caution when boiling a 60-Down? | Victor Fleming and Matt Ginsberg |
| UNLIMITEDBUDGET | Thu Jun 10, 2010 | 9-Across + 26-Down | Mike Nothnagel |
| YOUTHFUL | Mon Oct 13, 2025 | Energetic, perhaps | Katherine Xiong |