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 50,392 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| APPRENTICESHIPS | Fri Jun 21, 2002 | Training times | Bob Peoples |
| ASMUD | Tue Sep 16, 2008 | Clear ___ (hard to understand) | Michael Langwald |
| BASKETBALLSTAR | Sun Nov 24, 2024 | Sue Bird or Larry Bird | Alex Eaton-Salners |
| BBCARABIC | Sun Aug 5, 2018 | Trusted news source in the Mideast | Alison Ohringer and Erik Agard |
| CBSSPORTS | Sat Sep 22, 2007 | Home of "The NFL Today" | Mark Diehl |
| CHOUX | Wed Oct 19, 2022 | Pastry dough used in crullers and beignets | Ryan Patrick Smith |
| CLASSREP | Sun Apr 2, 2023 | Student council electee, informally | Jeremy Newton and Tracy Gray |
| CRADLESONGS | Fri Apr 7, 2017 | Rock music? | Patrick Berry |
| DATABUS | Sun Nov 26, 2000 | Digital information carrier | Patrick Berry |
| DOYOUREALLYMEANTHAT | Sun Mar 4, 2012 | <em>Her husband asked "...?"</em> | David J. Kahn |
| DREDSCOTT | Sat May 20, 1995 | Subject of an 1857 Supreme Court decision | Manny Nosowsky |
| FAVREAU | Wed Jan 8, 2020 | "Very Bad Things" and "Swingers" actor Jon | Amanda Yesnowitz and Joon Pahk |
| GONEFISHING | Tue Jan 19, 2016 | Classic out-of-office sign ... or what this puzzle's author has done? | Byron Walden |
| HEATSTROKE | Tue Mar 24, 2009 | Dehydration may help bring this on | Pancho Harrison |
| HELOVESMENOT | Sat May 11, 2019 | Unlucky phrase to end on | Robyn Weintraub |
| IMONABOAT | Sun Apr 3, 2016 | 2009 Grammy nominee with the lyric "But this ain't SeaWorld, this is real as it gets" | Natan Last |
| MANTICORE | Fri Dec 21, 2012 | Legendary creature similar to the Sphinx | Zoe Wheeler |
| MORGANS | Thu Mar 27, 1997 | Certain riding horses | Alex Vaughn |
| NOTMUCHTOLOOKAT | Fri Apr 18, 2014 | Visually uninspiring | James Mulhern |
| NUMBERTHESTARS | Wed Aug 13, 2025 | Newbery Medal-winning 1989 novel for children by Lois Lowry | Jared Cappel |
| ODDSOCK | Thu Apr 14, 2022 | Laundry leftover | Ashish Vengsarkar and Narayan Venkatasubramanyan |
| OLDSONGS | Fri May 30, 2025 | Some nostalgic throwbacks | Rafael Musa |
| ONCEUPONATIMEINMEXICO | Sun Jan 2, 2011 | 2003 film "Érase una Vez" | David Levinson Wilk |
| OPTICALSCANNERS | Fri May 13, 2011 | Reading devices | Joe Krozel |
| PERAMBULATE | Tue Jul 24, 2001 | It has "amble" and "ramble" inside | Gayle Dean |
| POKEAROUND | Mon Sep 19, 2011 | Do some investigating | Julian Lim |
| PUFFED | Sun Aug 20, 2006 | Made pants? | Richard Silvestri |
| RAPROCK | Sun Sep 14, 2008 | Genre explored by Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith | Jeremy Newton |
| RATCATCHER | Sun Jan 27, 2013 | The Pied Piper of Hamelin, e.g. | Jeff Chen |
| REALWORLD | Thu Apr 26, 2012 | Long-running MTV show, with "The" | Julian Lim |
| RIGVEDA | Sat Jan 30, 2016 | Ancient collection of Sanskrit hymns | Samuel A. Donaldson and Brad Wilber |
| ROBSON | Sun May 11, 2008 | Director Mark of "Earthquake" | Tony Orbach and Patrick Blindauer |
| SHOPSTEWARD | Tue Aug 7, 2018 | Union representative | Alex Eaton-Salners |
| SOAPBOXPREACHER | Fri Jun 7, 2024 | Figure of speech? | Alice Liang and Christina Iverson |
| SPERSED | Sat Apr 8, 1995 | Scattered, old style | A.J. Santora |
| THEDARLINGS | Sun Mar 11, 2018 | Last seen in the nursery. If found, call ___ [see 84-Across] | Matthew Sewell |
| THINASAREED | Fri Oct 17, 2014 | Superslim | Michael Ashley |
| TOREUPTHEROAD | Sat Mar 8, 2003 | Burned rubber | Patrick Berry |
| TRANSITIONS | Mon Sep 12, 2022 | "So, anyway, ..." and "On that note ...," e.g. | Michael Lieberman |
| WINTERGREENMINTS | Sun Jun 19, 2022 | Strong breath fresheners | Jeremy Newton |