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 50,657 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACIDIFIED | Fri Dec 5, 2014 | Soured | Tim Croce |
| BARBRAWL | Sat Dec 26, 2009 | Shots after shots? | Kevin G. Der |
| BBQPORKBUN | Sat Jun 24, 2023 | Steamed Chinese snack also called char siu bao | Spencer Leach and Quiara Vasquez |
| BOATERS | Wed Jan 15, 1997 | Straw hats | C. Currier |
| BRANDYWINE | Tue Jul 22, 1997 | 1777 battle site | Fred Piscop |
| CASHANDCARRY | Tue Dec 21, 1999 | Like some purchases | Richard Hughes |
| CHALONS | Tue Apr 15, 1997 | Where Attila was defeated, 451 | Jonathan Schmalzbach |
| CHARLEYHORSE | Sun Jul 3, 2022 | Fish with a prehensile tail | Tom McCoy |
| CHOPCHOP | Sun Jan 29, 2012 | Lickety-split | Ian Livengood |
| COMPLEMENTS | Sun Feb 13, 2022 | *Goes well with | David Steinberg |
| DETACHED | Sun Feb 27, 1994 | Impartial | Bette Sue Cohen |
| EMERALDEARRINGS | Fri Dec 13, 2002 | Fashion accessory given in May, maybe | Bob Peoples |
| EXCHEQUERS | Tue Feb 15, 1994 | National treasuries | Jonathan Schmatzbach |
| EXODERM | Thu Jan 3, 2019 | Outer layer of a membrane | Timothy Polin |
| FLYBYNIGHT | Sun Oct 26, 2025 | Awesome after dark? (Gen X) | Gary Larson and Doug Peterson |
| GOPUBLIC | Fri Aug 28, 2015 | Tell the world | Samuel A. Donaldson |
| GOWDY | Thu Dec 11, 2003 | Hall of Fame sportscaster Curt | Ed Early |
| IWILLSO | Thu Dec 12, 2019 | Insistent comeback | Alex Eaton-Salners |
| LAWANDORDER | Sun Mar 20, 2005 | Religious ___ (two, please) | Patrick Berry |
| LUDICROUS | Wed Feb 11, 2015 | *"Chicken-n-Beer" rapper, to an overzealous copy editor? | Will Treece |
| OLDMUSIC | Sat Nov 8, 2008 | Standards, e.g. | Byron Walden |
| PANTOPHOBIA | Wed Nov 16, 2022 | Fear of everything ... NOT a fear of trousers | John Hawksley |
| PREFLIGHT | Thu Feb 24, 2022 | When pilots go through their checklists | Jake Halperin |
| ROUTEMAN | Wed Apr 25, 2007 | Worker who makes rounds | John Farmer |
| SKITRACKS | Fri Apr 16, 2021 | Evidence of having gone on a run | Tom Pepper |
| STAYSLATE | Sun Jun 2, 2013 | Works overtime, say | Elizabeth C. Gorski |
| SWEETADELINE | Sun Oct 30, 1994 | "In the evening when I sit alone a-dreaming..." | R. M. Hopkins |
| SYNCHRO | Sat Jun 13, 2015 | Mostly-women Olympics sport, familiarly | Brad Wilber and Doug Peterson |
| TAMAGOTCHIS | Mon Mar 7, 2016 | *Hand-held "pets" with digital faces | Damon Gulczynski |
| TAWING | Sat Jan 1, 2005 | Shooting marbles | Raymond C. Young |
| THEFOURELEMENTS | Mon Jun 2, 2008 | What the starts of 22-, 36-, 41- and 50-Across comprise | Barry Boone |
| THESTREET | Fri Oct 14, 2022 | Nasdaq's home, informally | David Steinberg |
| THEWB | Sun Sep 18, 2016 | Channel that aired "Felicity" and "Smallville" | Jeremy Newton |
| THORPES | Fri Sep 22, 2006 | Athletes Jim and Ian | Sherry O. Blackard |
| TOOTLED | Fri Nov 3, 1995 | Played the flute | David J. Kahn |
| TRAGICOMIC | Tue Apr 15, 2025 | Like a film that's both sad and funny | Per Bykodorov |
| TULE | Wed Dec 23, 1998 | Large bulrush | Christopher Hurt |
| UNMAPPED | Sat Nov 23, 2013 | Like the human genome, before the 1990s | Frederick J. Healy |
| WIDERECEIVERS | Sun Oct 31, 2004 | Home viewers' HDTV's? | Patrick Merrell |
| ZARQAWI | Fri May 18, 2007 | Noted terrorist killed in June 2006 | David Quarfoot |