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 50,746 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALECLEAMAS | Sun Sep 29, 2002 | The Spy Who Came In From the Cold | Randolph Ross |
| ALIGHTINTHEDARK | Wed Dec 18, 2013 | Arrive via a red-eye? | Ed Sessa |
| ALTERNATES | Sat Jun 23, 2012 | Disappointed Olympic team members, maybe | Laura Sternberg |
| AMANDINE | Sat Aug 9, 1997 | Trout ___ | Raymond Hamel |
| APPIA | Sun May 4, 2008 | Via ___ (Roman road) | Richard Silvestri |
| BALROG | Sun Jul 28, 2019 | Creature slain in the Mines of Moria by Gandalf | Christopher Adams |
| BEMOANED | Sun Jun 28, 2015 | Didn't like, and said so | Jeremy Newton |
| CANITWAIT | Sat Mar 20, 2021 | "I'm a little busy, you see?" | Emily Carroll |
| CHECKINGACCOUNT | Sat May 12, 2001 | You may draw on it | Michael Shteyman |
| COUPLES | Sun Jul 8, 2012 | Combines | Joel Fagliano |
| ESSAYMILL | Sat Mar 4, 2023 | Seedy business for college applicants | Ryan McCarty |
| FOOLIN | Sun Oct 3, 1999 | "No ___!" | Fred Piscop |
| GETWORSE | Thu Sep 19, 2002 | Deteriorate | Randolph Ross |
| GRAVESTONE | Sat Feb 15, 2014 | Where to read a plot summary? | Julian Lim |
| HEARSES | Tue Aug 14, 2018 | Funeral vehicles | Andy Kravis and Erik Agard |
| HIGHHOLIDAYS | Thu Mar 3, 2022 | *Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur | August Lee-Kovach |
| HIYOSILVER | Mon Dec 12, 2005 | Lone Ranger's cry | Allan E. Parrish |
| HOTELVISITOR | Tue Aug 23, 2005 | Rubbernecker at the Ritz, perhaps | Holden Baker and Nancy Salomon |
| ILEUS | Sun Dec 19, 1993 | Abdominal ailment | John M. Samson |
| LINEARIZE | Sat Oct 11, 1997 | Make straight | Fred Piscop |
| MAOTSE | Sun Nov 10, 1996 | ___-tung | R. Hamel |
| MAXIMUS | Fri Oct 31, 1997 | Circus follower | Matt Gaffney |
| MODESTFEE | Thu Feb 4, 2016 | Reasonable charge | Jeff Chen |
| NURSERS | Sun May 8, 2011 | Baby bottles | Daniel A. Finan |
| NUTBREAD | Mon Jan 7, 2019 | Dessert loaf | Andrew Kingsley |
| ORPAH | Fri Feb 2, 1996 | Daughter-in-law of Naomi | R. Hamel |
| PLOTARMOR | Sat May 29, 2021 | Protection of a protagonist for narrative purposes, in slang | Adam Aaronson |
| QUITTERS | Sat May 20, 1995 | Deserters | Manny Nosowsky |
| RECEIVES | Sun Dec 3, 1995 | Doesn't serve | Martin Schneider |
| RICKILAKE | Mon Feb 1, 2010 | Sensational 1990s-2000s talk show host | Scott Atkinson |
| RIPPERS | Tue Oct 23, 2012 | Bodice-___ (old-fashioned romance novels) | Jules P. Markey |
| SEDIMENTAL | Sat Sep 22, 2001 | Of a bank deposit? | Jim Page |
| SIRPURR | Sat Nov 10, 2018 | Carolina Panthers mascot with a rhyming name | Will Nediger |
| SIRROBERTPEEL | Sun Apr 24, 2005 | First British Conservative P.M. | Brendan Emmett Quigley |
| SUREIS | Sun Nov 2, 2025 | "No doubt about it!" | Rafael Musa |
| TAKESIGN | Thu Apr 23, 2020 | Gesture from a coach not to swing at the next pitch | Yacob Yonas and Erik Agard |
| TERENCESTAMP | Sun Feb 1, 1998 | "...starring ___..." | Merl Reagle |
| TOYSURPRISE | Wed Feb 9, 2011 | *Cracker feature | Victor Barocas |
| UPBRAIDED | Wed Mar 9, 2016 | Took to task | John Guzzetta |
| WALKING | Thu Jul 21, 2016 | With 1-Across, no-no #1 | Jason Flinn |