In the deep past, before there were emojis, amorous writers resorted to X for KISS and O for HUG. The letter shapes tell you which is which. The Across theme answers here are missing the O, so give them a hug. The Down themers have an extra X, so steal that kiss.
Solvers who care about such things will be pleased that the answers are legitimate words or phrases with or without those extraneous Xs and missing Os.
XO
Wed 12/10/2025
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I'm not aware of more than one Hydra (26-Down) in Greek myth. The famous Lernaean Hydra was the child of Typhon and Echidna, two primordial monsters who also birthed creatures like Cerberus and Chimera. It was finally killed by Heracles (with help from his nephew.)
Thu 10/16/2025
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In this case, NEAT means without ICE. Add ICE back in to match the clues.
BENTO → BE NICE TO
PRY → PRICEY
SLR → SLICER
DROLL → DICE ROLL
NOTABLE → NOTICEABLE
OFFHOURS → OFFICE HOURS
APPENDS → APPENDICES
I/O (input/output) errors happen on devices on any Operating System, so I'm not sure why Windows got dragged into 2-Down.
Sun 4/6/2025 Course Correction
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The initial view shows the grid as you fill it in. Click the grid to see the courses being corrected (spun) to satisfy the crossing clues. Click again to reset.
Sun 1/5/2025 All Things Change
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In print, the three circles representing coins are colored to look like a dime, a penny, and a nickel.
You turn on a dime to make HAIR EXTENSIONS
You take one penny to get the common phrase
You Nickle Back (EVIF) for the fountain
For 117-Across, 1/4 would be TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT, removing TWENTY-FIVE (no quarter) leaves it as just PERCENT.
Wed 9/4/2024
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Thu 7/18/2024
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The circled letters are wormholes that magically, I mean sciencefictionally (and maybe even scientifically), jump to another location in the universe, I mean crossword.
Mon 6/10/2024
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SET is the answer for all fourteen 3-letter words.
