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 50,781 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACUTES | Tue Dec 10, 1996 | Accents in "resume" | D. Niles |
| ASPIRATION | Sun Mar 6, 2011 | Hope | David Levinson Wilk |
| AVERAGEAGE | Thu Oct 13, 2016 | About 25 years, for N.F.L. players | Don Gagliardo and Zhouqin Burnikel |
| BESTCOMEDYALBUM | Mon Jan 26, 2026 | Grammy Award that's good for laughs? [1960s rock musician] | Erica Hsiung Wojcik |
| BIGTIMER | Sat Jan 20, 2007 | Pooh-bah | Harvey Estes |
| BOBCOSTAS | Sat Oct 29, 2005 | NBC Sports personality | Joe DiPietro |
| CACHINNATE | Thu Aug 27, 2020 | Laugh uproariously | Nancy Stark and Will Nediger |
| COCKPIT | Fri Oct 2, 2020 | Place for an ace | Debbie Ellerin |
| COTTAGEINDUSTRY | Wed May 28, 2003 | Making of handicrafts, say | Alan Arbesfeld |
| DISTILLER | Sun Aug 12, 2007 | Hiram Walker, for one | Cathy Millhauser |
| DOESLUNCH | Sat Sep 11, 2021 | Meets and eats, perhaps | Sid Sivakumar |
| DRILLBIT | Mon Jun 19, 2017 | Tool part used to create holes | Susan Gelfand |
| DUCKANDCOVER | Sun Jul 22, 2001 | Raw materials for a feather pillow? | Patrick Berry |
| ECYCLED | Sat Mar 15, 2025 | Was eco-conscious with tech waste, in modern parlance | Ryan McCarty |
| ELBOWING | Fri Apr 5, 1996 | Hockey taboo | J. Page |
| HARMONICATS | Fri Dec 26, 1997 | "Peg o' My Heart" hitmakers, 1947 | Bob Sefick |
| HESITATER | Sun Jun 11, 2006 | Lost one? | Maxwell H. D. Johnson Jr. |
| HITOPFADES | Sat Dec 11, 2021 | Cousins of crew cuts | Hal Moore |
| INTHECORNER | Tue Jun 3, 2008 | This puzzle's answer to 35-Across (spelled out four times) | Pete Muller |
| JUNIPEROIL | Sat Aug 22, 2015 | Aromatherapy option | Barry C. Silk |
| LASAGNAS | Sun Jul 6, 1997 | Pasta dishes | Robert H. Wolfe |
| LEADGUITAR | Fri Sep 3, 2021 | Frequent rock soloist | Brendan Emmett Quigley and Paolo Pasco |
| LITTLEBROWNANDCOMPANY | Sun Sep 6, 2020 | Day competitor | David Kwong |
| MATALIN | Sun Jan 30, 1994 | Mary of "Equal Time" | Alex K. Justin |
| MEATSWEATS | Sat Dec 6, 2025 | Side effect after a BBQ meal, informally | Marshal Herrmann |
| MONSIGNOR | Tue Sep 13, 2011 | Priest's honorific | Patrick McIntyre |
| MUSTHAVE | Thu May 7, 2020 | Something indispensable | Bruce Haight and Peter A. Collins |
| NARCISSI | Sun Jan 7, 2001 | Garden perennials | Manny Nosowsky |
| NOREACTION | Thu Mar 23, 2006 | Blank stare, say | Ethan Cooper |
| PEELEDOUT | Sun Jul 6, 2025 | Burned rubber | Zhou Zhang and Kevin Curry |
| POSSIBILITY | Mon Dec 2, 2024 | Potential option | Andrea Carla Michaels and Kevin Christian |
| POTENCES | Sat Feb 14, 1998 | Strengths: Var. | Mark Diehl |
| REARVIEWS | Sun Apr 10, 2005 | Mirrors may show them | Elizabeth C. Gorski |
| SIDESWIPED | Fri Mar 10, 2017 | Went door to door? | Pawel Fludzinski |
| SLIPKNOTS | Sat Jul 27, 2002 | Scouts' creations | Robert H. Wolfe |
| SPHINXES | Sat Sep 7, 2019 | Enigmatic people | Trenton Charlson |
| STALLERS | Sun Mar 10, 1996 | Procrastinators | F. & L. Sabin |
| TATTOOISTS | Fri Sep 25, 1998 | They may have designs on you | Mark Blakeburn |
| THELITERALWORST | Fri Sep 8, 2023 | It's awful, awful, awful | Rachel Fabi and Ken Stern |
| TOOKILL | Sun May 18, 2014 | Got sick | Joe DiPietro |