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 51,157 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| APPOSING | Wed Jun 21, 1995 | Next-door | Dorothea E. Shipp |
| BIRDDOGS | Sun Jan 23, 2011 | Pointers | Chris A. McGlothlin |
| BRIEFEST | Sat Oct 5, 1996 | Most epigrammatic | T. Payne |
| CANONIC | Sat Apr 2, 1994 | Authorized, in a way | Manny Nosowsky |
| CAPSCREW | Tue Jan 6, 1998 | Machine part fastener | Ed Early |
| CRETACEOUS | Thu May 5, 2016 | Period when dinosaurs became extinct | David Poole |
| CUTOFFTEE | Thu May 21, 2026 | Golfer's suppor- | Zhou Zhang and Mallory Montgomery |
| DARKGLASSES | Fri Sep 23, 2005 | Spy wear | Levi Denham |
| DRAINTILE | Thu Feb 15, 2001 | Item used in basement waterproofing | David Ainslie Macleod |
| EMMYAWARDS | Thu Aug 22, 2024 | MEDALS | Brad Wiegmann |
| FLAMBEED | Sun Dec 10, 2000 | How peaches may be served | Rich Norris |
| FLASHSALE | Mon Jan 29, 2024 | *Short-lived store event | Garrett Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley |
| FUELTANKS | Sun Sep 23, 2018 | Hoses connect to them | Andrew Zhou |
| GLITTERBOMB | Tue Feb 11, 2020 | Comeuppance for a package thief | Neil Padrick Wilson and Jeff Chen |
| GRAYHAIRS | Sun Aug 29, 2010 | Supposed results of stress | Derek Bowman |
| GREYAREA | Fri Jun 29, 2001 | It's open to interpretation | Holden Baker |
| KARLOFF | Thu May 2, 2019 | Co-star of 28-Across | Julie Bérubé |
| KICKOFF | Wed Sep 23, 2015 | Exile from? | Michael S. Maurer |
| LAUDATORY | Sun Mar 30, 2014 | Like an ode | Peter A. Collins |
| MARMEEMARCH | Wed Mar 25, 2020 | Laura Dern, in "Little Women" | Laura Taylor Kinnel |
| MIGNONETTESAUCE | Fri Jul 2, 2010 | Accompaniment for oysters | Paula Gamache |
| MOBILIZE | Wed Jul 25, 2007 | Put into action | Ed Early |
| MURDERHORNET | Sat Dec 5, 2020 | Informal name for Vespa mandarinia | Brendan Emmett Quigley |
| NBAGAMES | Sat Feb 17, 2018 | Widely followed court battles | Peter Wentz |
| POWERBALLADS | Sun Dec 31, 2023 | After midnight: Journey's "Open Arms" and Guns N' Roses' "November Rain," e.g. | Matt Linzer and Rafael Musa |
| PRECEDINGMESSAGE | Sun Feb 4, 2001 | MESS | Frank A. Longo |
| PRINCEHARRY | Fri Jul 16, 2004 | Noted 2003 Eton graduate | Craig Kasper |
| PUTABIDON | Fri Apr 18, 2008 | Tried to buy | Joe DiPietro |
| QUAKINGASPENS | Sun Jun 8, 2008 | They tremble in the slightest breeze | Will Nediger |
| RAGDOLLS | Sun Oct 6, 2019 | Ann and Andy, notably | Howard Barkin and Victor Barocas |
| REVERSESPLIT | Wed Feb 18, 2009 | Corporate action that increases the par value of its stock | Susan Gelfand |
| SANFERNANDO | Mon Jun 9, 1997 | Los Angeles suburb | Thomas W. Schier |
| SEACHANGE | Sat Jul 18, 2020 | Complete shift | John Guzzetta and Michael Hawkins |
| SPOTCHECK | Sat Jan 16, 1999 | Auditing technique | Rich Norris |
| TETRAHEDRON | Tue Oct 27, 2009 | Solid with four triangular faces | Chuck Deodene |
| THECATSKILLS | Wed Aug 14, 2019 | Upstate New York area where 63-Across was held | David J. Kahn |
| TMZLIVE | Sat Feb 23, 2019 | Web and TV broadcast about celebrities | Sam Ezersky |
| TRANQUILITY | Sun Jul 21, 2019 | Name of a sea first visited in 1969 | Jason Mueller and Jeff Chen |
| UNDETERMINED | Tue Mar 17, 2015 | Up in the air | David Phillips |
| YOUARENOTALONE | Tue Jul 4, 2017 | "I'm here, too" | Mangesh Ghogre and Brendan Emmett Quigley |