NYT Crossword Answers for Thursday, October 15, 2026

Thursday, October 15, 2026 · Today's NYT Crossword answers

OCT15

NYT Crossword

Thursday, October 15, 2026

15×15By McKay FritzEdited by Will ShortzTricky (often a gimmick)

Thursday puzzle · 74 answers · Tricky (often a gimmick). Hints first; every answer is behind a button.

Reveal the 5 longest answers (usually the theme)

20A GUARANTEED28A NEGATION37A LAMBASTED49A OPTIMIZE55A FIREBLANKS

The question-mark clues

A “?” at the end of an NYT clue means wordplay: a pun, a double meaning or a trick. This grid had 6; here are their numbers and answers.

  1. 40AAcross clue ending in “?” (3)
    RevealLIB
  2. 51AAcross clue ending in “?” (7)
    RevealERASERS
  3. 53AAcross clue ending in “?” (5)
    RevealSINEW
  4. 39DDown clue ending in “?” (3)
    RevealTNT
  5. 43DDown clue ending in “?” (7)
    RevealDINNERS
  6. 58DDown clue ending in “?” (4)
    RevealBRIE
Crossword regulars in this grid (spoilers)

Answers in this NYT Crossword that had shown up before, counted over the 336 puzzles since November 2025:

REN ×15TNT ×13EDEN ×12ASAP ×11ICE ×11SLY ×11ACNE ×9DRE ×9

The full NYT Crossword solution

Show the solved grid
All 37 Across answers

1A DRE4A AFLAT9A COMET14A REN15A GRECO16A ABACI17A AFL18A HASNT19A TITLE20A GUARANTEED23A CAD24A OGRES25A MEGAHIT28A NEGATION32A CICERO33A SEED34A BREA36A BAS37A LAMBASTED40A LIB41A STAN42A EDEN46A HOOPLA49A OPTIMIZE51A ERASERS53A SINEW54A AND55A FIREBLANKS59A RESIN62A TETRA63A EID64A TRUCE65A EATIN66A REA67A HYPES68A SPEED69A SLY

All 37 Down answers

1D DRAGONS2D REFUGEE3D ENLARGE4D AGHAST5D FRAN6D LEST7D ACNE8D TOTEM9D CAT10D OBI11D MATCHES12D ECLAIR13D TIEDTO21D READLIPS22D DEC26D GIBE27D ACADEMIA29D IBM30D ORBS31D NEATO35D ASAP38D ABLE39D TNT40D LOADSUP43D DINNERS44D EZEKIEL45D NEWSDAY46D HEARTH47D ORNERY48D ARF50D ISLAND52D SITES56D REAP57D ETTE58D BRIE60D ICE61D NES

About This NYT Crossword

The NYT Crossword for Thursday, October 15, 2026 was a 15×15 grid by McKay Fritz, edited by Will Shortz. It had 74 answers and 38 black squares; the longest answer ran 10 letters. That is 2 fewer than the average Thursday before it (76.4). 6 clues ended in a question mark.

Also on Oct 15: the NYT Mini Crossword and the NYT Midi Crossword.

Earlier October 2026 NYT Crossword Answers

Oct 1Oct 2Oct 3Oct 4Oct 5Oct 6Oct 7Oct 8Oct 9Oct 10Oct 11Oct 12Oct 13Oct 14Oct 15

Every earlier puzzle is in the NYT Crossword archive. For the newest one, see today's NYT Crossword answers, which switch to the next puzzle as soon as it's released.

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