Daily Puzzle Solution
NYT Crossword
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
The New York Times crossword puzzle for Wednesday, December 17, 2025 features 78 clues. Today's puzzle has an average answer length of 4.8 letters. The longest answer is "SPOUTINTHEOCEAN".
Total Clues
78
Longest
SPOUTINTHEOCEAN
Avg Length
4.8
Shortest
STY
Featured Clue
"Welcome sight on a whale-watching cruise?"
15 Letters
SPOUTINTHEOCEAN
ALLComplete Solution List
Steakhouse order
4RARE
Powerful impulse
4URGE
Meeting, casually
4SESH
League
4ARAB
Official mandate
6DECREE
Dark-skinned fruit
4SLOE
Elmer's nemesis
4BUGS
Pieces of advice
4TIPS
Hog's home
3STY
Fellow fighter
4ALLY
Easter Island's country
5CHILE
Yamaha product
4OBOE
To and ___
3FRO
Pot grower?
4ANTE
Compassionate
4KIND
Primordial substance
4OOZE
Terra ____
5COTTA
Brand once known as "Standard Oil Company of Indiana"
5AMOCO
Centerpiece of "The Hobbit"
5QUEST
Tarot suit associated with the element of water
4CUPS
Community property pronoun
3OUR
See 50-Down
6NOSTRA
Single instruction
4STEP
Like barked orders
4CURT
Welcome sight on a whale-watching cruise?
15SPOUTINTHEOCEAN
Group of grumps sitting around kvetching?
10POUTYPARTY
Fully get
6FATHOM
Enemy W.W. II vessel
5UBOAT
Genre for GloRilla
3RAP
TV freebie of a sort
3PSA
Welcome figure on Wall Street, unwelcome figure in a china shop
4BULL
Turner of old movies
4LANA
Lock combinations?
5COIFS
Howl at the moon
3BAY
Mardi Gras day, in brief
3TUE
Poindexter
4GEEK
Ali vs. Frazier, e.g.?
15CHAMPSATTHEBOUT
A smartphone has lots of these
4USES
H, on the N.Y.S.E.
5HYATT
Takes a tour of
4SEES
What makes a stud become studious?
4IOUS
Painstakingly explain something ... or a hint to 17-, 26- and 45-Across
10SPELLITOUT
Works on a muffler, say
5KNITS
"That's a real shame"
4ALAS
Does the math, in a way
4ADDS
Ones from platypuses have leathery shells
4EGGS
Fly by night ... or by day
4PEST
Marchers in sidewalk cracks
4ANTS
Authentic
10TRUETOLIFE
Chevy S.U.V.
8SUBURBAN
Canines, e.g.
5TEETH
Neighbor of Ont.
3QUE
Cultivated, in a way
4HOED
Mega
5ULTRA
Get Smart bad guys
4KAOS
Throw off
5REPEL
Have faith in
5TRUST
Follow, as advice
5ACTON
Suffix with beat or neat
3NIK
With 42-Across, the Mafia
4COSA
Overplay for the audience
5HAMUP
Big name in chicken or boxing
5TYSON
1990s comedy inspired by "Emma"
8CLUELESS
Just about anything on a string
6CATTOY
Food you might eat wearing a bib
5CRABS
Start a turn in Twister
4SPIN
Jost's longtime "Weekend Update" co-anchor
3CHE
Red carpet hairstyle, perhaps
4UPDO
Stick in the ground?
3TEE
Compact holder
5PURSE
Was the bigger person, say
10APOLOGIZED
Batting avg., e.g.
4STAT
Short stroke
4PUTT
Rocksteady relative
3SKA
__ bin ein Berliner
3ICH
Minuscule amount
4IOTA
Gary's ___ Towne Tavern (rival bar on "Cheers")
4OLDE
Time to do without
4LENT