Daily Puzzle Solution
NYT Crossword
Sunday, February 22, 2026
The New York Times crossword puzzle for Sunday, February 22, 2026 features 140 clues. Today's puzzle has an average answer length of 5.1 letters. The longest answer is "WHERETHEWILDTHINGSARE".
Total Clues
140
Longest
WHERETHEWILDTHINGSARE
Avg Length
5.1
Shortest
TIE
Featured Clue
"<i>Noah's Ark</i>"
21 Letters
WHERETHEWILDTHINGSARE
ALLComplete Solution List
Ease up
5ABATE
Setting for a landscape
6CANVAS
Like pickles, but not cucumbers
6ACIDIC
Turn up
6LOCATE
If all goes perfectly
6ATBEST
Certain head jurors
7FOREMEN
Like some 401(k) contributions
6PRETAX
<i>The Ten Plagues</i>
14DEATHONTHENILE
Freeze
4HALT
Bolo, e.g.
3TIE
Farmyard call
3BAA
Print-ready
6EDITED
<i>Sodom and Gomorrah</i>
16ATALEOFTWOCITIES
Literary fairy queen
3MAB
Outpouring of Pandora's box
4ILLS
Erelong
4ANON
Part of T.G.I.F. (abbr.)
3FRI
Singsong syllable
3TRA
Season ticket holders, presumably
4FANS
Shoofly desserts
4PIES
Hopeless from the start, for short
3DOA
Janis ___, "At Seventeen" singer
3IAN
<i>Samson and Delilah</i>
17DANGEROUSLIAISONS
Baseball Hall of Famer Mel
3OTT
Fix
3RIG
Calendar notation: Abbr.
4APPT
Diamond stats
4RBIS
Certain trig functions
5SINES
So-called "Hollywood of the South"
7ATLANTA
Big name in bubbly
4MOET
Painter's medium
3OIL
<i>Noah's Ark</i>
21WHERETHEWILDTHINGSARE
Nonclerical
3LAY
Get the better of
4LICK
Like Constantinople, in 1930
7RENAMED
Interior style
5DECOR
Ballet bend
4PLIE
Europa, Ganymede or Callisto vis-à-vis Jupiter
4MOON
The Third
3III
Ruckus
3ADO
<i>Garden of Eden</i>
17THEAGEOFINNOCENCE
Scrumdiddlyumptious
3MMM
Crew need
3OAR
Get the ___ (finally become aware)
4MEMO
Ingredient in some gels
4ALOE
Designated H.M.O. doctor, in brief
3PCP
Vintage film channel
3TCM
Letters on a crucifix
4INRI
Word with rabbit or all
4EARS
Sully
3MAR
<i>Moses Parting the Red Sea</i>
16THEPRINCEOFTIDES
Rush uncontrolledly
6CAREER
Most common last name in Somalia
3ALI
Pressure meas.
3PSI
It's verboten
4NONO
<i>Jonah and the Whale</i>
14THEGREATESCAPE
Title woman in a 1965 Beach Boys hit
6RHONDA
Took turns
7ROTATED
Brimless topper
6BEANIE
One bringing home the bacon
6EARNER
Surprisingly enough
6NOLESS
Bars legally.
6ESTOPS
Follows
5HEEDS
Leader of the pack
5ALPHA
2006 mockumentary about a Kazakh journalist
5BORAT
High-speed travel option
5ACELA
Squealer's activity
8TATTLING
H, to Hera
3ETA
West Pointer
5CADET
Thoroughly enjoyed, with "up"
3ATE
Org. with the Nuggets and Nets
3NBA
Screen ___
3VET
Rubbish receptacle
6ASHBIN
Weasel with a black-tipped tail
5STOAT
Where the coxswain sits
3AFT
Unity
8COHESION
In a fury.
4IRED
Blue material
5DENIM
Counterfeit
9IMITATION
Whoop it up
9CELEBRATE
Glorify
5EXTOL
___ Stark, "Game of Thrones" patriarch
3NED
Gullible sort
4NAIF
Hypotheticals
3IFS
Besides
4ELSE
Part of a trunk
5WAIST
First-year law student, informally
4ONEL
___ fan tutte
4COSI
Mathematician Paul
5ERDOS
___ on a log (celery-stick snack studded with raisins)
4ANTS
Confidence
5FAITH
What may be right but not left?
5ANGLE
New Yorkie, say
3PUP
Delegate
6ASSIGN
Pull to open
4DRAW
Dilapidated
5RATTY
Moonfish
4OPAH
Yankees nickname until 2016
4AROD
My eye!
4IBET
Wielder of a red lightsaber
4SITH
Casablanca role
4ILSA
Folk singer Guthrie
4ARLO
Approaching
6NEARTO
1964's Nobel Peace laureate, for short
3MLK
Common bridge bid, informally
5ONENO
Spanish "she"
4ELLA
Kristen of "Bridesmaids"
4WIIG
Slushy brand
4ICEE
Press
4IRON
Protein-building acid, informally
5AMINO
Treat again, as a sprain
5REICE
Actress Falco
4EDIE
Clammy
4DAMP
Heeere's Johnny! announcer
9EDMCMAHON
Measure against
9COMPARETO
Tree branch or power line, for a bird
5PERCH
One making an impression
5MIMIC
Woman honored in John Lennon's "Woman"
3ONO
Where boaters hang with bowlers
8HATTREES
Hyatt alternative
4OMNI
Spore-producing plant
4FERN
Transport (around)
4CART
Castle in "Hamlet"
8ELSINORE
Heart of the matter
4MEAT
Subject for van Gogh
6IRISES
Aurora's counterpart in Greek mythology
3EOS
Lit
5AFIRE
Big name in movie theaters
5REGAL
First-year West Pointer
5PLEBE
Olympic blades
5EPEES
No man is an island writer
5DONNE
Was over
5ENDED
Glides high
5SOARS
Middle (abbr.)
3CTR
Noted Art Deco designer
4ERTE
Sponsored spots
3ADS
Persian or Abyssinian
3CAT
Enero a diciembre
3ANO
Domino dot
3PIP
Yeah, right!
3HAH