Daily Puzzle Solution
NYT Crossword
Saturday, May 16, 2026
The New York Times crossword puzzle for Saturday, May 16, 2026 features 66 clues. Today's puzzle has an average answer length of 6.0 letters. The longest answer is "DEBATECONTESTS".
Total Clues
66
Longest
DEBATECONTESTS
Avg Length
6.0
Shortest
LID
Featured Clue
"Matches with forensics"
14 Letters
DEBATECONTESTS
ALLComplete Solution List
Modern "go-to's"
4URLS
Curtain for silhouetting on stage
5SCRIM
Bird on the South Carolina state quarter
4WREN
Capote or chesterfield
4COAT
Emulates E.T., in a way
10PHONESHOME
Roman goddess who drives a two-horse chariot
4LUNA
Precious self-reference
10LITTLEOLME
Name shared by the singer of the #1 hit "Rock Me Gently" (1974) and the first Korean American elected to the U.S. Senate (2024)
7ANDYKIM
Double-___ cassowary (bird of Indonesia and Australia)
7WATTLED
Matches with forensics
14DEBATECONTESTS
Occasions to relax and recharge
6MEDAYS
Obama's third secretary of defense (2013-15)
5HAGEL
Gasoline brand that offered the Torch Club credit card
5AMOCO
Aid in making salsa
5DICER
Operculum, e.g.
3LID
Capital of Greenland
4NUUK
They're hard to pull off
5FEATS
Spa service, in brief
4MANI
Up to snuff, facetiously
3EPT
Trickles
5SEEPS
Cup holders?
5ZARFS
Many a Porsche 911
5COUPE
Practical types who are often perfectionists, it's said
6VIRGOS
Don't start with me
14SECONDSTRINGER
Difficult effort
7TRAVAIL
Cut out
7EXCISED
Setting for Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte"
10RIVERSEINE
Cold-smoked lox
4NOVA
7 up, perhaps
10EVENSTEVEN
Gulf of ___, waters that abut Djibouti and Somaliland
4ADEN
Vanilla units
4PODS
Spouts
5SPEWS
Romp
4LARK
Victor over Washington on 11/12/1955 in "Back to the Future, Pt. II" — and in real life
4UCLA
Cattle call?
9ROUNDEMUP
Went wide or long, as a tennis ball
9LANDEDOUT
"No closer!"
8STAYBACK
Takes off
6SPLITS
Wind pipe?
5CHIME
Blight
3ROT
Getting a break on Broadway?
9INTWOACTS
Medleys
8MELANGES
Marriott property with the slogan "Whatever Whenever"
6WHOTEL
Triumphs smoothly
5ROLLS
___ Brickowski ("The Lego Movie" protagonist)
5EMMET
"What this country ___ ..."
5NEEDS
Certain volleyballer
6SETTER
Deck
4KAYO
Once-popular terra-cotta figurine
7CHIAPET
Trigger hair
4MANE
State in which Gulliver is discovered by the Lilliputians
9DEEPSLEEP
Combo meal upgrade
9LARGESODA
Going back ages
9INFOREVER
Track
4DISS
Folks who enjoy a well-aged beef?
8FEUDISTS
Borderline
8MARGINAL
Echolocation systems
6SONARS
Element between copper and gallium on the periodic table
4ZINC
Spelling combinations?
6COVENS
They're concerned with feeding kits
6VIXENS
Pharyngeal woe
5STREP
Cynthia ___, Tony winner for "The Color Purple"
5ERIVO
Buckled
5CAVED
Extend, in a way
5RENEW
Chilly and damp
4DANK
Noticed
3IVE