New York Times Crossword Puzzle Answers Today 05/16/2026. The May 16 2026 Puzzle Answers are listed below in such order that they are easy to find.
The puzzles get harder and harder to solve and more complex as the week passes You can search by clue name, number or direction for example for 2 Across clue just type '2A' or '2D' for 2nd down clue.
Search clue name or clue number.
- Across
- 1a Modern “go-to’s”URLS
- 5a Curtain for silhouetting on stageSCRIM
- 10a Bird on the South Carolina state quarterWREN
- 14a Capote or chesterfieldCOAT
- 15a Emulates E.T., in a wayPHONESHOME
- 17a Roman goddess who drives a two-horse chariotLUNA
- 18a Precious self-referenceLITTLEOLME
- 19a 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)ANDYKIM
- 21a Double-___ cassowary (bird of Indonesia and Australia)WATTLED
- 22a Matches with forensicsDEBATECONTESTS
- 24a Occasions to relax and rechargeMEDAYS
- 25a Obama’s third secretary of defense (2013-15)HAGEL
- 26a Gasoline brand that offered the Torch Club credit cardAMOCO
- 27a Aid in making salsaDICER
- 28a Operculum, e.g.LID
- 31a Capital of GreenlandNUUK
- 32a They’re hard to pull offFEATS
- 33a Spa service, in briefMANI
- 34a Up to snuff, facetiouslyEPT
- 35a TricklesSEEPS
- 36a Cup holdersZARFS
- 37a Many a Porsche 911COUPE
- 38a Practical types who are often perfectionists, it’s saidVIRGOS
- 39a Don’t start with me!SECONDSTRINGER
- 43a Difficult effortTRAVAIL
- 44a Cut outEXCISED
- 46a Setting for Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”RIVERSEINE
- 48a Cold-smoked loxNOVA
- 49a 7 up, perhapsEVENSTEVEN
- 50a Gulf of ___, waters that abut Djibouti and SomalilandADEN
- 51a Vanilla unitsPODS
- 52a SpoutsSPEWS
- 53a RompLARK
- Down
- 1d Victor over Washington on 11/12/1955 in “Back to the Future, Pt. II” ? and in real lifeUCLA
- 2d Cattle callROUNDEMUP
- 3d Went wide or long, as a tennis ballLANDEDOUT
- 4d “No closer!”STAYBACK
- 5d Takes offSPLITS
- 6d Wind pipe?CHIME
- 7d BlightROT
- 8d Getting a break on Broadway?INTWOACTS
- 9d MedleysMELANGES
- 10d Marriott property with the slogan “Whatever Whenever”WHOTEL
- 11d Triumphs smoothlyROLLS
- 12d ___ Brickowski (“The Lego Movie” protagonist)EMMET
- 13d “What this country ___ ?”NEEDS
- 16d Certain volleyballerSETTER
- 20d DeckKAYO
- 23d Once-popular terra-cotta figurineCHIAPET
- 24d Trigger hairMANE
- 27d State in which Gulliver is discovered by the LilliputiansDEEPSLEEP
- 28d Combo meal upgradeLARGESODA
- 29d Going back agesINFOREVER
- 30d ___ trackDISS
- 32d Folks who enjoy a well-aged beef?FEUDISTS
- 33d BorderlineMARGINAL
- 35d Echolocation systemsSONARS
- 36d Element between copper and gallium on the periodic tableZINC
- 37d Spelling combinations?COVENS
- 38d They’re concerned with feeding kitsVIXENS
- 39d Pharyngeal woeSTREP
- 40d Cynthia ___, Tony winner for “The Color Purple”ERIVO
- 41d BuckledCAVED
- 42d Extend, in a wayRENEW
- 45d Chilly and dampDANK
- 47d “___ noticed”IVE
That 19a clue (ANDYKIM) was a fantastic piece of trivia! It’s rare to see a crossword puzzle connect a 1970s pop hit singer with modern political history in a single answer. Truly shows how deep the constructors have to dig for these Saturday puzzles. Thanks for the breakdown of the May 16 answers, it really helped clarify a couple of the tougher downs like 8d and 32d.