Fish bait
Released 2026.05.10, a hard crossword puzzle
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Recap
Congrats to Boims, Mikey, Mark, MB, Jess, David, x, Jim, sd204, Joel, Abigail P., Phi, Lisa, daisdon-asaurus, Kate, Eric, Steve M, Doc, Graham, and all you 24 mysterious, anonymous folks for completing last week’s puzzle online.
Cheers to all the old schoolers who printed it off to solve.
Thanks to everyone who played – even just a bit!
Crossword
FEATURED CLUE | 39-across: Fish ______ bait
Solve previous puzzles
The Commons
CLUE: Where to find tiny hammers and anvils (4) — 🖋️Paolo Pasco
CLUE: Blues disk? (4) — 🖋️Will Nediger
⬇️ Answers below
The Commons is a guessing game of common/short answers or “crosswordese” used in puzzles.
This won’t be the last word!
Sincerely,
— Crosswoods
Answers
*******
The Commons
Ears
Puck
Puzzle clues
1-Across: Progresses through a chord progression
7-Across: Part of a Sally Field part
10-Across: End of a scandal?
14-Across: They make more than the crowd roar at the circus
16-Across: Crossed (out)
17-Across: The poem “Ramayanam,” for one
18-Across: Greased up
19-Across: Largest portion
20-Across: Bleak
21-Across: Gets the green light, in a way
22-Across: Babes’ first official digits
23-Across: Rick who ran for president and was a senator from PA
25-Across: Frosted Mini-_____
28-Across: [Who I was in yesteryears]
33-Across: See 36-across
36-Across: With 33-across, ‘relatively’ important observation?
38-Across: Medical condition that makes conversing difficult
39-Across: Fish ______ bait
40-Across: Backward
41-Across: An empty tomb in memoriam
46-Across: First utterance candidate
50-Across: Lines on a sleeve, in brief
52-Across: Gluey material for an artist (it sounds like an uncertain reply)
53-Across: Figures on a sleeve, in brief
54-Across: It’s all you need, according to the Fab Four
55-Across: Party lines?
57-Across: Word after Clive or before Wilson
58-Across: Unpredictable cause of the lights going out
59-Across: Witch’s “beauty” mark
60-Across: Frost, to a marketer
61-Across: Teammates in a row, possibly
1-Down: Bitty cigs
2-Down: Fork projections
3-Down: Giant, winged monster from the Godzilla-verse
4-Down: Super cells?
5-Down: Org. that works underground in NYC
6-Down: Time particles, maybe
7-Down: Write anew
8-Down: Equestrian brand that becomes a lasso when ‘L’ is added to the start
9-Down: One responsible for holding a buyer’s deposit
10-Down: Competition for the Google Maps obsessive
11-Down: Self-evident
12-Down: Virtual meeting prefix
13-Down: Dreyer’s partner, in the frozen section
15-Down: Aquaman’s love interest
24-Down: Animal that sounds like some Republican name-calling
26-Down: When added to the beginning of 6-down, large venue capacity
27-Down: Out of the outbox
28-Down: “Strange Case ____ Jekyll and Mr Hyde”
29-Down: “Ma mère _____” (musical composition of “Mother Goose”)
30-Down: Record collector’s protector
31-Down: Gift for the hubby
32-Down: He’s partnered with Richard (Linklater) nine times, as of 2026
33-Down: Pts. for rushing, but not hurrying
34-Down: Trip no.?
35-Down: Competition where you can’t submit to win, briefly
37-Down: Some angelic sounding lamps
42-Down: Like many a character from the 1956 film “Giant”
43-Down: Baseballer who’s a 42-down
44-Down: 1/60000000000000 of a min.
45-Down: Your follower in court?
46-Down: Hangs out, at times
47-Down: Rescue, in a sense
48-Down: _____ macabre
49-Down: Mesopotamian empire ending in the 7th century BC, abbr.
50-Down: Exhale with intention
51-Down: Good state to start a run
56-Down: Snail-like, to a marketer
That was tough but some great clues 👏