NYT Crossword January 2, 2026 Answers

Across

1A Havanese greeting 3 4A Tolstoy book whose title asks a question 9 13A Reluctantly stoop 5 16A They rate up to 350,000 on the Scoville scale 9 17A H.S. class for tough life lessons? 5 18A "Just tell me when it's over" 9 19A Dance move also known as a backslide 8 21A Skims, as soup stock 6 22A Fig. that cannot start with 9 3 23A Org. for The Rock and Brock Lesnar 3 24A Tunnel-making machine 5 25A Not many 4 27A Windfalls 5 28A Keep coming up 5 30A One might lead to pay back 9 34A Make some introductions, say 5 35A The Cowboys of the N.C.A.A. 3 36A Word from the Lakota for "they dwell" 5 37A Emotional manipulation tactic 9 39A Meaty meal 5 40A Attraction on the western side of Carson Range 5 41A "Oof!" 4 42A Seems less impressive, so to speak 5 43A Spray in the kitchen 3 44A German stock market index 3 47A Cumbrous 6 49A One-to-one relationship 8 51A Exchanges blows? 9 53A Up to 5 54A Eggless bread spread 9 55A "A-a-a-and ___!" (improv show ender) 5 56A High-carb snack 9 57A May day celebrant 3

Down

1D President who wrote "Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it" 5 2D Default outcomes, perhaps 5 3D Kind of sequence that proceeds 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ... 9 4D Duration 5 5D Modern security threat 4 6D Org. with the Rule of Law Initiative 3 7D Cylindrical oven 7 8D Extremely well-liked? 14 9D Personal opinion? 10 10D Hooting and hollering 5 11D Part of an underground network 4 12D Pithy put-downs 4 14D Main ingredient in an aviation cocktail 3 15D "I like the sound of that!" 14 20D "So adorable!" 3 24D Prepare to ship, say 5 26D Delivery means to a gas station 10 27D Count in the Blues Hall of Fame 5 28D On the ___ (frequently, informally) 3 29D Bird whose eggs are sometimes a canvas for Aboriginal art 3 30D Capotes are flapped at them 5 31D "Let's go, sleepyhead!" 9 32D Booking, for short 3 33D Server's obstacle 3 38D "Word on the street is ..." 7 41D ___ Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code" 3 42D Night of lawlessness in a long-running horror franchise, with "the" 5 43D Try-hard 5 45D Kind of acid 5 46D Stem component 5 47D Capitulate 4 48D Lender's security 4 49D Table outside 4 50D Big purveyor of health supplements 3 52D Gender-neutral term in a family 3