My Favorite Crossword Clues Of 2022!

Hey, an actual blog post on my blog instead of just a puzzle! I've been making a list of the best crossword clues I've encountered from puzzles this year (mainly the first half, as you may notice, because I started to forget about the project entirely a couple times), and there are a good many of them! Also sorry that the fonts and colors are inconsistent and that there are some other oddities, I'm still bad at figuring out this whole blogging thing

They all break into several different categories. WE HAVE:


GREAT QUESTION MARK CLUES

[See one's way out?] - POPEMOBILE (Kate Chin Park and Brian Thomas, "a wee little puzzle", 1/11/2022)

[King's "The Shining"?] - CROWNJEWELS (Ariel Haymarket and Erik Agard, “Sheydah #0 (365 + 100)”, 1/12/2022)

[Places to take one’s pick?] - MINES (Paolo Pasco, The Atlantic, 1/19/2022)

[Clear air transmission?] - RADIOEDIT (Paolo Pasco, The Atlantic, 1/21/2022)

[Laying down in a river?] - ROE (Hameltion, “Puzzle 152”, 1/26/2022)

[Rank, in a ranking?] - FTIER, [Pair of queens?] - SHE / HER (Ada Nicolle, “they got me good!”, 1/28/2022)

[Doing shots?] - SEXSCENES (Rose Sloan and Norah in real, “Well Kept Secrets”, 1/31/2022)

[Spoke in the plural?] - RADII (Sommersmith, “They Call Him Mister Tibbs”, 2/4/2022)

[Bottom line?] - CRACK (Pixlate, “Age Of Ultron”, 2/5/2022)

[Result of not saving enough?] - DATALOSS (Drew, "Rainbow Connection", 2/6/2022)

[Handles secretly?] - CODENAMES, [Cellular lining?] - IPHONECASE(Kate Chin Park and Rafael Musa, “Themeless”, 2/7/2022)

[Shares on Reddit?] - STONKS (Mollie Cowger, “Themeless 18”, 2/7/2022)

[It’s in the lead-off spot?] - ERASER, [Buzz word?] - APIAN (Dob Olino, “I’m In”, 2/8/2022)

[Spirit guide?] - PILOT (Claire L. Rimkus, NYT Tuesday, 2/15/2022)

[Take for oneself?] - HEADCANON [from Ricky Cruz] (Christopher Adams, “hey, how about a nice hawaiian punch?”, 2/15/2022)

[A Chainsmoker's goal?] - SELFIE (Iris Amelia, “Iris’ First Crossword T_T”, 2/15/2022)

[Intimacy complex?] - POLYCULE (Kate Chin Park, “(mumble mumble themed puzzle mumble mumble)”, 2/18/2022)

[Buddy comedy?] - ELF (Chandi Deitmer, The Atlantic Sunday, 2/20/2022)

[First quarters?] - STARTERHOME (Will Nediger, “Forging Links”, 2/21/2022)

[Spelling exercise?] - HORSE (Sommersmith, “Cold Weather CrossWordle III”, 2/23/2022)

[Sun spot?] - OUTERSPACE (Ori Brian, NYT Saturday, 2/26/2022)

[Having zero shape?] - OVAL (Ross Trudeau, “Felt Canvas”, 2/27/2022)

[Cap's shield?] - KNEEPAD (Ross Trudeau, “Interrupted Meals”, 3/6/2022)

[Snow White?] - SHAUN (Trent Evans, “Free Association 60”, 3/7/2022)

[Low-interest Bond option?] - STIRRED (Paolo Pasco, The Atlantic, 3/16/2022)

[Signs of vacancy?] - BLANKSTARES (Kate Chin Park & John Lieb, “Explosion”, 3/16/2022)

[Shakespeare’s do?] - DOST (Frisco17, Sapphire, and Dorkshove, “Teamwork Makes No Theme Work! (Themeless #23)”, 3/17/2022)

[Line with foil?] - ENGARDE (Michael, “themeless #12 (iso special)”, 3/20/2022)

[Flying Solo?] - HAN (Ada Nicolle, “introducing me”, 3/21/2022)

[Only late-90s kids will get this?] - APLUS (Paolo Pasco, The Atlantic, 3/25/2022)

[alley oops?] - GUTTERBALL (Kelsey, “themeless 11”, 3/25/2022)

[LP contents?] - MNO (Howard Barkin, “Freestyle II: The Unnecessary Sequel”, 3/29/2022)

[Can opener?] - HARDC (Norah Sharpe & Alex Boisvert, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[Cult leader?] - HARDC (Christian Legge, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[Clearer in hindsight?] - REARWIPER (Byron Walden, NYT Sunday, “Soft Options'', 4/3/2022)

[Safety net?] - TWOPOINTS (Caitlin Reid, NYT Friday, 4/8/2022)

[Over due amount?] - TRE (Ross Trudeau, “Court of Public Opinion”, 4/10/2022)

[Means of supervision?] - XRAYEYES (Trenton Charlson, NYT Friday, 4/15/2022)

[Place for kitchen pans?] - YELP (Sommersmith, "Who's Hungry? Part XXXIII", 5/2/2022)

[Dishwasher cycle?] - CHOREWHEEL (Brooke Husic, “demi themeless ten”, 5/9/2022)

[Improvised something in C, perhaps?] - CODED, [Strip of metadata?] - UNTAG (Sommersmith, “The Wheel Keeps Turning”, 6/3/2022)

[Made a joint assault?] - KNEED (Cobb County Public Library, “Weekly Words Week 117”, 6/25/2022)

[Hit different?] - REMIX, [Christian of the cloth?] - DIOR (Jessie & Ross Trudeau, “High Notes”, 6/26/2022)

[Line delivered orally?] - FLOSS (Quiara Vasquez, “Five by Five #8”, 7/18/2022)

[Leaves totally drained of energy?] - DECAFTEA (John Westwig, NYT Saturday, 8/13/2022)

[What makes you question everything you know?] - JEOPARDY (Patrick John Duggan, NYT Friday, 8/19/2022)

[Moving film?] - SHRINKWRAP (Hemant Mehta, NYT Saturday, 8/20/2022)

[Where posters can hang?] - FORUM (Paolo Pasco, “Remedial Chaos Theory” [2], 9/18/2022)

[Isn't out of order?] - TINS (Will Nediger, “Sound Asleep”, 10/24/2022)

[Get a load of this guy?] - SPERMDONOR (Malaika Handa, Vulture, “The Anti Puzzle”, 11/2/2022)

[Event for a dead ringer?] - SEANCE (kieranjboyd, “NYT Minimised 2022-12-04”, 12/4/2022)

[Cut with a letter opener?] - TBONESTEAK (John Martz, NYT Sunday, “Novel Thinking”, 12/25/2022)

GENIUS MISDIRECTS

[ID seen at the post office] - IDAHO (Robyn Weintraub, NYT Friday, 1/7/2022)

[Words read with feeling] - BRAILLE (Daniel Okulitch, NYT Saturday, 1/22/2022)

[It goes in circles but gets to the point] - PENCILSHARPENER (Jared Goudsmit, Universal Crossword, “Universal Freestyle 5”, 1/29/2022)

[Throw on the floor] - AREARUG, [The right one can produce a smile] - PARENTHESIS, [Result of selling out] - PACKEDHOUSE (Kameron Austin Collins, NYT Saturday, 2/5/2022)

[What came before Bing in the 90s] - CHANDLER (Malaika Handa & Mollie Cowger, “themeless 17: swoops”, 2/10/2022)

[Who's there, in a joke] - FIRSTBASE (Rebecca Goldstein & Claire L. Rimkus, "out and outstanding", 2/13/2022)

[A toe or two] - DIGIT (Quiara Vasquez, “Hey, It’s Q. Vasquez”, 2/13/2022)

[Range rover, say] - WILDANIMAL (Wyna Liu, New Yorker Friday, 2/18/2022)

[Man of La Mancha] - HOMBRE (Victor Barocas, NYT Sunday, “Pardon My French”, 2/20/2022)

[Cry like a kid] - BLEAT (Ori Brian, NYT Saturday, 2/26/2022)

[Shire of a noted film trilogy] - TALIA (Ross Trudeau, “Felt Canvas”, 2/27/2022)

[Bidder's call] - ADIEU (Ricky Cruz & Brooke Husic, “For Starters…”, 3/12/2022)

[Apple juice sources] - PHONECHARGERS (Michael, “themeless #12 (iso special)”, 3/20/2022)

[Touch the heart] - PRESSLIKE (Kate Chin Park, “to whom tf it may concern”, 4/28/2022)

[Taboo gathering, perhaps] - GAMENIGHT (Will Nediger, New Yorker Monday, 7/4/2022)

[Like a bajillion dollars] - HYPERBOLIC (Kameron Austin Collins, NYT Saturday, 7/16/2022)

[They’re open to change] - TIPJARS (Patrick John Duggan, NYT Friday, 8/19/2022)

[where you might go from zero to hero in a single step] - WORDLADDER, ["goo goo ga ga" sounds] - HARDGS (carter, “42: what are the odds?!”, 9/3/2022)

[One foot in “the grave”, poetically speaking] - IAMB (Ryan Patrick Smith, NYT Wednesday, 10/19/2022)

[It's not for the up-and-coming] - SEXDREAM (Brooke Husic, "out of the fog", 12/27/2022)

I JUST THINK THEY'RE NEAT

[Homophone of the sum of this clue number's digits] - ATE (Paolo Pasco, NYT Sunday, “Color Mixing”, 1/2/2022)

[Horη?] - ETA (WordNerdBird, “Party Animals”, 1/2/2022)

[Make it well known that you know someone well-known well] - NAMEDROP (David Bukszpan, NYT Tuesday, 1/4/2022)

[Filmer Kilmer] - LAV (VAL) (Thoron, “Like Clockwork”, 1/12/2022)

[“in this essay i will”] - ATHREAD (Kate Chin Park, “mystery hunt mini”, 1/17/2022)

[Side Hyde tried to hide] - JEKYLL (Howard Barkin, NYT Thursday, 1/20/2022)

[Working hard to nail] - HAMMERINGAWAYAT (Quiara Vasquez and Kate Chin Park, “The Black-and-White Puzzle”, 1/27/2022)

[List compiled here (please contribute!): https://tinyurl.com/eightdown2wds] - TRANSITIONFUNDS (Ada Nicolle, “they got me good!”, 1/28/2022)

[Behind, to someone with the mouth of a sailor] - ASS, [Behind, to someone with the mouth of a sailor] - AFT (Luis Kim, “Horrible Clues”, 2/4/2022)

[: : ___ :: :: : "as"] - ISTO (Kate Chin Park and Rafael Musa, “Themeless”, 2/7/2022)

[T/I/N/A turner] - VANNA (Evan Birnholz, Washington Post Sunday, “Celebrity Dish”, 2/20/2022)

[Goes after "psy" but also comes from "Psy"] - OP (Dorkshove, “Dorky’s first puzzle (I tried)”, 3/8/2022)

[Orange Tang is pretty popular, but there's really only one blue tang people care about.] - DORY (Dorkshove, “Dorky’s second puzzle (in one day)”, 3/8/2022)

["You shouldn't grab me, Johnny. My mother grabbed me ___ ... ___!" ("Johnny Dangerously" quote)] - ONCE (Adam Aaronson, “Does Not Compute”, 3/14/2022)

[Ironically a homophone for Cupid?] - AROACE, [George Washington, in decision making] - HEADS (Frisco17, Sapphire, and Dorkshove, “Teamwork Makes No Theme Work! (Themeless #23)”, 3/17/2022)

[Word aptly spelt by every other letter of "L'il ol' me?", when spelt backwards] - MOI (Ada Nicolle, “introducing me”, 3/21/2022)

[Man, this place blows!] - WINDFARM (Wally, “Twice Weekly 9x9 - #41”, 3/25/2022)

[Start of Celtic but not Celtic] - HARDC (Christopher Adams, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

["Here's Looking at ___" (popular math book)] - EUCLID (Rose Sloan, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[Word with "seas" or "season"] - OPEN (Dob Olino & Momes, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[ISP hidden in this puzzle's byline] - AOL (Paolo Pasco, “Remedial Kate Moss Theory” [5], 9/18/2022)

[Total number of Pokémon circa MCMXCVI] - CLI (TehSaxophonist, “What’s Your Type? (A Pokémon Puzzle)”, 12/5/2022)

EMBRACING THE MEMES

[Devo ___ (purchase for a new wave devotee)] - TEE (Will Nediger, “Round and Round”, 1/10/2022)

["I'm so convulsing with hilarity that even the largest muscle in my body cannot remain attached!"] - LMAO (Clementonic, “Devastating 90s Burn”, 1/29/2022)

[*points at some things*] - THOSE (Dob Olino, “I’m In”, 2/8/2022)

["sorry miss jackson- ooh, i am four ____ / never meant to make your daughter cry / i am several fish and not a guy"] - EELS (Kelsey, “happy valentine's day from crosstina aquafina”, 2/13/2022)

[response to "hey guess what, i just got donkey kong eating funyuns tattooed on my forehead"] - SOISEE (Kelsey & Erik Agard, "throw some d's", 2/18/2022)

[*punches wall* it's a fucking female deer] - DOE (Meatdaddy & Kelsey, “Mother Tongues”, 3/7/2022)

[I've heard of Munchy Monk, but who's Munchy Painter?] - EDVARD (Dorkshove, “Dorky’s first puzzle (I tried)”, 3/8/2022)

[Blow jobs!?!? To be clear by "Blow" I mean "New York Times columnist Charles Blow"] - OPEDS (Quiara Vasquez, “The One With The Deez Nuts Reference”, 3/17/2022)

["AITA for teaching my (20M) niece (4F) to say 'el ___' when her mom (32F) says 'you know what really gets my goat?'" (viral Reddit post)] - CHUPACABRA (Ada Nicolle, “introducing me”, 3/21/2022)

["DJs be like: I'm in my ___ era"] - ERA (Ada Nicolle, “2-2-2 (meta)”, 3/24/2022)

[Horny on ___ (aka me immediately squandering any nepotism hires by tweeting about letting Robert Pattinson handfeed me whatever fucked up pasta concoction he microwaves)] - MAIN (Meatdaddy, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[What you get if David Blaine listened exclusively to Korn and Godsmack] - CRISSANGEL (Totcho, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[Me tweeting my funniest friends' comments and then BASKING IN THE STOLEN VALOR] - CROSSPOSTS (Kate Chin Park, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[Cracking ___ a boy with the cold ones (activity for vampire bros)] - OPEN, ["I like big butts and I cannot lie. The ___ guard likes big butts, and cannot tell the truth." (start of a riddle in the Sir Mix-a-Lot / Raymond Smullyan crossover universe)] - OTHER (Christopher Adams, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[Things that might be found on the limb on the branch, the branch on the tree, the tree in the hole, the hole in the bog, the bog down in the valley-o] - NESTS (Rose Sloan, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[the existence of a popemobile in the disney/pixar cars universe implies that these sacred ceremonies could be performed by a ford fiesta] - RITES, [mathematician who'd shit himself if he saw the shape of a pringle] - EUCLID (Kelsey, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[When the right ear of your Dr. Dre-branded headphones goes out] - BEAT (Dob Olino & Momes, Meatdaddy’s “Tabula Rasa”, 3/30/2022)

[have Gaye sex?] - GETITON (carter, “nah fam”, 4/3/2022)

["___ GOT to stop meeting like this!" - me doing a bad job flirting with my hot doctor after she gives me a strep test] - WEVE, [___thon, which is the most I'm willing to budge on y'all getting a straight pride month] - TOYOTA (Meatdaddy, “Real Smooth”, 4/12/2022)

[Megan Thee Stallion statement of self-actualization akin to Marcus Aurelius's "Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature" or Irina Dunn's "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle"] - DICKDONTRUNME (Kate Chin Park, “to whom tf it may concern”, 4/28/2022)

[Alternative to men, meteorologically] - CATSANDDOGS (Meatdaddy & Brooke Husic, “Kitty Corner”, 5/18/2022)

[State of the union??] - IDO (Dob Olino, “Scattered”, 9/6/2022)

["Fun fact: blueberries are the only fruit named after a color" "star fruit?" "So close!! That is a ___ <3<3"] - SHAPE (Paolo Pasco, “Remedial Chaos Theory” [2], 9/18/2022)

["I looked at the solution and the answer to 63-Across is LEAK," e.g.] - LEAK, [Said "Your ventriloquy show was very good," probably] - LIED (Paolo Pasco, “Remedial Chaos Theory” [3], 9/18/2022)

["And ___ the twain shall meet!" - God inventing the gooch] - NEER, [Gamers who can't handle my strongest potions, and they'd better go to a seller who sells weaker potions] - NOOBS (meatdaddy, “Wots All Dis Den Themeless”, 9/20/2022)

[bad ending to a gender reveal] - ACAB (CarlyTheyThemsen & evie atarax, “cluesday chewsday coupday”, 9/20/2022)

And finally, fitting into its own special category:

THANKS, ARCTAN

["kill the ___ 'cause i sure ain't fuckin it / marry the oreo because i love oreos / yeah that would work best" (Frisco's response to a FMK situation involving four-letter crosswordese, which implies fucking an ewer "because it would fit well")] - ETUI (Christopher Adams, “hey, how about a nice hawaiian punch?”, 2/15/2022)