This clue appeared in the NYT Crossword on Thursday, December 18, 2025 (32 Down). The answer is hidden below until you want it. Thursday puzzles often have a trick, such as a rebus (several letters in one square) or answers that bend the rules.
How to read this clue
This is a fill-in-the-blank clue: the answer completes the phrase, title or quotation.
Answer length: 4 squares
First letter
O _ _ _
First and last letters
O _ _ E
Show the answer
About the answer
ONCE as a word: (frequency) One and only one time; (temporal location) Formerly; during some period in the past.
ONCE has been an answer 12 times in the NYT Crossword and Mini since December 4, 2025.
Other clues with the same answer
More clues from this puzzle
- About 35,000 for the Taj Mahal: Abbr. (27 Down)
- No longer relevant (28 Down)
- ___ Nation (activist organization since 1990) (30 Down)
- Fair (31 Down)
- Knockoff version of a bejeweled Imperial egg, e.g. (33 Down)
- In a class by oneself (34 Down)
- ___ Mawr (38 Down)
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