New Year's Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword for New Year's: the countdown to midnight, resolutions, the calendar and midnight around the world.

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New Year's Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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Word bank

  • Calendar
  • Clock
  • Confetti
  • Countdown
  • Eve
  • Fireworks
  • Goal
  • Hooray
  • January
  • Midnight
  • Resolution
  • Toast

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 8 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

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Answer key: New Year's Crossword

1F2C3CLO4CKIA5CORL6GOALN7EVEUFWNNEOD8TOAST9JRADTAK10RESOLUTIONSWU11MIDNIGHTAR12HOORAY

Across 3 CLOCK · 6 GOAL · 7 EVE · 8 TOAST · 10 RESOLUTION · 11 MIDNIGHT · 12 HOORAY

Down 1 FIREWORKS · 2 CALENDAR · 4 CONFETTI · 5 COUNTDOWN · 9 JANUARY

Next step Print the months of the year worksheetsPrint the winter crossword

All 95 clues

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New Year's Eve Night 31

  • Awake Not asleep: the hard part of the night for the youngest
  • Ball A lit one has slid down a pole in New York most years since 1907
  • Banner Long strip of letters hung over a doorway
  • Bedtime It is moved later, just for one night
  • Burst What a rocket does high overhead
  • Cheer Loud "Yay!" from everyone at once
  • Chime One bong from a tower
  • Cider Fizzy fruit juice in a tall glass for the big moment
  • Clock All eyes are on its hands as the year runs out
  • Confetti It snows down on the crowd in tiny colored scraps
  • Countdown "Five, four, three, two, one!"
  • Eve The 31st is New Year's ___
  • Fireworks Sky show with a bang, a Chinese invention
  • Games Board ___ pass the long wait
  • Glitter Tiny shiny specks that end up everywhere
  • Hooray Shout of joy when the count runs out
  • Horn Blower with a curled tongue that shoots out
  • Kazoo You hum into it, and it hums back with a rasp
  • Lights The famous New York sphere glows with thousands of them
  • Midnight The moment one day, and one year, becomes the next
  • Noisemaker Anything shaken or spun to make a happy racket
  • Pajamas What many children wear to watch the year turn
  • Party Gathering with music, paper hats and late hours
  • Popcorn Buttery bowlful for a long night of waiting
  • Sixty Ticks the famous lit sphere takes to come down, from 11:59 on
  • Sparkler Slow-burning wand that showers tiny stars, held at arm's length
  • Streamer Curly ribbon of tissue that sails over heads when thrown
  • Toast "To the year ahead!" said with cups held high
  • Twelve Number of bongs as the old year ends
  • Whistle Toy that tweets when you blow
  • Yawn Wide-open sign of a sleepy guest

Resolutions and Fresh Starts 25

  • Chapter A new one opens, people say, as in a book
  • Courage What it takes to do something for the first time
  • Dream Something you long to do someday
  • Effort Hard work; what a big aim takes
  • Fresh New and clean, like untouched snow
  • Future Everything still to come
  • Goal Something you aim for, such as running a mile
  • Grateful Thankful for all that the old year gave
  • Habit Making your bed each morning is one
  • Hope Feeling that good things lie ahead
  • Journal Book of blank pages for a few lines about each day
  • Leaf "Turn over a new ___": to set about behaving better
  • Learn To pick up a new skill
  • List Many people write their aims as a numbered one
  • Memories What the old year leaves you with
  • Patience What a slow-growing skill demands of you
  • Plan Steps written down before you set out
  • Practice Piano scales every afternoon, for example
  • Progress Moving forward, step by step
  • Promise "I will, cross my heart" is one
  • Resolution "Walk the dog daily" is one for the year ahead
  • Save To keep your allowance in a jar, not spend it
  • Slate "Clean ___": a beginning with nothing held over
  • Tomorrow "See you next year!" on the 31st means "See you ___"
  • Wish What you make on a star, or for the year to come

Calendar and Time 21

  • Annual Yearly, like a birthday or a holiday
  • Caesar Julius ___, whose reform of the year took effect in 45 BC
  • Calendar Wall chart you replace when the year turns
  • Century Span of one hundred New Year's Days
  • Decade The 2020s, for example
  • December The year's final page on the wall chart
  • February It gets a 29th day about every four years
  • Gregorian Name of the year-count most of the world uses, in effect since October 1582
  • January Its 1st is New Year's Day
  • Janus God pictured with a face on each side of his head
  • Julian Name of the older year-count that Rome adopted in 45 BC
  • Leap ___ year: one with 366 days, about every four years
  • Millennium Span of one thousand New Year's Days
  • Minute The final one of the year gets counted aloud
  • Noon Halfway through a day
  • Orbit One lap around the Sun, which Earth finishes in about 365.25 days
  • Summer In Australia, New Year's Day falls in it
  • Thirty-one Days in each of the two months that meet at New Year
  • Week From one Monday to the next
  • Winter Season of snowmen, and of New Year's Day in Canada
  • Zone Time ___: region where every watch shows the same reading

Midnight Around the World 18

  • Auld "___ Lang Syne": verses of 1788 sung as the year turns
  • Bell It rings out the old year
  • Broadcast What a television station does with the big moment, live
  • Date line International ___: boundary in the ocean where one day becomes the next
  • Doorstep Where a caller stands and knocks
  • East The new year sweeps from here toward the west
  • First-foot In Scottish custom, the earliest caller to cross the threshold on New Year's Day
  • Globe Model of the planet; the new year circles it in a day
  • Greeting "Happy New Year!" is one
  • Hogmanay Scots word for the last day of the year
  • Kiribati Nation whose eastern isles reach the new year before nearly anyone
  • Luck Good fortune; people want plenty of it in the year ahead
  • Samoa Nation among the first to see the year; the American territory of the same name is among the last
  • Scotland Country whose old tune is sung in many lands as the year turns
  • Sunrise The year's first one draws early risers to beaches and hilltops
  • Sydney Australian city famous for the display over its Harbour Bridge
  • Tonga South Sea nation among the very first to greet the year
  • Tradition What a yearly family ritual becomes over time

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site in four sets: New Year's Eve night, resolutions and fresh starts, the calendar and time, and midnight around the world. Dates, places and customs were checked against English Wikipedia and Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), and the length of a year against NASA Space Place (spaceplace.nasa.gov), in October 2026. The two Scottish customs rest on both. No clue quotes a song. Licence: own work

How it works

This free printable New Year's crossword puzzle fits Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle is easy: 12 words with a word bank, among them Midnight, Countdown, Resolution, Calendar, Confetti, January and Toast.

Read the full guide

Four sets after the easy one

New Year's Eve Night has Sparkler, Noisemaker, Streamer and Kazoo. Resolutions and Fresh Starts has Habit, Journal, Patience and Progress. Calendar and Time has Gregorian, Leap, Decade and Millennium. Midnight Around the World has Kiribati, Sydney, Hogmanay and First-foot.

A set that follows the clock

Midnight Around the World runs from east to west, as the new year does: Sydney's fireworks come hours before the ball comes down in New York.

  • For a class party, print New Year's Basics for grades 2 to 4 and Calendar and Time for older pupils.

Questions and answers

Is there an easy New Year's crossword puzzle to print for kids?

Yes. New Year's Basics opens with a word bank and one-line clues: Clock, Party, Eve, Goal. The four themed sets suit grades 4 to 7. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

Is the New Year's crossword printable free, with an answer key?

Yes. Printing is free with no sign-up, and the answer key comes out last, on a sheet of its own. Press New puzzle for a different grid from the same set.

Why does the new year start on January 1?

The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, took effect on 1 January 45 BC, and the Gregorian calendar of 1582 kept that start. January is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings.

Where does the new year arrive first?

In the Pacific, just west of the International Date Line. The Line Islands of Kiribati see midnight first, with Samoa and Tonga close behind. American Samoa, Baker Island and Howland Island are among the last.

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