Creatures of habit? crossword clue
80 Down · WSJ Crossword, May 16, 2026 · 4 letters
Explanation
The answer to “Creatures of habit?” is NUNS. It appears as 80 Down in the Wall Street Journal crossword of May 16, 2026, a Saturday puzzle titled “F Is For...” by Zhouqin Burnikel, and it fills 4 squares running top to bottom from row 13, column 21 of the 21×21 grid.
The question mark at the end of the clue signals wordplay: the surface reading is a misdirection, and the answer fits a punning or figurative sense of the words. The entry begins with N and ends with S, and contains 1 vowel and 3 consonants. If you are working from the crossings, two or three confirmed letters from the Across entries should be enough to lock it in. This weekend puzzle uses the largest grid of the week, so expect the rest of this grid to be pitched at the same level.
Past appearances
NUNS has not appeared as an answer in any other WSJ puzzle in our index, which runs from May 2026 onward. It will be listed here the next time it turns up.