Person on the brink of failure? crossword clue
26 Across · WSJ Crossword, September 9, 2026 · 8 letters
Explanation
The answer to “Person on the brink of failure?” is DSTUDENT. It appears as 26 Across in the Wall Street Journal crossword of September 9, 2026, a Wednesday puzzle titled “Cut The Cards” by Stephan Prock & Jeff Chen, and it fills 8 squares running left to right from row 5, column 8 of the 15×15 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 D and ends with T, and contains 2 vowels and 6 consonants. If you are working from the crossings, two or three confirmed letters from the Down entries should be enough to lock it in. Wednesday puzzles sit mid-week on the difficulty curve, so expect the rest of this grid to be pitched at the same level.
Past appearances
DSTUDENT 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.