Crossword puzzles are a weird mix of frustration and dopamine. You’re staring at a black-and-white grid, three-quarters finished, and then you hit it: close at hand crossword clue. It feels simple. Your brain immediately suggests "near." But "near" is only four letters. The grid wants five. Or maybe seven. Or perhaps it’s a tricky Sunday puzzle and it wants a weird French loanword you haven’t thought about since high school.
Solving crosswords isn't just about knowing definitions. It’s about understanding the specific "dialect" of the puzzle editor. Will Shortz at the New York Times thinks differently than the folks over at the LA Times or The Wall Street Journal. When you see a clue like "close at hand," you aren't just looking for a synonym; you're looking for the specific word that fits the constructor's vibe for that day.
The Most Common Answers for Close at Hand
Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. If you are looking at a Tuesday or Wednesday puzzle, the answer is almost certainly NEARBY. It’s the workhorse of the crossword world. It’s got those vowels—E, A—and the very useful Y at the end that helps bridge into vertical clues.
But it’s not always that easy.
Sometimes the answer is ABOUT. Think about the phrase "while you’re about." It’s a bit old-fashioned, sure, but crossword constructors love that stuff. If the space is four letters, NEAR is the king. If it’s five, AREAR pops up occasionally, though that usually refers to being behind. More likely, a five-letter requirement for "close at hand" will lead you to HANDY.
It’s literally in the clue.
Wait—can they do that? Usually, no. Crossword "rules" (which are more like strong suggestions) say you shouldn't use the answer in the clue. If the clue is "close at hand," the answer shouldn't be "handy." But editors get cheeky. Sometimes the clue is AVAILABLE. That’s a long one—nine letters. It fits those big horizontal stretches in a Friday puzzle where the constructor is trying to show off.
Why Context Is Everything in Crossword Logic
You have to look at the punctuation. It matters more than you think. If there’s a question mark at the end—Close at hand?—everything changes. That question mark is code for "I'm punning, and you’re going to hate it."
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In that case, the answer might be GLOVE or MITTEN.
Think about it. What is "close" at your "hand"? A glove.
This is where people get stuck. They look for synonyms for "proximity" when they should be looking for clothing. This is the "Aha!" moment that makes crossword junkies keep coming back. It’s a mental pivot. You go from spatial reasoning to literal interpretation in a split second.
The Heavy Hitters: NYT and LA Times Variations
If you're tackling the New York Times, you might run into IMMINENT. This moves the clue from a spatial meaning to a temporal one. Something that is "close at hand" could be happening soon.
"The deadline is close at hand."
In this context, NEARBY doesn't work. IMMINENT or AT HAND (if it’s a multi-word answer) becomes the target. The LA Times puzzle often leans toward AVAILABLE or CONVENIENT. They tend to favor a slightly more functional vocabulary compared to the NYT's penchant for the poetic.
Let's look at some lengths because, honestly, that’s how we all solve these anyway:
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- 4 Letters: NEAR, NIGH
- 5 Letters: HANDY, ABOUT, LOCAL
- 6 Letters: NEARBY, ADJOIN
- 7 Letters: AT HAND, NEARISH
- 9 Letters: AVAILABLE, PROXIMATE
NIGH is a classic "crosswordese" word. Nobody says "the end is nigh" in real life unless they are wearing a sandwich board and standing on a street corner in a movie. But in puzzles? It’s everywhere. It’s short, it has a G and an H, and it fits into tight corners. If you see "close at hand" and it’s four letters, and NEAR doesn't work because of the vowels, try NIGH.
Decoding the Editor's Intent
Ever notice how some puzzles feel "fairer" than others? That’s E-E-A-T in action for the puzzle world—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. A seasoned editor like Mike Shenk knows that if he uses a vague clue like "close at hand," he has to provide "crosses" (the intersecting words) that are rock solid.
If you're stuck on this clue, stop looking at the clue itself. Look at the words crossing it.
If you have a _ _ A _ Y and the clue is "close at hand," you might be tempted by "NEARBY." But check the vertical. If the vertical clue is "Salty drop" and the third letter of your horizontal word is "A," then "TEAR" works perfectly. That confirms the "A" in NEARBY.
The Linguistic Shift: From Space to Time
"Close at hand" is an idiom, and idioms are slippery.
Sometimes the clue refers to PROXIMITY.
Sometimes it refers to READINESS.
If I say my tools are close at hand, I mean they are READY or OFFERED. If the clue is in a British publication like The Guardian (especially their cryptic crosswords), "close at hand" might be an anagram. Cryptics are a whole different beast. "Close at hand" could be a "container" indicator, where you put one word inside another. But for standard American puzzles, you're usually looking for that synonym.
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Common Missteps to Avoid
Don't marry your first answer. This is the biggest mistake solvers make. You write in "NEARBY" in pen, and then you spend twenty minutes trying to justify why the vertical word for "Type of fish" starts with a "Y."
It doesn't. The fish is a "TUNA" and your answer was actually "AT HAND."
Also, watch out for "NIGH." It’s the "hidden" answer for many people because we just don't use it in 2026. It feels like 19th-century prose. But constructors love it because it’s a "linker" word. It helps them move from a high-frequency vowel section to a more difficult consonant cluster.
How to Solve This Faster Next Time
Crosswords are essentially a game of pattern recognition. When you see "close at hand," your brain should immediately fire off a list: NEAR, NIGH, HANDY, NEARBY, ABOUT, AT HAND.
- Check the letter count immediately. This eliminates 80% of the possibilities.
- Look for "crosswordese." Is there a NIGH or an ADJ (short for adjacent) lurking?
- Check the tense. If the clue was "was close at hand," the answer must be past tense (e.g., NEARED).
- Read for puns. If the clue feels "wink-wink," think about literal hands (GLOVE, FINGER, PALM).
Crossword puzzles aren't just tests of vocabulary; they’re tests of flexibility. The "close at hand crossword clue" is a perfect example of how a simple phrase can have six or seven different identities depending on who’s asking and how much room they have in the grid.
Next time you’re stuck, take a breath. Step away from the screen or the paper. Often, the word you need is sitting right there in the back of your head, just waiting for you to stop trying so hard to find it. Whether it’s the literal HANDY or the archaic NIGH, the answer is, well, close at hand.
Actionable Puzzle-Solving Tactics
- Scan the crosses first: If you're 50/50 between "NEARBY" and "ATHAND," fill in the first and last letters of the crossing clues. Usually, the first letter of a crossing word is much easier to guess than the middle of a long horizontal.
- Use the "Delete" rule: If three crossing words don't make sense, the long word is wrong. Even if you're sure it's "NEARBY," the grid doesn't lie. Delete it and start over with "HANDY."
- Keep a mental "Short List": Every solver should have a mental file for certain clues. "Area" and "Close at hand" are the two most common clues with a dozen different answers. Memorize the 4, 5, and 6-letter variations.