Without Delay NYT Crossword Clue Explained
The answer to “Without delay” in the NYT Crossword is ASAP — the 4-letter abbreviation for “as soon as possible.” Documented in the official XWord Info archive for the Tuesday, December 16, 2008 NYT puzzle, ASAP is the default answer for urgency clues, and it has been a crossword staple for decades.
Why ASAP?
The ASAP NYT crossword answer compresses “as soon as possible” into four punchy letters, and crosswords love it for two reasons: the meaning is universally understood, and the letter pattern (A-S-A-P, vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant) slots beautifully into grids. The clue “Without delay” is a straight definition — no wordplay, no trick — which is exactly how the NYT usually deploys this answer. When a clue reads like a dictionary definition of haste, think ASAP first.
The urgency family has several members, and the letter count picks the winner. Four letters: ASAP, the king of the category. Four letters with a snappier, more informal clue (“Move it!”, “On the double!”)? That could be STAT — hospital slang for “immediately,” from the Latin statim. Six letters: PRONTO, the Spanish-flavored hurry. Three letters: PDQ (“pretty darn quick”). The NYT rotates through these, but ASAP appears most often because it is the most common real-world abbreviation of the bunch — it shows up in emails, texts, and office memos every day.
One subtlety: watch for the abbreviation signal. “Without delay, for short” (a documented variant) explicitly asks for the compressed form, locking in ASAP over longer synonyms like PROMPTLY or SWIFTLY. Without the “for short” tag, a 4-letter slot could still be ASAP — but a 7-letter slot would send you hunting for INSTANT or PROMPTLY instead. As always, let the crosses arbitrate, but pencil in ASAP the moment you see a 4-letter urgency clue.
Solving Tip: Urgency Clues Are Almost Always Abbreviations
Speed-related clues in the NYT skew heavily toward abbreviations and slang — ASAP, STAT, PDQ, PRONTO — because the grid needs short, punchy fill and urgency is inherently terse. When you see “Hurry,” “Quickly,” “Right away,” or “Without delay,” skip the long synonyms (SWIFTLY, PROMPTLY, INSTANTLY) and test the short list first: 4 letters → ASAP or STAT, 3 → PDQ, 6 → PRONTO. Check the clue’s tone too: medical or military flavor (“Nurse’s order,” “Medic’s cry”) points to STAT, while office or texting flavor (“Email sign-off request”) points to ASAP.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does ASAP stand for?
“As soon as possible.” In the NYT Crossword it answers urgency clues like “Without delay” (documented December 16, 2008) and “Without delay, for short.” It is the most common 4-letter urgency answer in crossword history — the default your brain should reach for whenever a haste clue offers four squares.
Is the answer ASAP or STAT?
Both mean “immediately,” and both are 4 letters — so read the clue’s flavor. Office, email, or everyday-haste clues (“Without delay”) mean ASAP. Medical, hospital, or military clues (“Doctor’s order,” “Nurse’s cry”) mean STAT, from the Latin statim. When the flavor is ambiguous, the crosses will confirm within seconds.
What are other hurry-up answers in crosswords?
Learn the family: ASAP (4, the everyday hurry), STAT (4, the medical hurry), PDQ (3, “pretty darn quick”), PRONTO (6, the Spanish-flavored hurry), and HASTE (5, as in “make haste”). Each has a distinct clue signature, and together they cover nearly every speed clue the NYT prints. Letter count plus clue flavor picks the winner every time.
Why do crosswords love ASAP so much?
Three reasons: everyone knows it, the A-S-A-P letter alternation is grid-friendly, and urgency clues are easy to write at any difficulty level — from Monday gimmes to Saturday stingers. It is pure crosswordese-adjacent gold: common in life, perfect in grids. For more on the NYT’s favorite filler words, see our crosswordese guide.
What if ASAP doesn’t fit my crossing letters?
Then run the urgency checklist in order: STAT (4, medical flavor), PDQ (3), PRONTO (6), HASTE (5). If none fit, re-read the clue — you may be looking at a longer synonym like PROMPTLY or SWIFTLY, or the clue may be wordplay rather than a straight definition. When only one or two letters are known, our free crossword solver tests every urgency candidate against your pattern instantly.
Other NYT crossword clues for ASAP
The ASAP NYT crossword clue is refreshingly honest — constructors rarely disguise it. Documented wordings include “Without delay” (December 16, 2008) and the even more explicit “Without delay, for short,” where the “for short” tag locks in the abbreviation. You’ll also meet it wearing everyday clothes: “Quickly,” “Right away,” “Hurry,” and “Posthaste” all resolve to the same four letters when the slot demands it.
The key insight: urgency clues in the NYT skew toward abbreviations and slang because the grid needs short, punchy fill. When a haste clue offers 4 letters, ASAP is the statistical favorite — it outnumbers STAT, its only real 4-letter rival, by a wide margin in the archive.
How to spot ASAP in the NYT crossword
Use the two-step filter: meaning + length. Step one: does the clue mean “quickly” or “immediately” (“Without delay,” “Hurry,” “Right away”)? Step two: is the slot 4 letters? If both answers are yes, write ASAP — it’s the highest-probability 4-letter urgency answer in the NYT’s history. The abbreviation signal (“for short,” “Abbr.”) makes it a lock, ruling out longer synonyms like PROMPTLY or SWIFTLY.
Step three is flavor-checking against STAT. Medical, hospital, or military contexts (“Doctor’s order”) point to STAT; office, email, and everyday contexts (“Without delay”) point to ASAP. This flavor test resolves nearly every ASAP-vs-STAT standoff before the crosses do.
ASAP’s crossword neighbors: the hurry family
ASAP heads a small, learnable family of speed answers. STAT (4) is the hospital hurry, from Latin statim — think “Doctor’s order.” PDQ (3) is “pretty darn quick” in its most compressed form. PRONTO (6) brings Spanish flavor to the same meaning. HASTE (5) is the literary one (“make haste”). Each member has a distinct clue signature, so the family never really confuses — it just asks you to match flavor to letters.
Speed clues reward this family-first approach because constructors draw from the same tiny pool again and again. Memorize the five members and their signatures, and urgency clues become some of the fastest solves on the grid. For the full catalog of the NYT’s recycled favorites, see our crosswordese guide.
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