If you’re looking to flex your vocabulary muscles beyond the standard crossword, The Missing Letter crossword puzzle by Merriam-Webster is a daily brain teaser! This puzzle is not just filling in a grid, but an alphabetical hunt. With the clues, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet, the real challenge is figuring out which single letter has been left out. Here are the answers and the crucial missing letter for today’s puzzle, January 7, 2026.

The Missing Letter Answers - 1

The Missing Letter Answers Today: January 7, 2026

The Missing Letter is: Q

By solving the clues provided, the letter F is the only one not utilised as a starting letter for an answer.

  • 1 Across: BIOGRAPHICAL NAME: “Rainer Maria 1875–1926 German poet” — RILKE

  • 6 Across: Due to the fact that, casually — CUZ

  • 9 Across: NOUN: “the son of Abraham and father of Jacob according to the account in Genesis” — ISAAC

  • 10 Across: Suffix for sugars — OSE

  • 11 Across: Inexperienced with — NEWTO

  • 12 Across: Ten-decade period (abbr.) — CEN

  • 13 Across: NOUN: “a musical instrument with a drumlike body, a fretted neck, and usually four or five strings which may be plucked or strummed” — BANJO

  • 15 Across: NOUN: “activity that a person engages in regularly to earn a livelihood” — WORK

  • 17 Across: ADJECTIVE: “causing or involving little difficulty or discomfort” — EASY

  • 20 Across: NOUN: “a geographic region” — AREA

  • 21 Across: NOUN: “an award presented annually by a professional organization for notable achievement in plays performed off-Broadway” — OBIE

  • 22 Across: NOUN: “the head of a division, faculty, college, or school of a university” — DEAN

  • 23 Across: VERB: “to defer a decision about something” — PUNT

  • 24 Across: Unit of purity — KARAT

  • 26 Across: Sixteen, in kings’ names — XVI

  • 28 Across: Randy of wrestling — ORTON

  • 31 Across: “Ich bin ___ Berliner” (JFK quote) — EIN

  • 32 Across: Fall into ___ sleep — ADEEP

  • 33 Across: VERB: “to irritate by constant scolding or urging” — NAG

  • 34 Across: NOUN: “a yellowish-brown to reddish-brown aromatic gum resin with a bitter slightly pungent taste obtained from a tree…of eastern Africa and Arabia” — MYRRH

  • 1 Down: ___ Tin Tin — RIN

  • 2 Down: Suffolk suffix with real or random — ISE

  • 3 Down: NOUN: “the act of violating the [criminal code]” — LAWBREAKING

  • 4 Down: NOUN: “the form of Japanese syllabic writing used especially for scientific terms, official documents, and words adopted from other languages” — KATAKANA

  • 5 Down: Nobel Prize category, for short — ECON

  • 6 Down: NOUN: “a pale vegetable fat with a low melting point” — COCOABUTTER

  • 7 Down: VERB: “to put into action or service” — USE

  • 8 Down: NOUN: “a state of calm attentiveness” — ZEN

  • 14 Down: NOUN: “exposure to or imminence of loss or injury; danger” — JEOPARDY

  • 15 Down: Roll of $100 bills, say — WAD

  • 16 Down: Miners seek it — ORE

  • 18 Down: NOUN: “an offense against religious or moral law” — SIN

  • 19 Down: ADVERB: “so far” — YET

  • 25 Down: Travel without a destination — ROAM

  • 26 Down: COMBINING FORM: “foreign” — XEN

  • 27 Down: PREPOSITION: “by means of” — VIA

  • 29 Down: “‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ preposition” — OER

  • 30 Down: Doogie Howser’s portrayer, in headlines — NPH

The Missing Letter Answers Today: January 7, 2026 - 2

Today’s grid offered a fantastic spread of high-level vocabulary, skillfully blending intellectual depth with pop-culture accessibility. Long vertical entries featuring Japanese linguistics and smooth botanical terminology provided the puzzle’s backbone, while historical references to Cold War-era speeches and classic wrestling personalities kept the momentum high. The inclusion of a specific gum resin and technical units of purity gave the solve a satisfying “dictionary-first” feel. The difficulty felt perfectly balanced for a Wednesday, rewarding solvers for their breadth of knowledge while leading them toward a very specific missing letter. I would rate today’s challenge a 4 out of 5 .

How to Play ‘The Missing Letter’

If you’re new to this Merriam-Webster classic, here’s how the “alphabetical twist” works:

  • The Goal: Fill the grid using 25 words that each begin with a unique letter of the alphabet.
  • Identify the Gap: Once the grid is complete, determine which of the 26 letters was not used as a starting letter.
  • Weekly Reward: Keep track of each daily missing letter; at the end of the week, you can unscramble them to solve the Weekly Mystery Word .