48 Across

NYT Daily • September 7, 2025

Facetious suffix with most

Answer:

-EST

Hint:

Think of how you might jokingly exaggerate a simple adjective like "good" or "big" to sound like the absolute best.

Explanation:

This clue plays on the word "most" as a superlative marker. The suffix "-est" turns adjectives into their superlative form (like "fast" to "fastest"), so it’s the grammatical way to say "most." The "facetious" hint suggests the answer isn’t literal—it’s a pun on how "-est" functions as the "suffix with most.

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