Not As Good Crossword Clue: Answer, Meaning and Examples

The most common answer to the crossword clue "Not as good" is WORSE (5 letters), which appeared in the NYT Mini on August 3, 2025 and the Universal Crossword on February 8, 2026 (dazepuzzle.com; tryhardguides.com). The six-letter slot takes POORER — recorded in the Wall Street Journal on December 27, 2025 — while EVILLER (7) is a rarer alternative.

The Most Common Answers

"Not as good" is a comparative clue: it asks for the comparative form of an adjective meaning "bad" or "poor". The documented answers:

Why WORSE Is the Default

WORSE is the comparative of "bad", making it the most direct grammatical match for "not as good". It has appeared in the NYT Mini twice (May 21, 2022 and August 3, 2025), the Universal Crossword (February 8, 2026), and the Seattle Times (June 30, 2026) — a track record that makes it the first guess for any five-letter slot (tryhardguides.com; dazepuzzle.com).

POORER: The Six-Letter Alternative

POORER is the comparative of "poor" — having less wealth, quality, or value than something else. The Wall Street Journal used it for "Not as good" on December 27, 2025 (dazepuzzle.com). If your slot runs to six letters and the crossings give you P_O_R_R, you have your answer.

EVILLER and EVILER: The Moral Angle

These comparatives of "evil" appear in clue databases for "Not as good" when the intended sense is moral rather than qualitative. They are rarer than WORSE and POORER but worth knowing for longer slots.

Recent Sightings of the "Not as Good" Clue

• NYT Mini — August 3, 2025: "Not as good" = WORSE (5). Also seen in the NYT Mini on May 21, 2022 (dazepuzzle.com).
• Universal Crossword — February 8, 2026: "Not as good" = WORSE (5) (crossword-solver.io).
• Seattle Times New Crossword — June 30, 2026: "Not as good" = WORSE (5) (tryhardguides.com).
• Wall Street Journal — December 27, 2025: "Not as good" = POORER (6) (dazepuzzle.com).
• Apple+ Crossword — June 9, 2026: "Not as good" = WORSE (5) (tryhardguides.com).
• Sun 2-Speed — March 27, 2026: "Not as good" = WORSE (5) (tryhardguides.com).

The pattern is clear: five letters almost always means WORSE, six letters means POORER.

How Comparative Clues Work in Crosswords

"Not as good" belongs to a family of comparative clues where the phrasing signals a comparative adjective:

The trick is recognising that "not as X" always resolves to the comparative of X's opposite. "Not as good" = the comparative of "bad" = WORSE. The same logic cracks "not as tall" (SHORTER) or "not as bright" (DIMMER).

Example Clues That Resolve to WORSE or POORER

• "Not as good" — WORSE (NYT Mini, Aug 3, 2025)
• "Not as good" — POORER (WSJ, Dec 27, 2025)
• "Inferior" — WORSE
• "Less well" — WORSE
• "On the decline" — WORSE or POORER
• "What things could always be" — WORSE (a playful phrasing recorded by dazepuzzle.com)
• "Response during an eye exam" — WORSE ("which is worse, one or two?") — a clever misdirection using the optometrist's script

Tips for Solving Comparative Clues

1. Translate "not as X" to the comparative of the opposite. "Not as good" → worse; "not as strong" → weaker. This "not as X" phrasing is one of the most common comparative clue templates across American-style crosswords.
2. Letter count decides between WORSE and POORER. Five letters: WORSE. Six: POORER.
3. Read the crossings early. A W at the start or an E at the end confirms WORSE; a P start confirms POORER.
4. Watch for the eye-exam trick. "Worse" is what the optometrist asks about ("Is this better or worse?"), so medical-flavoured clues can still resolve to WORSE.
5. Don't overlook the moral sense. If surrounding entries skew dark or villainous, EVILER/EVILLER becomes more likely.

Daily mini puzzles are great for practising these quick comparative clues — and if you enjoy grid puzzles generally, our sudoku puzzle book guide and the parseword game explainer offer more to solve.

Common Mistakes With "Not As Good" Clues

The biggest mistake is writing BADDER — it is nonstandard English, and the correct comparative of "bad" is WORSE, so BADDER never appears as the answer. A second error is defaulting to WORSE in a six-letter slot, where POORER is the answer (the Wall Street Journal used POORER on December 27, 2025). Beginners also miss the moral sense: if surrounding entries skew dark or villainous, EVILER or EVILLER becomes more likely than WORSE. Another trap is ignoring the letter count — five letters almost always means WORSE, six means POORER, so count the slot before guessing. Finally, do not overthink eye-exam-flavoured clues: "which is worse, one or two?" is the optometrist's script, and WORSE is still the answer.

Why "Worse" Has No Simple Positive: The Comparative Family

There is a grammatical reason WORSE dominates this clue, and knowing it helps with a whole family of comparative clues. "Worse" is what linguists call a suppletive comparative — the comparative form of "bad" does not follow the normal rule of adding "-er". We do not say "badder" (which is why the article notes it is wrong); instead, English borrows an entirely different root, giving us "bad → worse → worst". The same thing happens with "good → better → best".

This matters for crosswords because setters love the mismatch between clue and answer forms. "Not as good" asks for the comparative of a positive adjective ("good"), but the answer is the comparative of its opposite ("bad"). Your brain has to flip the meaning before it can find the word — a small extra step that makes the clue feel trickier than it is.

The same flip appears across the comparative family. "More bad" gives WORSE directly; "less good" gives WORSE by negation; "not as good" gives WORSE by implication. Once you see the pattern, you can solve the whole set: "not as big" → SMALLER, "not as fast" → SLOWER, "not as happy" → SADDER. The structure is always the same — negate the positive, answer with the negative's comparative.

One more trap to note: "worse" and "worst" are different parts of the same chain, and sloppy solvers mix them. "Not as good" is comparative (worse); only a clue like "least good" or "most bad" wants the superlative WORST.