Step 1: Put in the work to improve Crossword Clue

We have the 15-letter answer for Step 1: Put in the work to improve crossword clue, last seen in the WSJ Crossword August 23, 2025 puzzle. Sometimes we all need some help finding the answer!

Step 1: Put in the work to improve Crossword Answer

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Helpful Hints

Hint 1: Clue Definitions

IMPROVE (verb)
1. get better
2. to make better
WORK (verb)
1. make uniform
2. perform as expected when applied
WORK (noun)
1. applying the mind to learning and understanding a subject (especially by reading)
2. the occupation for which you are paid

More WSJ Crossword (8/23/2025) Answers

Across

1. Lucy's partner

5. 'Skip me'

10. Ragamuffin

14. Hurdles for future attys.

19. That's my cue!

20. Butcher block material

21. Greeting in Granada

22. Supplier to lots of canners

26. Skewered meat dish

27. Sorry Not Sorry singer Lovato

28. Colonial news source

29. Cares for calicos, e.g.

31. Friend of Seinfeld, Benes and Kramer

34. Step 2: Take on responsibility on the job

37. News agcy. since 1958

38. Neuter, as a stallion

40. Comfort

41. Movie character who chooses the red pill

42. Step 3: Budget conscientiously

48. 'I'm not impressed'

50. Address with a tilde

51. School day divisions

52. Colors

54. Play the siren

57. Sgt. e.g.

58. Experience begun by dropping something

61. Dernier ___ (latest fashion)

64. Lena of "The Reader"

66. H look-alike

68. Really cooking

69. Step 4: Know a few tricks of the trade

74. Hairy Halloween rental

75. Crime lab material

76. Patch place, sometimes

77. Blue

78. Finds inner strength

80. Summer hrs. in Chicago

82. Fashion designer Perry

85. Enterprising group

86. Dancer Duncan

89. Major name in networking gear

93. Mao __-tung

94. Step 5: Stay calm under pressure

97. Prop for Wile E. Coyote

99. Brad of “F1”

100. ___ mitzvah (Jewish ceremony for multiple people)

101. Blvd. kin

102. Step 6: Make sure you’re a versatile team player

108. Highs and lows

111. Saturating

112. Govt.-issued security

114. Short-term worker

115. Calls for

116. Look the part, as in the answers to the “Step” clues, both literally and figuratively

122. Visited the roulette table

123. One of the winds

124. Take ___ for the worse

125. Correct some grammar, e.g.

126. When Día de los Reyes Magos occurs

127. Jonathan’s bride in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”

128. Detect

129. Itty-bitty, informally

All Answers

Down

1. Party staple

2. Outback creature

3. Lawn item placed by a happy broker

4. Sound, e.g.

5. Encroach (on)

6. Working capital?

7. Like some sci-fi films

8. Offensive line?

9. Helvetica’s lack

10. Fingerprint feature

11. Rep. from NYC

12. Kind

13. Authoritarian type

14. Doesn’t go bad

15. “Or” indicator

16. Indiana Jones and Ellen Ripley, for two

17. "Precisely!"

18. Insists

24. Name on “Kill Bill” posters

25. Twice 44-Down

30. Mellow, maybe

31. Drops from the roster

32. Mayberry boy

33. Enlightened state

35. Green building certification program

36. Crafting wood

39. Buck's mate

43. All the rage

44. Due follower

45. Catering vessel

46. Flooded field

47. Pirate plunder

48. Most frequent, statistically

49. __ nous

52. Strands at Christmas?

53. Rafael L. ___, of “9-1-1: Lone Star”

55. Pesos and pounds

56. Service piece

59. Longtime name in graphics apps

60. Made a case

61. Africa’s largest landlocked nation

62. Swift

63. 1969 Top 40 song for Sammy Davis Jr.

65. “When You Wish Upon a Star” lyricist Washington

67. Fine

70. Curvy characters

71. 'Sister Outsider' author Lorde

72. Prepare to pour from, maybe

73. Score resulting from an error

79. Devoutness

81. As well

83. Here, in Le Havre

84. Polite address

87. Rogen of “Neighbors”

88. Barbecue supply

90. Stock panic

91. Small bay

92. Addition column

94. Category above phylum in taxonomic classification

95. Charlie Parker's instrument

96. Chart-topper

97. Sharp pain

98. Like the lion slain by Hercules

99. Hurtful review

103. Less diplomatic

104. Botch

105. Confused

106. “The Joe Schmo Show” airer

107. Remote locations?

109. Letter of support, for short

110. Lead the show

113. Staff marking

117. Slugging stat

118. Interminable wait

119. Fourth-yr. students

120. Sloth e.g.

121. Pig place

All Answers