In case you missed Friday’s NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:
Very big puzzle today, as in, literally, it’s very large. Lots of big words to find which is a far cry from most of the Minis we normally see.
How to Play the NYT Mini
The NYT Mini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper’s larger and long-running crossword. Most days, there are between three and five clues in each direction on a five by five grid, but the puzzles are sometimes larger, especially on Saturdays.
Unlike its larger sibling, the NYT Mini crossword is free to play on the New York Times website or NYT Games app. However, you’ll need an NYT Games subscription to access previous puzzles in the archives.
The NYT Mini is a fun daily distraction that usually takes no time at all. I try to beat the standard weekday grid in less than a minute. But sometimes I can’t quite figure out one or two clues and need to reveal the answer.
To help you avoid doing that, here are the NYT Mini Crossword answers (spoilers lie ahead, of course):
NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers
ACROSS
1) Ethically sourced, as some eggs – CAGEFREE
9) Residents of Tehran – IRANIANS
10) Air sign? – SKYWRITE
11) ___ Faire (medieval-themed festival, informally) – REN
12) Athlete from Cleveland or the University of Virginia – CAVALIER
17) Kind of bathing suit – ONEPIECE
18) Musical whizzes – MAESTROS
DOWN
1) Certain gender identity – CIS
2) Holy object sought in the first “Indiana Jones” movie – ARK
3) ___ pride – GAY
4) Completely surrounds – ENWRAPS
5) Like a cozy campsite on a cool autumn night, say – FIRELIT
6) Washington’s Mount ___, the highest peak in the Cascades – RAINIER
7) Sinus-treating doctor, for short – ENT
8) Opposite of WNW – ESE
12) _ _ _mon URL ending – COM
13) De Armas who starred in 2025’s “Ballerina” – ANA
14) Shape of flying geese – VEE
15) Prefix with friendly – ECO
16) Restaurant booking, informally – RES
Well that’s certainly a beefy puzzle, more of a Macro than Mini today with a very rare six eight-letter clues, and three seven-letter ones for good measure. The shape of the board meant there were 16(!) down answers which I cannot say I’ve ever seen before. Trickiest words for me ENWRAPS and SKYWRITE, while the easiest was…I mean, I am well versed with Ana de Armas. And that was a good movie!
How did you do today?
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
