___ to go (eager) - NYT The Midi Clue

___ to go (eager) Answer Explained

The answer is RARIN.

The answer RARIN completes the familiar expression "rarin' to go," meaning eager, excited, and ready to begin. The apostrophe replaces the dropped g in raring, reflecting the informal pronunciation heard in everyday speech: "I'm rarin' to go!" The phrase has been part of colloquial English for well over a century and is especially common in American speech, where it conveys enthusiasm and pent-up energy before an activity, competition, or adventure. Although many people assume the word is simply rare with an added ending, it actually comes from raring, meaning to be full of spirit or excitement. Crossword constructors often clue RARIN this way because the shortened spoken form is instantly recognizable, even though it rarely appears in formal writing.

Now that you've cracked the 6D ___ to go (eager) clue, you're one step closer to completing today’s Midi Puzzle! If you're still stuck on other clues, don't worry, we've got you covered. Explore more NYT The Midi crossword answers right here, or check out our tools for solving the NYT Crossword, NYT The Mini puzzle, Connections, or Strands.

Today’s NYT Midi Highlights

Ian Livengood, who also authored today's The Mini, delivers another inventive Saturday Midi with "Puttering Around," a title that perfectly hints at both golf and the puzzle's playful meandering. The standout gimmick is the repeated clue, "Curt review after playing 18 holes of golf?", producing three different answers: OFF COURSE, WEAK LINKS, and LOST TRACK. Each begins as a plausible golfer's grumpy post-round verdict before revealing itself as a common phrase with a space removed, creating delightful misdirection. It's a simple concept executed with precision, asking solvers to shift perspective three times rather than hunt for obscure trivia. Elsewhere, the fill is lively and modern, mixing VOGUE, TIKTOK-era TEENS, the memorable KEN quote from Barbie, and ELSA with classic crossword staples like ASSAY, ARC, and CUR. The result is a smooth, accessible grid whose clever repeated clue provides just enough extra challenge to make this compact Saturday puzzle especially satisfying.

Here’s what caught our attention today:

• Curt review after playing 18 holes of golf?

About The Midi

The Midi is a daily crossword puzzle designed to sit between the quick satisfaction of The Mini and the depth of the full Daily Crossword. It offers a compact but more layered solving experience, giving players a new step in the New York Times Games lineup.

While officially launched as a daily puzzle in February 2026, the concept was tested earlier through special puzzle packs and more recently in newsletter editions. Those experiments helped shape what is now a permanent daily feature available exclusively online through the New York Times Games app and website.

Format and Structure

Most Midi puzzles use a 9×9 grid (larger than The Mini but smaller than the traditional crossword), allowing for richer wordplay and themed construction without requiring a long solving session. Toward the end of the week, grids may expand up to 11×11, and occasionally the puzzle appears in non-square formats, with different numbers of rows and columns.

Unlike The Mini, every Midi includes a title, offering a subtle hint at the puzzle’s theme or solving trick. These titles add an extra layer of discovery while keeping the experience approachable.

A Digital-First Puzzle

The Midi is built specifically for digital play. It does not appear in print, and it is available through the New York Times app and website only for subscribers.

Designing the puzzle for screens allows for occasional visual effects and interactive moments that enhance the solving experience in ways print cannot. Even with these innovations, the philosophy remains consistent: puzzles are still handcrafted by human constructors and editors, preserving the editorial voice and thoughtful construction that define New York Times Games.

Editorial Approach

The Midi is edited by Ian Livengood, who also oversees Pips. He creates about three Midi puzzles each week while collaborating with a rotating group of approximately fifteen contributors whose submissions are carefully edited before publication.

This editorial model mirrors the structure used across The New York Times crosswords, where dedicated editors maintain quality and style (like Will Shortz for The Daily and Joel Fagliano for The Mini).

New Rules and Creative Flexibility

The Midi introduces several notable changes to traditional crossword conventions, like:

• Each puzzle features a title. Before, only Sunday NYT puzzles had a title. In Midi, this is meant to give a clue about the theme without needing a distinct clue to play the role of a theme revealer.
• Grids may occasionally break from square symmetry, which is something also happening in the Mini, especially those made by Sam Ezersky.
• Two-letter answers are allowed - this is a feature borrowed from cryptic puzzles, allowing Scrabble (and NYT Crossplay) fans to bank on their skills.

Daily Availability

Puzzles are accessible the evening before the publish date. Weekday and Saturday puzzles: 10 p.m. EST the previous day. Sunday puzzles: 6 p.m. EST on Saturday.