NYT’s The Mini Crossword Answers and Hints

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

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Hit a roadblock solving today's NYT The Mini? Lady Puzzle is happy to lend a hand. Click her for hints, reveal the entire puzzle, uncover squares one by one, or explore clue answers. Whatever solving style you prefer, this is your go-to tool for finishing NYT's The Mini Crossword!

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Today’s NYT Mini Highlights

This Wednesday Mini puzzle by Christina Iverson offers a balanced mix of straightforward and slightly tricky clues, making it a delightful midweek challenge. The puzzle's theme doesn’t seem to follow a strict pattern, but it engages solvers with a variety of topics, from spices like ANISE to pop culture references such as NINJA (as in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles").Overall, the puzzle provides a nice mix of trivia, wordplay, and everyday language, making it accessible while still offering moments of "aha!" for those paying close attention.
Let’s break down some of the clues to see how the wordplay unfolds!

Hot drink popular in the fall

The answer is CIDER.
Nothing says autumn quite like a warm glass of apple cider. Made from pressed apples, it can be enjoyed hot or cold, often spiced with cinnamon or cloves for an extra touch of coziness. While pumpkin spice might dominate the season, cider holds its own as a classic fall drink.

Bendy body parts

The answer is KNEES.
Knees are the major joints that allow us to bend our legs, essential for walking, running, and jumping. Despite their everyday importance, they can be a source of pain or injury, especially for athletes. Did you know the knee is the largest joint in the human body? It’s an impressive structure, even if it occasionally creaks or pops!

Apple pie ___ mode

The answer is ALA.
"À la mode" is a French term meaning "in the fashion of." In English-speaking countries, it has come to mean served with ice cream – often used to describe apple pie with a scoop of vanilla. It’s a dessert classic, adding a cool contrast to the warm pie.

"Teenage Mutant ___ Turtles"

The answer is NINJA.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a quartet of crime-fighting turtles who are named after Renaissance artists (Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael). Their “ninja” training, imparted by their rat sensei, Splinter, makes them adept at fighting the villains of New York City, while their love of pizza keeps things fun.

"Peace!"

The answer is SEEYA.
"See ya", like "Peace", is a casual way to say goodbye, often used among friends. The clue, with its conversational style in quotes, points to how people actually speak, rather than a formal farewell. If you’re more of a "goodbye" person, switching to "see ya" can add a friendly touch!

Hospital areas in medical dramas, for short

The answer is ERS.
ERs, or emergency rooms, are the high-stakes settings in medical dramas where urgent care is provided. Shows like "Grey’s Anatomy" and "ER" often center their intense, emotional scenes in these high-pressure hospital environments, making "ERS" a familiar abbreviation to TV fans.

Today's Tricky Wordplay

Here's what caught our attention today:

What is NYT The Mini Crossword?

NYT The Mini Crossword is a compact version of the New York Times Crossword puzzle. Usually 5 x 5, with larger grids on Saturdays, it offers mid-week equivalent difficulty clues with no progression over the week. It is accessible to anyone with or without a New York Times account. You can play it on nytimes.com/crosswords, The New York Times Games app (iOS and Android), and the Play tab of the New York Times News app. Games and All Access Subscribers can solve past Mini Crossword puzzles in the archive.

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.

Today's NYT Puzzle Guides by LadyPuzzle Pro

How to Play - Features and Tips

Fill white squares with letters to form intersecting words or phrases by solving clues in Across and Down columns. Read our guide to NYT Mini Mastery to learn how to read the different types of clues. Successfully completed puzzle triggers music and a congratulatory message.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Arrow keys: Change direction within the same square, move in the direction of the arrow, jump back to the first blank in the word, or jump to the next clue.
Spacebar: Clear the current square, advance, or toggle between Across and Down.
Backspace (Delete on Macs): Remove words or a letter from a word.
Tab key: Jump to the next clue.
Shift + Tab keys: Jump to the previous clue.
Escape: Enter Rebus mode.
Pen and Pencil Modes. Switch between pen and pencil modes by selecting the respective icon. Letters in pen mode are black; in pencil mode, gray.

Letter Colors

Black: Default pen mode entries.
Gray: Pencil mode entries.
Blue: Confirmed letters with Check.
Mini Timer

Time your solving with the timer displayed above the puzzle. Pause/resume using the respective buttons. The timer restarts if the entire puzzle is cleared. Option to hide the timer in Puzzle settings.

In-game Help

Reveal: Unveil correct letters for a square, answer, or the entire puzzle.
Check: Verify correctness.

The answers you get using help are marked with a red triangle in the upper right-hand corner of the box while those confirmed with a check become blue.

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