NYT’s The Mini Crossword Answers and Hints

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Rate This Solver

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!

All Past NYT Mini Puzzles

Today’s NYT Mini Highlights

Today's Saturday 7x7 Mini by Christina Iverson is a real brain teaser! 🧠 With a mix of pop culture references paired with trickier vocabulary this puzzle definitely kept me on my toes. For a small grid, this one certainly delivered a good challenge, combining knowledge, puns, and quirky facts. A perfect weekend warm-up for your puzzle-solving brain!

Uncle , Addams family member played by Fred Armisen on "Wednesday"

The answer is FESTER.
Uncle Fester is an iconic character from The Addams Family, recently brought to life by Fred Armisen in Wednesday. If you missed it, don’t feel bad—it’s one of those pop-culture references crossword puzzles love to sneak in! Great for testing both your TV knowledge and memory!

Flatten out over time

The answer is PLATEAU.
A plateau describes both a geological formation and a period of stagnation in growth. While it’s a bit of a brainy term, it’s a fun metaphor to learn for when progress stops, whether you’re talking about fitness, business, or crossword solving!

Long, slithery fish

The answer is EEL.
Eels are one of those crossword staples—it’s short, slippery, and appears quite often. If this one didn’t click right away, don’t worry; it’s a word worth adding to your puzzle vocabulary because it comes up a lot!

Piece on a coatrack

The answer is PEG.
A peg holds up your coat, and it’s also a small but mighty answer! It’s one of those minimalistic, everyday words that might not come to mind quickly but adds to the puzzle’s charm.

Wearers of collars with their owner's number on them

The answer is PETDOGS.
This is more straightforward than it looks. The clue plays on the common sight of pet dogs wearing collars with identification. Sometimes the simplest clues are the trickiest to spot!

Wednesday character played by the hand of Victor Dorobantu, a professional magician

The answer is THING.
Thing is literally a hand in The Addams Family universe, and it's a magical part of the Wednesday series. If you didn’t make the connection right away, you’re not alone—crosswords love quirky characters!

"-haw!"

The answer is YEE.
Yee-haw! A fun shout associated with cowboys and western culture. The quotation marks hint that this is something spoken or exclaimed, a clue-reading trick that crossword fans know all too well.

Rolling in the dough, so to speak

The answer is WEALTHY.
'Rolling in the dough' is a playful metaphor for being wealthy. This phrase is pure wordplay, adding some color to the puzzle. If idioms aren’t your strong suit, keep practicing; they’re all over crosswords!

Jokey suffix with "best"

The answer is EST.
EST is the suffix that takes adjectives to the extreme, like best-est. The clue is playful and hints at word games where people exaggerate, especially in casual or humorous conversation.

The first instruction in a list of instructions

The answer is STEPONE.
Step one is the beginning of any process, and while this clue may seem obvious, it’s a good reminder that crosswords aren’t always about being tricky. Sometimes they just want you to go with the flow.

Savory Chinese snack with a cracked shell

The answer is TEAEGG.
A tea egg is a tasty, savory Chinese snack, traditionally made by simmering eggs in tea and spices. If you didn’t know it, this puzzle offered you a delicious culinary lesson!

Spirited energy

The answer is PEP.
Pep is the lively energy we all wish we had! This little word is packed with personality, and it’s often used to describe someone with enthusiasm or a pep in their step.

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.

For years, the Mini was free to play daily without a subscription. However, starting August 27, 2025, it became subscriber-only. This change has frustrated many fans, especially as the Mini had grown more ambitious, incorporating themes, wordplay tricks, linked clues, and even echoing entries from the Daily Crossword. In hindsight, these evolutions may have been the Times’ way of positioning the Mini closer to its flagship puzzle.
Here on our page, access is still free, and we also feature the most complete Mini archive and solving resources available anywhere.

We also offer a fresh daily game, Word of Fortune, inspired by Mini-style clues and blending features from other favorites: players must guess a single word from a clue, with the option to spin a wheel for letter hints.

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.

Leaderboards

It’s an additional social resource provided by NYT. You can add friends (up to 100 invitees) to track daily completion and compete.

Today's Puzzle Hints

Yesterday's Puzzle Hints

Past Puzzle Hints

Word Finders

Puzzle Games Insights

Games