In case you missed Thursday’s NYT Mini Crossword puzzle, you can find the answers here:
Well this is it, folks. The end of August. Everything after comes next, if we’re counting crows. September, October, November, December and then 2025. The years are relentless. We must divert our attention from the inevitable with various and sundry distractions, chief among them good food, good company and entertainment. The occasional game goes a long ways, it turns out. Speaking of which, why don’t we solve today’s Mini Crossword?
The NYT Mini is a smaller, quicker, more digestible, bite-sized version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword, and unlike its larger sibling, it’s free-to-play without a subscription to The New York Times. You can play it on the web or the app, though you’ll need the app to tackle the archive.
One good tactic with crossword puzzles is to try to get as many ACROSS as possible first and then you’ll find a lot of the DOWN are already done—or vice versa if the ones ACROSS are trickier.
While some of today’s words are pretty simple, some might have you stumped. You’ll find the answers below. Spoilers ahead, obviously. Skip ahead for the image of today’s solved puzzle.
Today’s advice: Know your bike anatomy. The more you know about bicycles, the easier today’s Mini will be.
ACROSS
1 — Bicycle part that’s also past-tense verb — SPOKE
6 — At no time — NEVER
7 — “It’s just like riding a bike,” for one — ADAGE
8 — They’re typically 2 or 3 on mini golf courses — PARS
9 — Like a trickster — SLY
DOWN
1 — Loses it — SNAPS
2 — Bicycle part that sounds like a flower part — PEDAL
3 — Egg-producing organ — OVARY
4 — What breweries might creatively repurpose as seats — KEGS
5 — Poetic “before” — ERE
I sort of screwed up early on by just putting WHEEL in there for 1 Across. It wasn’t until I got OVARY for 3 Down that I changed that to SPOKE and never looked back. That was the trick. Everything else went down easy after that. Funny the bike theme, even using an ADAGE that has to do with bikes. I can dig it. I do love to ride my bicycle, I love to ride my bike.
How did you do? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
If you also play Wordle, I write guides about that as well. You can find those and all my TV guides, reviews and much more here on my blog. Thanks for reading!
