In case you missed Sunday’s NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:
Time for the week’s first mini which involved a somewhat has-been comedian, cats and no real overarching theme this time around. But first…
The NYT Mini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper’s larger and long-rumgys, 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.
Spoilers ahead, obviously. Skip ahead for the image of today’s solved puzzle.
ACROSS
1) Toe ___ (goofy term for a pad on a cat’s foot) – BEAN (I have seen enough cutsey instagram comments to know this one)
5) Tummy – BELLY (well, stomach wasn’t going to fit)
6) Purple flower that symbolizes one’s first love – LILAC (my first guess was Violet which did not fit at all
7) Matures, as cheese – AGES (always gotta make sure you match your tenses as this could have been Aged)
8) Feathery farm female – HEN – (I mean what else was this one going to be)
DOWN
1) “Sad” color joked about in viral TikTok videos – BEIGE (absolutely had no idea about this one but it’s easy to imagine beige as a sad color)
2) Comedian DeGeneres – ELLEN (not sure who doesn’t know who Ellen Degeneres is)
3) “‘Tis a pity!” – ALAS (I assume this is a quote from something)
4) Home o’ MoMA – NYC (I was like trying to think of the street it was on but that was overthinking it I guess)
5) Just kinda meh – BLAH (I tried blegh first which did not work)
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