Today's NYT Mini Crossword is live, and it leans on everyday knowledge rather than trickery, mixing a brand question, a movie moment, and a bit of sports vocabulary into a grid that rewards quick recognition. The clues stay conversational, and the crossings are generous enough that a single confident entry opens up a whole corner.
Settle in, pour something, and enjoy a grid that wants you to finish it.
How The Mini Works
The Mini is a compact version of the classic NYT Crossword, typically featuring a 5x5 grid with five Across and five Down clues. Saturdays expand to a larger grid with more clues. Solve the intersecting words, and when the grid is complete, you'll hear a satisfying chime. No streak tracking here, but the built-in timer lets you compete against yourself or challenge friends.
New puzzles drop at 10 p.m. EST on weekdays and Saturdays. Sunday's Mini arrives earlier at 6 p.m. EST on Saturday.
Quick Scan
In a rush? Here's the at-a-glance breakdown for today's puzzle:
Grid Size: 5x5
Total Clues: 10 (5 Across, 5 Down)
Trickiest Clue: 4A is the toughest read here because it defines by absence, asking what the Kansas footage lacks that the Oz footage has. You have to picture the film's most famous visual switch and then name the quality itself, which is a longer mental hop than a straight definition.
Gimme Clue: 1A is the freebie, a plain brand question about Apple's line of computers that goes in without needing a single crossing. Write it and the whole top row starts working for you.
Theme Spotted: None today, straight trivia and wordplay.
Clue Decoder (Hints Only)
Need a nudge without the full answer? Here's a hint for each clue.
Across Hints
1A. Apple computer
Hint: Apple's long running family of desktop and laptop computers, the shorthand name that sets those devices apart from the company's phones and tablets. Three letters, starts with M.
4A. What the Kansas scenes lack that the Oz scenes do not, in "The Wizard of Oz"
Hint: In the film, the Kansas footage is plain black and white while Oz explodes into vivid hues. The clue wants the quality those opening scenes are missing. Five letters, starts with C.
6A. Quarrel (with)
Hint: To bicker or squabble, the verb that naturally takes with when neither side will back down. Five letters, starts with A.
7A. Get on an airplane
Hint: The verb for stepping onto the plane once your group is called at the gate. Five letters, starts with B.
8A. "Nothing but ___!"
Hint: The exultant shout after a jump shot swishes through cleanly without grazing the rim. Three letters, starts with N.
Down Hints
1D. Nincompoop
Hint: A mild insult for a fool or a dimwit, cousin to nitwit and dunce. Five letters, starts with M.
2D. Bottom of the aquatic food chain
Hint: The simple green growth that blooms in ponds and feeds everything above it in the water. Five letters, starts with A.
3D. Pickleball venue
Hint: The lined playing surface where paddles and a perforated plastic ball meet. Five letters, starts with C.
4D. Yellow symbol of N.Y.C.
Hint: The yellow hired car that stands in for New York City itself on postcards and in movies. Three letters, starts with C.
5D. Like the logos of Stanford and Harvard
Hint: The shared hue of the Stanford and Harvard logos, the shade those two schools call cardinal and crimson. Three letters, starts with R.
Full Answers
Spoilers below. Scroll only when you're ready for the solutions.
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Across Answers
1A. Apple computer
Answer: MAC
4A. What the Kansas scenes lack that the Oz scenes do not, in "The Wizard of Oz"
Answer: COLOR
6A. Quarrel (with)
Answer: ARGUE
7A. Get on an airplane
Answer: BOARD
8A. "Nothing but ___!"
Answer: NET
Down Answers
1D. Nincompoop
Answer: MORON
2D. Bottom of the aquatic food chain
Answer: ALGAE
3D. Pickleball venue
Answer: COURT
4D. Yellow symbol of N.Y.C.
Answer: CAB
5D. Like the logos of Stanford and Harvard
Answer: RED
Grid Breakdown
Here's what made today's puzzle tick:
Standout Clue: 4A, "What the Kansas scenes lack that the Oz scenes do not, in 'The Wizard of Oz'," giving COLOR, is the entry that defines this grid. It works because it refuses to define the word directly and instead points at the single most famous visual change in film history, letting the solver supply the missing quality themselves.
Wordplay Winner: 8A, "Nothing but ___!", lands on NET, and the mechanism is a small joke built into the phrase. The exclamation announces that the ball touched nothing, then names the one thing it did touch, so the word meaning absence delivers the object.
Quick Fill: MAC at 1A is the fastest confident fill and does outsized work for its size. Its three letters hand you the opening letter of MORON at 1D, ALGAE at 2D, and COURT at 3D, which means the entire middle of the grid is already seeded before you read another clue.
Speed Solver Tips
Looking to shave seconds off your time? Here's what today's puzzle teaches:
Bank the short entries first and let them seed the long ones. MAC gives you the head letter of three downs at once, and CAB at 4D supplies the C that starts COLOR at 4A, so the hardest clue in the puzzle arrives with a letter already in place.
When a down clue resists, check what the long acrosses are doing to its letters. The R of COLOR, the E of ARGUE, and the D of BOARD stack up the right edge into RED at 5D, so finishing two acrosses effectively writes the third entry for you.
Tomorrow's Puzzle
This grid played fair from the first square, with COLOR supplying the one moment that asks for real thought and everything around it built from familiar ground. A friendly solve that still leaves you with a good image, Kansas giving way to a bright Oz.
See you at the next grid.
