Today’s Extra Clues And Answers

Answers for today’s NYT Mini Crossword are just ahead.

New York Times

Before we get to today’s NYT Mini crossword hints, clues and answers, here are Friday’s:

ForbesToday’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Friday, August 22ndBy Erik Kain

Wondering what a director’s words at the end of a take might be? Not sure what hairstyle was made popular by The Beatles? Don’t worry, because I’m here to help you with extra hints and the answers for today’s NYT Mini crossword.

The NYT Mini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper’s larger and long-running crossword. Most days, 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.

Here are extra hints and the official NYT Mini Crossword clues and answers for Saturday, August 23:

Spoilers lie ahead, so remember to scroll slowly:

NYT Mini Crossword Hints

NYT Mini Across Hints

1 Across: Shaggy hairdo that half-sounds like a floor cleaning implement

7 Across: It’s so much nicer to hear than “murderin’ that” when you do a great job of something

9 Across: What an actor might say at the end of an audition to indicate they have finished

10 Across: It is, for short (no, the other one)

11 Across: Pet Shop Boys song “It’s A ____”

12 Across: It makes the subject of your snap look closer on your screen

15 Across: Kick a soccer ball through an opponent’s legs. Also, a spice used in eggnog

16 Across: La La ____, Oscar-winning movie from 2017

NYT Mini Down Hints

1 Down: Pejorative for a lowly worker or servant

2 Down: A young person who may be wise far beyond their years

3 Down: Used to finish off a polite request, in text speak

4 Down: ____-Tac, a popular mint

5 Down: A giant tree can grow from this

6 Down: Lusting, yearning for

7 Down: Sounds like several kitties, but with the first and last letters changed

8 Down: If you have the same of these, they add up to one hundred

NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers

NYT Mini Across Answers

1 Across: Hairstyle made popular by The Beatles – MOPTOP

7 Across: Doin’ amazingly, in slang – KILLIN’ IT

9 Across: Director’s words at the end of a take – AND SCENE

10 Across: “___ the season!” – TIS

11 Across: Serious wrongdoing – SIN

12 Across: Camera attachment – ZOOM LENS

15 Across: Spice in a Pumpkin Spice Latte – NUTMEG

16 Across: Come down to earth – LAND

NYT Mini Down Answers

1 Down: Yellow creature in Despicable Me – MINION

2 Down: Teen who exclusively listens to music from the ’70s, say – OLD SOUL

3 Down: Opposite of “thx,” in texting – PLS

4 Down: Behavioral quirk – TIC

5 Down: Tournament favorite – ONE SEED

6 Down: Longing (for) – PINING

7 Down: Eponym of the New York City deli featured in When Harry Met Sally… – KATZ

8 Down: Hamilton bills – TENS

It took me 2:06 to complete today’s NYT Mini. Not a bad time for a Saturday!

MOPTOP took me a moment to remember, while KILLIN’ IT was one that I only got after filling in lots of Down answers. Same goes for AND SCENE, which I don’t think really worked – I associate that more as something that an actor says at the end of an audition, but I might be mistaken. “Print that” or “go again” were options I considered but didn’t fit.

Anyway, TIS, NUTMEG and LAND were the other Across words I got on my first pass. Those really helped with the Down answers, especially OLD SOUL, PLS and ONE SEED. I’d never heard of that framing of the latter. It’s usually “top seed” or “first seed,” in my experience.

Things were relatively straightforward from there, but I got stuck for a little while on the very last letter to complete ZOOM LENS and LMN. I had misspelled PINING as “pinigg,” and it took me a few moments to realize that. The 14 Down clue confused me as well, until I realized it referred the the alphabet and not JK as in “joke” or “just kidding” in textspeak. That was either a clever misdirect after the PLS clue (I’m going to say it’s that) or I was a little obtuse. Definitely the former.

See you tomorrow for more NYT Mini fun!

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