How to solve today’s Mini Crossword.

Credit: NYT

Good grief, it’s already the end of November. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve been guiding you through the Mini Crossword, and I was so busy yesterday that I didn’t post the Saturday guide. My apologies. Such is life. Today’s is pretty easy, so let’s just dive right in and get back to our Lazy Sunday fun-day

How To Play The NYT Mini Crossword

The NYT Mini is a smaller, quicker, more digestible, bite-sized version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword. While it used to be free, in August the Mini was placed behind the NYT Games App paywall. This has led to a noticeable decline in people playing the game, unfortunately. You can check out all of the NYT Games, free and paid, right here.

A Mini Crossword is typically just 10 to 20 clues, with only Saturday’s puzzle on the upper end of that spread. Here’s what a basic NYT Mini looks like:

Follow the clues and come up with as many words as possible, and then use the letters from those words to fill in the remaining words you were unsure about. A good rule of thumb is to skip ahead whenever you don’t know something and come back to the clue later. Of course, if you still need help at that point, read on below for hints and answers.

The best way to play the NYT Mini Crossword is to try to beat your previous speed or play competitively with a friend and see who can fill out their Mini the fastest. This is not a long, laborious task like the normal NYT Crossword. It’s a game of speed and agile thinking.

Spoilers ahead!

How To Solve Today’s NYT Mini Crossword

Before we get to the answers, here’s the first letter for each word in today’s Mini.

Across

1A — C

5A — M

6A — I

7A — C

8A — S

Down

1D — C

2D — O

3D — Z

4D — Y

5D — M

Today’s Mini Crossword Answers

Okay, onto the answers! Remember, spoilers ahead!

Across

1A. Snug and comfortable — COZY

5A. “Eight Crazy Nights” or “12 Angry Men” — MOVIE

6A. “It’s impossible for me to do that” — I CAN’T

7A. Dog breed famously owned by Queen Elizabeth II — CORGI

8A. Simon ___ (children’s game) — SAYS

Down

1D. Hot drink consumed after sledding, perhaps — COCOA

2D. Egg-producing organ — OVARY

3D. Pithy criticisms — ZINGS

4D. Giant snow man — YETI

5D. Equipment for podcasters — MICS

Here are the filled in answers:

I honestly didn’t have a single word on here that I didn’t know right away. The only reason this took 59 seconds was because I opened the puzzle and then did a couple other things in a different browser tab. I’d say this was closer to 30 seconds, but who knows. It is what it is. See you in December!

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!