Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Saturday, August 9

In case you missed Friday’s NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:
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.
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.
To help you avoid doing that, here are the NYT Mini Crossword answers (spoilers lie ahead, of course):
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NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers
ACROSS
1) Friendly and pleasant – AMIABLE
8) Irritatingly self-important – POMPOUS
9) Cheerleaders’ accessories – POMPOMS
10) Barely ___ out a living – EKE
11) “We haven’t decided yet,” on schedules – TBA
12) Radio exposure for a song – AIRPLAY
14) ___ of two evils – LESSER
15) Pancake mix ingredient – EGG
DOWN
1) Challenge to a court ruling – APPEAL
2) Dodgers slugger Betts – MOOKIE
3) Deeply involve oneself (in) – IMMERSE
4) Smartphone download – APP
5) Illegal copy – BOOTLEG
6) Kind of support for the lower back – LUMBAR
7) English class assignment – ESSAY
13) French soccer club that won its first Champions League title in 2025, for short – PSG
When is a Mini not a Mini? When it has a whole bunch of seven letter words, which is not terribly Mini at all for a puzzle that is normally 5×5 at worst. Today we had to work our brains for longer entries to go against the timer. Start with the easiest, pompoms, the lesser of two evils, and how many ingredients are there in a pancake, really? From there, it’s golden.
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