All across and down answers for the NYT Mini Crossword from October 12, 2026.
Daily brief
Monday, October 12, 2026
Updated
No spoiler-safe hint lines have passed verification for this puzzle.
This band is shown with every input used to compute it.
Clue wording is paraphrased — original clues at nytimes.com.
2026-10-11
Checked 2026-10-12T07:30:02.705Z
Hint classes: computed
Generated lines used: 0
Verification run: 20261012T074501Z
The Mini Crossword is the New York Times' bite-sized daily puzzle, featuring a 5×5 grid with both across and down clues. We provide quick hints and solutions to help you solve it efficiently.
The NYT Mini Crossword is a 5x5 grid puzzle, much smaller than the standard 15x15 crossword. This compact size makes it perfect for a quick puzzle break, typically taking 1-5 minutes to complete.
The NYT Mini Crossword resets at 10 PM Eastern Time the night before, giving subscribers early access. For non-subscribers, it becomes available at midnight Eastern Time.
Yes, the NYT Mini Crossword is free to play on the New York Times website and app. Unlike the full daily crossword, you don't need a subscription to access the Mini.
The NYT Mini is a 5×5 grid (occasionally larger on weekends) that most solvers finish in under a minute or two. Because it’s small, every answer crosses several others, so the Mini rewards a different instinct than the big weekday crossword: get any foothold, then let the crossings cascade.
There’s no shame in skipping a clue you don’t know — in a grid this dense, two or three confident answers usually hand you the rest through their crossing letters.
The core Mini technique: the moment you’re unsure of an Across answer, jump to the Down answers crossing it. Each crossing letter you place narrows the uncertain word until it’s obvious. Toggling between Across and Down at every intersection is faster than staring at one tough clue.
If a clue has multiple plausible answers (e.g. a 4-letter word for “shut”), don’t commit — wait for one crossing letter to disambiguate, then fill with confidence.
The Mini reuses a vocabulary of short, vowel-friendly words that appear far more in crosswords than in life — OREO, ENO, ELI, ASEA, ETA, ESE. Learning to recognize these by their clue style turns a stuck corner into an instant fill — our Mini Crossword tips guide lists the highest-value crosswordese to learn first. The Monday Mini is the easiest; difficulty drifts up slightly through the week.
Re-read the clue for a double meaning — Mini clues love puns and “?” misdirection. If a corner is locked, fill every crossing letter you’re sure of and read the partial pattern aloud; the answer often appears once you see the letters. A new Mini is published daily and is free to play, and older grids are collected in the Mini archive.
