Today’s NYT Mini is one of those that feels friendly at first—until a couple clues start pulling at the same thread. In particular, 7-Across and 8-Across go together, so it’s worth solving them as a pair. Once you see how they connect, the rest of the grid falls into place pretty smoothly.
Hints
1-Across is a baseball stat hidden inside a phrase that suggests power. Look for an abbreviation tucked within the wording.
4-Across is a familiar Hawaiian greeting—short, bright, and commonly used.
7-Across and 8-Across are your “paired clues” today: 7-Across points to a related concept for what 8-Across is about. If you can fill one, the other should become much easier to confirm.
9-Across asks for the opposite of a direction abbreviation. Think of compass points and write the mirror image.
For the downs, start with the ones that are essentially “sound-alikes” or common phrases: 1-Down is an opposite found in a proverb, and 2-Down is the short, colorful response you might blurt at something nasty.
3-Down refers to tiny quantities in plural form. 5-Down is what a specific dance involves—where body parts are placed during the chorus. 6-Down is a word meaning “again,” like you might say about reruns.
Need help tracking everything across and down while you solve? This is exactly the kind of moment where Crossword puzzle solving help can make patterns click faster—especially with linked clue pairs like today’s 7/8-Across.
Answers
Mini across
1A: RBI
4A: ALOHA
7A: GETIN
8A: SHAPE
9A: SSW
Mini down
1D: RAGS
2D: BLEH
3D: IOTAS
5D: HIPS
6D: ANEW
If you’re comparing today’s difficulty to other Today’s NYT puzzles, the main takeaway is that this one rewards attention to paired structure. Once 7-Across locks in, 8-Across practically invites itself—and that domino effect is the Mini’s favorite kind of mischief.
