How to solve today’s Mini crossword.

Credit: NYT

Another Wednesday has arrived and with it a brand new NYT Mini Crossword to solve. This one is definitely trickier than yesterday’s Mini, but that was quite possibly the easiest I’ve ever played. Let’s solve this one, shall we?

Looking for Tuesday’s Mini Crossword? Here’s our guide.

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:

The NYT Mini Crossword

Screenshot: Erik Kain

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.

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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. Place with ships and slips — D

5A. Assignment for a delivery driver — R

6A. Way in — E

7A. What might leave stains on a gardener’s pants — S

8A. Fearsome dinosaur, for short — T

Down

1D. Person giving blood — D

2D. Kind of belly button that 10% of the world has — O

3D. Shortcut for “cut,” for short — C

4D. Door opener … like 6-Across? — K

5D. “Oh, give it a ___ already!” — R

Today’s Mini Crossword Answers

Okay, onto the answers! Remember, spoilers ahead!

Across

1A. Place with ships and slips — DOCK

5A. Assignment for a delivery driver — ROUTE

6A. Way in — ENTRY

7A. What might leave stains on a gardener’s pants — SOIL

8A. Fearsome dinosaur, for short — TREX

Down

1D. Person giving blood — DONOR

2D. Kind of belly button that 10% of the world has — OUTIE

3D. Shortcut for “cut,” for short — CTRL-X

4D. Door opener … like 6-Across? — KEY

5D. “Oh, give it a ___ already!” — REST

Here are the filled in answers:

Today’s Mini Crossword

Screenshot: Erik Kain

I must admit, the one that got me the most stuck today was 3-Down — “Shortcut for “cut,” for short” is quite the tongue-twister, and even when I had CTRLX in there I had to read it a couple times to get what it was. CTRL-X of course! The command I use all the time to cut and then CTRL-V paste! This one took me 1 minute and 6 seconds.

How did you do on today’s Mini? 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!

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2025/11/11/nyt-mini-crossword-clues-and-answers-for-wednesday-november-12/

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