nyt problem solving puzzle

NYT Mini Crossword: 8 Strategies To Solve It Fast

T he New York Times Mini crossword is a classic puzzle, and the rules are simple. Follow the clues down and across to fill in the daily puzzle, and do it as fast as you can. The crossword writers at NYT put out a new puzzle every day, and that means every day there are new clues for players to follow. This follows the same schedule as the daily Wordle and can be found on the New York Times games app.

The Mini is a five by five, meaning the words used in the puzzle can only be five letters long at the maximum . This limits the possible answers quite a bit, but it is also possible that the answer may be two shorter words, like "I AM." These little crosswords tend to be simpler and less in-depth than the full-sized crosswords that the New York Times puts out, but they can still be difficult, especially towards the end of the week. Knowing tricks like these will make solving the daily Mini worlds easier.

5 Letter Words Wordle Hasn't Used Yet (Updated Daily)

Work the hard ones last, don't be afraid to move on.

Any school-goer knows this strategy for test-taking. When you have limited time, don't spend precious moments agonizing over questions you just don't know the answers to . Spend a second thinking about it, and if the answer isn't apparent, move on and come back. As seen in the gallery above, you can fully solve this puzzle without ever knowing that the Andes mountain range is the world's longest, as long as you know the other answers.

There are a few benefits to this, The Mini 's hints are pretty simple most of the time, unlike the full-size crossword the New York Times puts out. Moving on will allow you to keep thinking about your answer while you knock out some easier words, filling in the gaps of your unknowns as you solve others. Come back at the end, and use the letters you've filled in from other words to help narrow down your answer.

Play the Monday Puzzle

Sunday's the hardest.

A New York Times puzzle writer explains on YouTube that Monday's puzzles are the best to start with for beginners. If you're struggling with the tricky Sunday puzzles, don't sweat the harder ones until you're feeling confident on a Wednesday or Friday puzzle first. This will help you learn the patterns of how clues are worded and what typical answers look like.

By doing the early puzzles each week, you'll be warmed up for the harder puzzles later in the week . Doing puzzles like The Mini or Connections every day will prime your brain for thinking quickly and pulling information from your long-term memory. You might find that you know more than you think once your brain is prompted to pull up those deeply buried facts!

Follow the Quotes

Read the clues carefully.

As Puzzling Games on YouTube explains, when quotes are used in the NYT Mini's clues, this means that the answer to the clue will be a word or phrase as it would be spoken aloud. One way to answer these questions is to think about how you can rephrase the quoted clue in one or two words . Typically, this word will be either in response to the clue or as a rephrasing of the word.

The example clue used in the video is "Quiet Down." In this example, the answer is a rephrasing, "Shh." Whenever you see quotation marks, think of spoken words or phrases associated with the clue rather than examples of the clue.

Knowing what quotation marks mean will give you an edge in completing these types of clues.

Guess and Check

Focus on the letters.

In the direst of times, one last-ditch strategy to solving clues that have you stumped is by guessing the possible letters and going until you get it right. Similarly to the "Skip it and Come Back" method, fill in the words you know before trying this strategy. Once you've got most of the words filled in, come back to the word you're not sure about. From there, figure out whether you're looking for a consonant or a vowel.

Knowing whether you need a consonant or a vowel in your word is always going to be a guess, but knowing what letters commonly go together and in what order can really help you out here. For instance, if your first two letters in the word are consonants , odds are high that your next letter will be a vowel. Following these patterns and simply guessing what letter comes next is sometimes the only strategy to finish those puzzles where you just don't know the answers to the clues.

Break Down the Clues

Possible double meanings.

The New Yorker on YouTube explains common ways answers can be hidden inside of clues. This often requires thinking of the different meanings of words, wherein a phrase like "breaking your car" can be used to mean slowing your car down. Another meaning of this phrase could be to cause your car to be non-functional.

The differences between these two interpretations can drastically change the answer you come up with. Make sure to take your time in reading the clue. If your first understanding of the clue does not result in a word that fits with the rest of the puzzle, the problem might be that your interpretation of the clue was wrong.

Widen Your Knowledge Base

Get smarter.

Unfortunately, this is something that can only come by reading and playing trivia-style games. Reading often can increase your vocabulary and give you a wide knowledge base, even if you're just reading the news. Even playing games like Dungeons and Dragons can help you with crosswords , so you never know what knowledge might be useful.

A lot of the clues the NYT uses to create its crosswords are relatively common knowledge, and The Mini even more so, but some still take a bit of deeper knowledge that some may not have.

For instance, one clue from the March 29 Mini is "Sea, in French." The clue is straightforward enough, but if you didn't take French in high school or live in a place that speaks French, you might not know that "sea" in French is "mer." Having that one bit of knowledge that many people don't can allow you to solve The Mini just a bit quicker.

Use the Auto Check Feature

A little help can't hurt.

The Auto-Check feature in the NYT Mini is in the top right, under the little icon that looks like a life preserver. YouTuber Sam Wilson explores the different features of the Mini above, so if you're having trouble finding the Auto-Check button, watch the video. If you're struggling, or you have all the words filled in but the puzzle is not solved, hit that icon . It will bring up the help menu, with a few different options to provide different levels of assistance.

Auto-Check will tell you what you've gotten wrong in your puzzle. Rather than marking entire words, it will mark the letters individually. Sometimes the failure is actually that the word was spelled incorrectly rather than you getting the word totally wrong. This feature lets you know which letters do not belong without being handed the correct answers. It's perfect if you're close, but you just don't know which clue you've gotten wrong.

Think of the Clues Like Riddles

Hiding in plain sight.

If you've ever been a fan of riddles ( like the Sphinx's riddles in Dragon's Dogma 2 ), some of the clues for the daily Mini are going to delight you. As in the image above, many clues read like simple phrases but are meant to be interpreted in a non-obvious way. If you're getting these wrong after the puzzle is all filled in, it could be that you've misunderstood a clue. These tricky clues are less common but appear more in the end-of-the-week puzzles that tend to be more difficult.

The clue in the image above is "Sail supporter." Typically, you might think of "supporter" as a label applied to a person, as in "someone that is in favor of or donates to something else." In this case, "supporter" is used more literally, as in "something that physically holds something else up." When you read a clue that seems grammatically odd , that's likely because the writers are trying to trick you into misinterpreting their clue.

Source: New York Times/YouTube , Puzzling Games/YouTube, The New Yorker/Youtube , Sam Wilson/YouTube

Detailed statistics about your New York Times crossword solves

Solve statistics.

See advanced statistics of your solves for every day of the week. Median solve time, number of squares checked/revealed, daily solve rates, and more. You can also compare to your rolling average to see if you're improving or not.

Monthly Calendar

See a calendar view of various solve data. View your solve times, puzzle completions, and performance improvement in a handy monthly calendar view. Switch the data displayed on the calendar between solve time, adjusted solve time, and checked square counts.

Adjusted Solve Times

See your "adjusted" solve times, which include penalties for squares that are checked and revealed. This custom statistic allows you to compare solve performance across puzzles you were able to complete with and without "cheating."

Downloadable Data

View your raw solve data in tabular form and download it to a CSV file. It's your data, you should be able to download and do what you want with it. Fetch the entire history of your solved puzzles for your own analysis.

Constructor View

See which crossword constructors you really jive with. View stats compared to your averages to see which constructors you consistently over-perform or under-perform on their puzzles. Search constructors to see historical solve performance for their puzzles.

Global Puzzle Statistics

Did anyone else think that puzzle was super hard or was that just me? Individual puzzle summaries allow you to see how fellow solvers fared on each puzzle as well as where the puzzle ranked in your own personal history. Check out the full puzzle archive for a sneak peek.

Best part? It's free!

NYT Crossword Answers & Solutions

Do you play the New York Times Crossword Puzzles on a daily basis? If yes, then you definitely understand how fun and satisfying it is to solve the crossword clues therein. But you will agree with us that solving clues isn’t the easiest thing to do. That’s why we are here to help.

• NYT Crossword Today, April 6 2024
• NYT Crossword April 5 2024
• NYT Crossword April 4 2024
• NYT Crossword April 3 2024
• NYT Crossword April 2 2024

Older puzzles can be accessed via NYT Crossword Puzzles Archive link. We post crossword answers daily, so please bookmark us and visit our website often.

Some clues will take you many hours and attempts to solve while others will push you to the point of giving up. At that point, you wouldn’t mind a little help in finding the solution, would you?

Whenever you get stuck, you will find all the solutions of the Times Puzzles here. Sometimes we add short descriptions to some crossword clues so that you can acquaint yourself with important crossword definitions as well.

How do you locate the clue that you wish to solve on our website? Well, the solutions are organized by dates (the most recent on top and the oldest at the bottom) so you will have an easy time finding the answers you seek. Access the publication date of the puzzle in question and when you are inside a puzzle date all you need to do is:

• Confirm the clue’s horizontal or vertical orientation,
• Scroll to the horizontal or vertical section on our website (whichever is appropriate for the puzzle at hand),
• Click on the link adjacent to the date of your unsolvable clue,
• Simultaneously press “CTRL and F” on Windows or “CMD and F” on MacOS to highlight the clue text.

That done, your unsolvable puzzle will be solved in a jiffy.

More about The Times Puzzle

The New York Times Crossword was incepted in 1942, initially only on the Sunday New York Times Magazine. Its popularity grew over time and that necessitated daily crossword publications. The publishers have since tweaked the puzzles to match the constantly changing and highly sophisticated players’ needs. You will now find it every day on the NYTimes website as well as on the websites of about 250 other magazines. The exponential increment of the number of New York Crossword enthusiasts has also led to the creation of a mobile-optimized version of the puzzle. It is actually available on both Android and iOS platforms now so you can download and conveniently play it on your smartphone or tablet.

The main idea behind the NYT Puzzles is to make them harder and harder each passing day- world’s best crossword builders and editors collaborate to make this possible. Monday’s crossword is always the easiest of them all and then they get more and more sophisticated as the week goes by. The most difficult puzzle is published on Sunday. Apart from Sundays when the crossword can be as big as 21 x 21 squares- or sometimes 25 x 25 squares- other crosswords usually measures 15 × 15 squares. Sunday’s puzzles come in two levels (easy and difficult) so you are never short of choices regardless of your level of expertise.

Defeat by a large margin NYT Crossword Clue

Defeat by a large margin NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Defeat by a large margin NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Accident-___ (clumsy) NYT Crossword Clue

Accident clumsy NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Accident-___ (clumsy) NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Painter Monet NYT Crossword Clue

Painter Monet NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Painter Monet NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Vivacious Crossword Clue

Vivacious NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Vivacious Crossword Clue Read More »

Intoxicating substance sometimes called “bud” NYT Crossword Clue

Intoxicating substance sometimes called bud NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Intoxicating substance sometimes called “bud” NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Polar bear ___ (cold swim) NYT Crossword Clue

Polar bear cold swim NYT Mini Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Polar bear ___ (cold swim) NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Having a potty mouth NYT Crossword Clue

Having a potty mouth NYT Mini Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Having a potty mouth NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Make, as 4-Down NYT Crossword Clue

Make as 4 Down NYT Mini Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Make, as 4-Down NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Opposite of over NYT Crossword Clue

Opposite of over NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Opposite of over NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Stirred from slumber NYT Crossword Clue

Stirred from slumber NYT Mini Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

Stirred from slumber NYT Crossword Clue Read More »

Specialist in P.C. problem-solving NYT Crossword

We solved the clue 'Specialist in P.C. problem-solving' which last appeared on January 23, 2024 in a N.Y.T crossword puzzle and had five letters. The one solution we have is shown below.

SPECIALIST IN PC PROBLEM SOLVING New York Times Clue Answer

  Multiple answers mean that the clue has appeared multiple times throughout the years. This clue was last seen on NYTimes January 23, 2024 Puzzle . Go there to get help with other clues. Before each clue, you have its number and orientation on the puzzle for easier navigation.

David Solves NYT Crossword on a daily basis. Solutions and Commentary available everyday.

• Share full article

For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio , a new iOS app available for news subscribers.

• April 6, 2024   •   9:27 Your Solar Eclipse Soundtrack
• April 5, 2024   •   15:54 What Does Larry David Know About Manners?
• April 4, 2024   •   8:40 Julia Louis-Dreyfus Wants You to Listen to Older Women
• April 2, 2024   •   7:05 Beyoncé’s New Album Reviewed
• March 30, 2024   •   9:00 Solving the ‘3 Body Problem’
• March 29, 2024   •   5:26 The Latest on Sean Combs’s Legal Woes
• March 28, 2024   •   9:10 Before Beyoncé: Black Artists Who Crossed Over to Country
• March 27, 2024   •   3:50 A Boxing Novel That Brings the Heat
• March 22, 2024   •   7:47 New Music for Your Weekend
• March 21, 2024   •   6:57 A Surreal New TV Series About Life, Love and Fruit
• March 20, 2024   •   9:37 Curl Up With a Delicious Recipe
• March 15, 2024   •   7:20 Kacey Musgraves Finds Inner Peace on Her New Album

Solving the ‘3 Body Problem’

Unpacking netflix’s new hit with the times’s cosmic affairs correspondent..

Produced by Alex Barron

Edited by Lynn Levy

Engineered by Efim Shapiro

Featuring Dennis Overbye

The show “3 Body Problem” premiered on March 21 and quickly became one of Netflix’s most-watched titles. It is an adventure story about a group of scientists contending with an extraterrestrial threat. But despite its science fiction trappings, the show is often based in real — and complex — scientific concepts, whether string theory or nanomaterials. In this episode, Dennis Overbye, The Times’s cosmic affairs correspondent, breaks down some of the more brain-bending science behind “3 Body Problem.”

On today’s episode

Dennis Overbye is the cosmic affairs correspondent for The Times, covering physics and astronomy.

The New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Dennis Overbye is the cosmic affairs correspondent for The Times, covering physics and astronomy. More about Dennis Overbye

Advertisement