Daily hints · Mini Crossword
Mini Crossword archive
The Mini is five squares by five, and most solvers finish it inside a minute, which is precisely why a single unfamiliar clue is so annoying. We list every clue with a hint of its own and keep the answer separate, across and down, so one square can be unstuck without the rest of the grid falling open. Useful for the clue you abandoned and still want explained.
No past days yet. The first one appears here the day after it is published.
Nothing in the archive yet. A day moves here the morning after it is published, so the first entry appears once Mini Crossword has run for a day on Wordton.
How the Mini works
Five squares by five, filled from short clues, finished by most people inside a minute. The size is exactly what makes it sting: in a grid this small every answer is crossed by three or four others, so one word you do not know does not slow you down, it stops you completely. There is no penalty and no timer you have to beat, which leaves the single clue you cannot place as the only obstacle.
What a dated page holds
A past Mini is laid out the way the puzzle itself is: across on one side, down on the other, every clue with its number and its answer set beside it. Nothing to open and nothing hidden, because a dated page exists to be read straight through. It is the fastest way to settle the one square you gave up on.
What builds up here
Mini clues recycle a small vocabulary of short, vowel-heavy words that hardly ever appear in speech, and a few weeks of past grids teach that vocabulary faster than any study list can. The three and four-letter answers are the ones worth going back for; they are the entries that recur, and recognizing them on sight is most of the speed.
Other puzzle archives
Wordle archive
Progressive hints, letter facts, and the answer behind a reveal.
Connections archive
A nudge per group, names and words each behind their own reveal.
NYT Strands archive
Theme hint, spangram help, and the full answer list when you want it.
NYT Pips archive
All three boards hinted, walkthroughs behind reveals.
Sports Connections archive
Four sports groups, hinted the same spoiler-safe way.
Quordle archive
Letter facts and a hint for each of the four answers.