A standard crossword shrunk to a five-by-five grid, with clues written for speed rather than depth.
Publisher
The New York Times
Cost
Free
How often
Daily, with a slightly larger puzzle on Saturdays
Time
1–3 minutes
The rules
Fill the grid so every across and down entry matches its clue.
Clues are far shorter and more direct than in a full crossword.
The timer runs from your first keystroke, and the leaderboard is the point for many players.
There is no penalty for wrong letters — you simply cannot finish until they are right.
What works
The fastest genuine puzzle in this list
Free, with no subscription for the daily Mini
A gentle entry point to crosswords proper
Solve times make for a low-stakes competition with friends
What doesn’t
Over almost as soon as it starts
Clue style is heavily American — proper nouns and idioms included
Little sense of achievement compared with the longer games
Not really a word game so much as a trivia game with a grid
Skip The Mini Crossword if: Anyone wanting a puzzle that lasts, or who finds American proper-noun clues alienating
Questions about The Mini Crossword
Is the NYT Mini Crossword free?
Yes. The daily Mini is free to play, unlike the full-size crossword, which requires a subscription.
How long should the Mini Crossword take?
Most regular solvers finish in one to two minutes. Saturday's is slightly larger and takes a little longer.
Is the Mini good for crossword beginners?
It is the usual recommended starting point — same conventions as a full crossword, at a scale where a wrong guess costs seconds rather than derailing the grid.
Meldle is a different daily puzzle — four words sharing one missing pair of letters. Try today’s → It’s free, needs no account, and here is what it does badly.
