New York Times offers a free daily mini crossword puzzle to all the players which serves as a small cornerstone to building the Foundational skills which make you able to play the Main New York Times Crossword. The mini crossword was always meant to be free and give you the small mental exercise that you need for the day. If your puzzle thirst is unquenched, other puzzles like strands, letterboxed await you.
Recent Mini Crossword Puzzles
- NYT Mini Crossword May 1 2026
- NYT Mini Crossword Apr 30 2026
- NYT Mini Crossword Apr 29 2026
- NYT Mini Crossword Apr 28 2026
- NYT Mini Crossword Apr 28 2026
Mini Archive
Quick Tips
To play the Official Mini Puzzle visit https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/mini/
The mini is a five by five grid puzzle which is meant to be solved in just a few minutes while you’re commuting to work or waiting for someone to show up. It is available both for guests and subscribers of the crossword app.
The Mini Crossword has had a dedicated author since it first began. The main editor of the mini has been Joel Fagliano, a notable cruciverbalist of the Bigger Crossword puzzle. Fagliano has a long history with crosswords, ever since he played one many years ago he became fascinated by them and had a puzzle accepted in Nytimes when he was 18 years old.
He further pursued his passion and managed to get to work as an intern for the Crossword God, Will Shorts. So basically he never had a different kind of job than being a crossword creator and that is a very good signal for the mini, because it’s lead by a guy who has Crosswords in his DNA.