This answer guide is for the Sunday, January 18, 2026 NYT Mini Crossword. The year matters: January 18 falls on a different puzzle each year.
Spoilers below: the complete across and down answer key follows.
Across answers
- 1A — CUZ: “I said so, that’s why!”
- 4A — LANE: “Highway division”
- 5A — RANDB: “Genre for Olivia Dean and Daniel Caesar.” The grid entry is RANDB, representing R&B.
- 6A — AVOIR: French “to have”
- 7A — PANDA: “Animal that would blend in well with a crossword grid”
Down answers
- 1D — CANON: “Officially accepted storylines”
- 2D — UNDID: “Reversed”
- 3D — ZEBRA: “Animal that would blend in well with a crossword grid”
- 4D — LAVA: “Molten flow”
- 5D — RAP: “Flow over a beat”
How the date is identified
This guide uses the most recent matching past date, Sunday, January 18, 2026. The Word Finder archive labels a puzzle for that date, and dated answer guides from Parade and Forbes publish matching answer sets. No official NYT answer key was verified for this guide.
About the NYT Mini
The Word Finder describes the Mini as a bite-size crossword in NYT Games, generally 5×5 Sunday through Friday and 7×7 on Saturdays. Its date archive and hint controls let solvers find a puzzle and choose how much help to reveal. These format details come from The Word Finder, rather than a direct NYT policy statement.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
#1 Best Overall
Published guides differ on whether access is subscriber-only or free, so current access and archive terms should be checked with NYT Games rather than inferred from those secondary sources.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #3
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.
