Need help with the Wednesday, October 29, 2025 NYT Mini Crossword? Start with the spoiler-light hints below, then open the Across and Down answer lists when you’re ready. This is the five-by-five Mini, not the full daily crossword.
Spoiler-light hints
Try these nudges before revealing the full entries. Forbes provides the first letter for every answer; Parade offers selected letter-position hints.
Across
- 1 Across: A lifesaving technique taught to lifeguards; its initials are commonly used.
- 4 Across: A command to strike with your head.
- 6 Across: Not fed.
- 8 Across: The candy pulled and twisted in the clue.
- 9 Across: The top tier.
Down
- 1 Down: A passage that carries refuse downward.
- 2 Down: The word that can go before both “code” and “colony.”
- 3 Down: The musician who sings “Baby Beluga.”
- 5 Down: Skillful and nimble; the answer ends in T.
- 7 Down: To change hair color; the answer starts with D.
Full answers: Across
- 1 Across: CPR — Skill taught at lifeguard training, for short.
- 4 Across: HEAD — “Bop it!”
- 6 Across: UNFED — Not given anything to eat.
- 8 Across: TAFFY — “Twist it! Pull it!”
- 9 Across: ELITE — Best of the best.
Full answers: Down
- 1 Down: CHUTE — Means of getting trash to a basement dumpster.
- 2 Down: PENAL — Word that can precede “code” or “colony.”
- 3 Down: RAFFI — “Baby Beluga” musician.
- 5 Down: DEFT — Neatly skillful.
- 7 Down: DYE — Change the color of, as hair.
Play the dated Mini
The New York Times describes the Mini as a puzzle in which solvers fill white squares with letters to form words or phrases, using Across and Down clues. Its Help Center says subscribers can solve past Mini Crossword puzzles in the archive. See the NYT Mini Crossword Help Center for gameplay and archive information.
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