Need a nudge before the answers? Start with the spoiler-free hints below for the Friday, May 23, 2025 NYT Mini Crossword. The full solution list follows.
Spoiler-free hints
These clues and letter hints let you work through the puzzle without revealing every answer.
Across
- 1 Across: Chooses to receive marketing emails, with “in” — ends with S.
- 5 Across: Buck _____, first Black coach in Major League Baseball (1962) — starts with O.
- 6 Across: Like your epidermis? — starts with S.
- 7 Across: Like the element Fe? — ends with Y.
- 8 Across: Quite a lot of — ends with Y.
Down
- 1 Down: Bulb in the kitchen — ends with N.
- 2 Down: Like an ink-filled writing tool? — starts with P.
- 3 Down: Microscopic — starts with T.
- 4 Down: Acting deviously — starts with S.
- 5 Down: Green gumbo ingredient — starts with O.
- 6 Down: ____ card (smartphone chip) — ends with M.
Answers for May 23, 2025
Spoilers below. The answer set is corroborated by Parade and Forbes; the date-specific clues are also listed by Try Hard Guides.
Across
- 1 Across: OPTS
- 5 Across: O’NEIL
- 6 Across: SKINNY
- 7 Across: IRONY
- 8 Across: MANY
Down
- 1 Down: ONION
- 2 Down: PENNY
- 3 Down: TINY
- 4 Down: SLY
- 5 Down: OKRA
- 6 Down: SIM
A wordplay thread in the clues
Three answers hinge on different readings of familiar words: SKINNY describes skin, PENNY answers a clue about a pen, and IRONY plays on Fe, the chemical symbol for iron. Forbes noted this related trio among the puzzle’s wordplay.
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Why O’Neil is written with an apostrophe
The baseball clue refers to Buck O’Neil. Parade prints the surname with its conventional apostrophe, while Forbes gives the answer as ONEIL without punctuation. The spelling here follows the conventional form of his name.
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