The New York Times Mini Crossword for Monday, August 11, 2025 has five Across answers, BASH, DELTA, ELBOW, FLUNK, and TAME, and five Down answers, BELLA, ALBUM, STONE, HAWK, and DEFT. The year matters: August 11 fell on a Monday in 2025, so this key is for that puzzle and not for a later August 11.
Across answers
| Number | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1A | Blowout party | BASH |
| 5A | Airline with Sky Club lounges | DELTA |
| 6A | Body part that can be held with one hand, but not both | ELBOW |
| 7A | Get an “F” on | FLUNK |
| 8A | Subdued | TAME |
Down answers
| Number | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | Ramsey of “The Last of Us” | BELLA |
| 2D | Collection of Facebook photos | ALBUM |
| 3D | Building material for the Washington Monument | STONE |
| 4D | “Red-tailed” or “red-shouldered” bird | HAWK |
| 5D | Masterful | DEFT |
How the answers were confirmed
Parade and Forbes both published solution pages for the Monday, August 11, 2025 Mini, and their clue and answer lists match the ten entries above. A third check, the Word Finder, lists the same date-specific clues and the letters where Across and Down answers cross, so a solver can test each answer against its crossing letter.
About the Mini and where to play it
The Mini is a small clue-based grid. You fill the white squares so that each Across and Down entry forms a word, and each clue leads to the answer that crosses its neighbours. The New York Times Help Center, in its article on The Mini Crossword, describes the goal this way: “The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases that cross each other, by solving clues in the Across and Down columns which lead to the answers.”
According to the same Help Center article, the Mini can be played in the NYT Games app, on the crossword website, and in the News app for subscribers whose plans include Games access. Eligible subscribers can also play past Minis from the archive on the web and in the Games app. The article gives the release timing as 10 p.m. Eastern on the previous day for weekday and Saturday Minis, and 6 p.m. Eastern on Saturday for Sunday Minis. Because subscription terms and release schedules can change, check the Help Center before relying on those times.
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Quick reference
- Puzzle date: Monday, August 11, 2025
- Across: BASH, DELTA, ELBOW, FLUNK, TAME
- Down: BELLA, ALBUM, STONE, HAWK, DEFT
The Mini is a clue-based grid where each answer crosses its neighbours, so you can check a guess by confirming that its letters agree with the entries that cross it.
Quick Recap
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