These are the clues and answers for the NYT Mini Crossword dated Friday, January 17, 2025. The guide covering that date describes a 5-by-5 grid; this is not a listing for a January 17 puzzle in another year.
Across clues and answers
| No. | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owner of a shop called The Bun Also Rises, most likely | BAKER |
| 6 | Kind of oil served with bread | OLIVE |
| 7 | Throw in the ___ | TOWEL |
| 8 | “Fine” dishware for a dinner party | CHINA |
| 9 | Very quick | HASTY |
Down clues and answers
| No. | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bungle, as plastic surgery | BOTCH |
| 2 | ___ State, nickname for Hawaii | ALOHA |
| 3 | Fuzzy fruits or flightless birds | KIWIS |
| 4 and 5 | 4 x 400-meter race, e.g. (clue split across two entries) | EVENT / RELAY |
The paired down entries for the 4 x 400-meter clue are EVENT and RELAY.
About this dated puzzle
Paul Tassi’s Forbes guide, published January 16, 2025, identifies this as the Friday, January 17 puzzle and reports a 5-by-5 grid. Tassi describes the Mini as “a quick and dirty version of the newspaper’s larger and long-running crossword.” Read the dated guide at Forbes.
The guide said the Mini could be played on the NYT website or app, and that access to previous puzzles in the archive required an NYT Games subscription at the time it was written. That access detail reflects January 2025, not a current check of subscription or archive terms.
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