Looking for help with the NYT Mini Crossword for Wednesday, December 18? This is the 2024 puzzle; December 18, 2025, fell on a Thursday. Start with the hints below and use crossing letters to check uncertain entries before opening the answer list.
Hints for the Wednesday, December 18 Mini
The Mini is a small grid of intersecting Across and Down entries. The New York Times Help Center describes its goal as filling the white squares with letters to form words or phrases that cross, using the Across and Down clues.
- Across 1: Think of the orchestral instrument associated with the alto clef.
- Across 6: A verb meaning to irritate or bother.
- Across 7: A foamy, nitrogen-infused style of cold brew.
- Across 8: A yes-like gesture of the head.
- Across 9: One of the parts you press to play a piano.
- Down 1: A vehicle commonly fitted with a sliding side door.
- Down 2: How a signature is written when using a pen.
- Down 3: A phrase describing a common ballet position.
- Down 4: The opening word in a rhyming birthday-card line about turning 40.
- Down 5: The first name of the Emmy-winning actor from The Bear.
Enter answers you are confident about, then use the letters where Across and Down entries meet to test the less certain ones. That is a practical solving approach; the official help page separately documents in-game tools for checking or revealing a square, an answer, or the entire puzzle.
Clues and answers
Spoiler warning: The full answer list is below. Stop here if you want to solve the grid yourself.
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Across
- Only instrument in a typical orchestra that reads the alto clef: VIOLA
- Irk: ANNOY
- Kind of cold brew coffee with foamy bubbles: NITRO
- Affirmative head gesture: NOD
- One of 88 on a piano: KEY
Down
- Vehicle with a sliding door: VAN
- With a pen, as one’s signature: IN INK
- How a ballerina often dances: ON TOE
- “___, ___, look who’s 40!”: LORDY
- ___ Edebiri, Emmy-winning actress on The Bear: AYO
How to get help or play a past Mini
For the current puzzle, go to NYT Games. The New York Times Help Center says its in-game lifesaver icon can check or reveal a square, an answer, or the whole puzzle. Use those options only if you want direct assistance rather than a hint.
For an earlier puzzle, the Help Center says Games and All Access subscribers can solve past puzzles in the archive. An independent archive also provides month-based browsing and dated pages with clues, optional hints, a completed grid, and explanations; it is a third-party resource, not the official NYT puzzle page.
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