The NYT Mini for Thursday, October 3, 2024 used the answers VENUS, INAPP, ARISE, LOVED and NET across, and VIAL, ENRON, NAIVE, UPSET and SPED down. The puzzle is from 2024, so the year matters if you are searching an archive or a reprint.
Spoilers ahead. The full clue-and-answer list is below.
Thursday, October 3, 2024 answers
Across
- 1 Across: VENUS, the answer to “What ‘very’ stands for in the mnemonic ‘My Very Educated Mother …'” (the planet-order mnemonic)
- 6 Across: INAPP, “Like some mobile game purchases”
- 7 Across: ARISE, “Come up, as a situation”
- 8 Across: LOVED, “More than just enjoyed”
- 9 Across: NET, “Hockey goal component”
Down
- 1 Down: VIAL, “Tube in a lab”
- 2 Down: ENRON, “Disgraced energy company with a 2001 bankruptcy”
- 3 Down: NAIVE, “Overly trusting, perhaps”
- 4 Down: UPSET, “Underdog’s victory”
- 5 Down: SPED, “Went really fast”
What the Mini is
The Mini is the shorter companion to the full New York Times crossword. According to the Forbes article that reported these answers (Paul Tassi, published October 2, 2024), most days use a five-by-five grid with three to five clues in each direction. Larger grids appear occasionally, especially on Saturdays. The grid described for this date is the standard small format, so the across and down numbering above follows that layout.
Where the answers come from, and how far to trust them
These answers are attributed to that Forbes article. The New York Times has not been checked against them here, so if you are comparing your grid with an official source, use the puzzle’s own solution or the NYT Games app’s solution view. Any answer that does not fit the crossings is more likely a transcription issue than a different puzzle, since the across and down entries intersect at shared letters.
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Playing or revisiting the puzzle
In 2024, the Forbes article said the Mini could be played on the New York Times website or in the NYT Games app, and that archived puzzles required an NYT Games subscription at the time. Those access rules may have changed since then, so check the current NYT Games terms before you rely on them to reach an older puzzle.
Quick Recap
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