NYT Mini Crossword Clues and Answers for Monday, October 20

Another Monday, another NOW mini crossword dissolve. Of course, it’s not Monday yet, but the Monday mini crossword and the main crossword both go live on Sunday afternoon. This also applies to the Sunday crossword puzzles, which go live on Saturday afternoon (or evening, depending on your time zone). They will go live in the evenings for the rest of the week. I think this is just a leftover from the entire work week from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. In any case, if you are looking for clues or the answers to today’s mini crosswordI have them below.

Looking for Sunday’s NYT Mini Crossword? Here are some tips and answers.

The NYT Mini is a smaller, faster, more digestible, bite-sized version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword. While it used to be free, the Mini was put behind the NYT Games app paywall in August. This has unfortunately led to a noticeable decrease in the number of people playing the game. You can watch all NYT Games, free and paid, here.

A mini crossword typically consists of only 10 to 20 clues, with only Saturday’s puzzle at the top of the spread. This is what a standard NYT Mini looks like:

Follow the directions and think of as many words as you can, then use the letters from those words to fill in the remaining words you weren’t sure about. A good rule of thumb is to move on if you don’t know something and come back to the clue later. If you still need help at that point, read on below for hints and answers.

The best way to play the NYT Mini Crossword is to try to beat your previous speed or play competitively with a friend and see who can complete their Mini the fastest. This is not a long, arduous task like the normal NYT crossword. It’s a game of speed and agile thinking.

Spoilers ahead!

How to solve today’s NYT Mini Crossword

Before we get to the answers, here’s the first letter of each word in today’s Mini.

About

1A. Sound of a mouse — C

6A. Many-headed snake killed by Hercules – H

7A. View from the window of a cruise ship – O

8A. “Goodbye!” -P

9A. Animal whose antlers can grow up to 2.5 cm per day – E

Down

1D. Dice, e.g. – C

2D. French for “high school” – L

3D. 10 out of 10 — me

4D. Sound of a bat – C

5D. “Citizen ___” — K

Today’s mini crossword answers

Okay, on to the answers! Remember: spoilers ahead!

About

1A. Sound of a mouse — CLICK

6A. Many-headed snake killed by Hercules – HYDRA

7A. View from the window of a cruise ship – OCEAN

8A. “Goodbye!” – PEACE

9A. Animal whose antlers can grow up to an inch per day – ANY

Down

1D. Dice, for example – CHOP

2D. French for “high school” – LYCEE

3D. 10 out of 10 — IDEAL

4D. Sound of a bat – CRACK

5D. “Citizen ___” — KANE

Here are the completed answers:

I got this one pretty quickly today (45 seconds!), mainly because I didn’t let 1-Across fool me into thinking they meant a creature. When I think of mouse, I think CLICK. I also know my mythology, so HYDRA was a piece of cake (although Hercules may have a different opinion on that). Everything else came pretty easily, except PEACE, which is fitting enough, I guess.

How did you do it? Let me know Tweet, Instagram or Facebook.

If you also play Wordle, I write guides about that too. You can find these and all my TV guides, reviews and more here on my blog. Thanks for reading!