NYT Mini Crossword Clues and Answers for Wednesday, October 22

Another day, another NYT Mini Crossword to solve. This week has been relatively challenging as far as Mini Crosswords go, with a few that have held me back. So much depends on context, especially when it comes to sports and pop culture clues. If you know that album or movie or sports team mascot, you’re in good hands. If not, you’re either stuck or have to work ahead and fill in some blanks. Read on for some extra help with today’s mini crossword clues!

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

How to Play the NYT Mini Crossword

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. Room full of students — C

6A. Something to take with you in a brown paper bag – L

7A. ___ Harbor, landmark of Baltimore — I

8A. Where many Stephen King novels are set – M

9A. Beagle or bulldog – B

Down

1D. Go bouldering, for example – C

2D. ___ New Year — L

3D. Redhead with great musical/film fame – A

4D. Something an actor could steal – S

5D. Tear into pieces – S

Today’s mini crossword answers

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

About

1A. Room full of students — CLASS

6A. Something to take with you in a brown paper bag: LUNCH

7A. ___ Harbor, Baltimore Landmark – INNER

8A. Where many Stephen King novels are set: MAINE

9A. Beagle or bulldog – breed

Down

1D. Go bouldering, for example – CLIMB

2D. ___ New Year – MOON

3D. Redhead with musical/film fame – ANNIE

4D. Something an actor could steal – SCENE

5D. Tear into pieces – CUT

Here are the completed answers:

This was a fairly simple mini crossword: a pure 5×5 grid with no black boxes. That can make it a lot easier to fill in the blanks. I was sure about CLASS and then moved on to MAINE (I actually went to Stephen King’s grand mansion in Maine, but only to look from the outside) and then switched to the DOWN words. CLIMB and ANNIE were easy enough, and SCENE and SHRED and from here I worked backwards and filled in the rest. It took me 1 minute and 22 seconds, mainly because I got a little distracted halfway through.

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!