The NYT Mini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper's larger and long-running crossword. Most days, there are between three and five clues in each direction on a five by five grid, but the puzzles are sometimes larger, especially on Saturdays.

I would've aced today's Mini Crossword if not for 1 Down. That was something I had never heard of before, and I tried a varietion on it as just a guess, then had to backtrack when

NYT Mini Crossword’s January 10 edition is now available to solve. For the unversed, it’s a simpler and easier crossword that can be cracked within a few minutes. Every day, players are given a 5×5 grid to guess words via provided hints and place them accurately.