The Mini
Fill a small crossword. A new grid arrives each day and is meant to be finished in a few minutes.
DleBox's guide
The Mini is the New York Times crossword cut down to a grid you can finish on a phone. Clues run across and down. A square belongs to one across entry and one down entry, and the letters have to satisfy both. There is a timer, and a lot of the fun is how little time the grid actually needs once the theme clicks. Some days the theme is a pun that makes the longer entries obvious together.
Unlike Wordle, nothing is hidden behind colored feedback. The clues are the information. Unlike Sudoku, the digits are words and the clues are language. You can check a square or reveal a letter inside the Times puzzle. Those assists live on their site. DleBox does not reprint clues and does not fill the grid.
The Mini resets with the Times crossword day. This page does not invent a second clock and does not keep an archive of old grids. If you want a longer crossword, that is a different Times product and it is not this row. If you want a logic grid made of statements rather than clues, Clues by Sam is the neighbor.
Rules
- Across and down answers share squares.
- The grid is small on purpose.
- A letter has to satisfy both clues that cross it.
- One grid is posted for the day.
- DleBox does not reprint the clues.
Why we like it
- ✓ It is built to be finished, not abandoned.
- ✓ A theme can unlock several clues at once.
- ✓ The board is readable on a narrow screen.
Use the Mini when you want a finished object, a filled square, rather than a score. It is the crossword on this list because the full Sunday grid is a different commitment. The link below opens the Times. Playing it may sit behind whatever access the Times currently requires. This directory does not sell that access.
The timer is a toy, not a ranking DleBox publishes. A one-minute solve and a six-minute solve can both be finished Minis. We do not collect those times. Crossing clues are the reason a wrong letter feels worse than in Wordle: it breaks two entries. Fix that on the Times grid. This page stops at explaining why the grid is small enough to finish.
About the game
The Mini is published by The New York Times. DleBox did not make that game. This page names the maker and links over. It does not speak for them.
- Category:
- Words. Open the Words category.
- Updates:
- Once a day on the original site.
- Reset:
- This page does not state their timezone. The original game shows the day's puzzle.