What is the Mini Crossword answer for October 23, 2026?

The answer to Mini Crossword puzzle #81 is PRO / EAR / AMBER / IVY / TEE.

Can I still play the Mini Crossword puzzle from October 23, 2026?

Yes. Every puzzle stays playable in the archive, so you can open puzzle #81 and solve it yourself at any time.

How long should a mini crossword take?

Most solvers land between two and six minutes. Regulars who know the common short crossword words — the ALOE, OREO, ERA family — often go under ninety seconds. If you are new to crosswords, expect the first few to take ten minutes, and expect that to drop fast, because the same short answers recur across every crossword you will ever solve.

Are the grids real crosswords, or just random letters?

They are real crosswords. Every grid is rotationally symmetric, has no entry shorter than three letters, and every white square sits in both an across answer and a down answer — the same structural rules a newspaper grid follows. Every answer is a genuine word taken from a bank of clued entries, not a machine-generated letter string.

Do I need general knowledge or trivia to solve it?

Very little. The clues are definitions, common phrases and fill-in-the-blanks rather than obscure facts. The vocabulary is deliberately everyday, because a 5x5 grid is about crossing letters quickly, not about how many rivers you can name.

Friday, October 23, 2026 · Puzzle #81

Mini Crossword hints and answer for October 23, 2026

The hints run vaguest to plainest — take the smallest one that unsticks you. Not played it yet? Start puzzle #81, about 5 minutes.

Play puzzle #81 How Mini Crossword works

At a glance

Mini Crossword #81 in brief

A 5x5 grid with 8 blocked squares, giving 5 across and 5 down.
Across: 1. In favor 4. Organ on the side of the head 5. Traffic light color 8. Poison ___ 9. Casual shirt
Down: 1. Soup legume 2. Crash into 3. Path around a planet 6. Night before 7. Deli bread
The longest entry is 5 letters; 8 of the 10 are only 3, and short entries are usually the quickest way in.
The finished grid draws on 11 of the 26 letters to fill its 17 open squares.

Step by step

Mini Crossword hints

Each hint reveals a little more than the last. Open only as many as you need.

Hint 1
Hint 2
Hint 3
Hint 4 — the big one

Spoiler

Mini Crossword answer

Last chance to go back and try a hint instead.

Full solution

The other nine answers

Word Guess answer — October 23, 2026 Word Groups answer — October 23, 2026 Daily Sudoku answer — October 23, 2026 Nonogram answer — October 23, 2026 Math Guess answer — October 23, 2026 Word Ladder answer — October 23, 2026 Trivia Five answer — October 23, 2026 Word Search answer — October 23, 2026 Anagram Rush answer — October 23, 2026

Play something else

Word GuessSix tries, five letters, one new word every day.Word GroupsSixteen words. Four hidden connections. One grid.Word LadderChange one letter at a time. Every step has to be a real word.Word SearchTen themed words hidden in a 12x12 grid. Some of them backwards.