The New York Times Mini Crossword for Tuesday, May 19, 2026, is live now, and today’s 5×5 grid serves up a sharp blend of geography, pop culture, statistics, and a touch of NFL trivia that is sure to trip up even the most seasoned daily solvers. Whether you cracked it in under a minute or found yourself genuinely stumped by a constellation clue pulled straight from Latin, you are in the right place. Below, you will find spoiler-free hints followed by the complete answers for every Across and Down clue in today’s NYT Mini Crossword puzzle.
The Mini is free to play on the New York Times website and through the NYT Games app, making it one of the most-played daily word puzzles in the world. Unlike Wordle, which resets at midnight, the Mini Crossword resets at 10 p.m. EST on weeknights and Saturdays. Sunday’s edition drops a little earlier, becoming available at 6 p.m. EST on Saturday evening. The puzzle features a compact 5×5 grid with five Across clues and five Down clues, designed to be solved in a matter of minutes – though today’s edition has at least one clue that will genuinely challenge your knowledge outside the crossword comfort zone.
NYT Mini Crossword Hints for May 19, 2026 (Spoiler-Free)
If you want to work through the grid on your own but need a gentle nudge in the right direction, these letter hints are for you. Scroll carefully — the full answers appear further below.
Across Hints
1 Across: How often the Mini comes out — Starts with the letter D, five letters total.
6 Across: Difference between the highest and lowest values in a data set — A five-letter word used heavily in mathematics and statistics. Ends in E.
7 Across: Caribbean island near Venezuela — Five letters. A sun-soaked tourist destination known for white sandy beaches and constant trade winds.
8 Across: Price to pay — Four letters. A word you see on every price tag.
9 Across: Jersey number worn by star linebacker Micah Parsons, the first Packer to wear it since 1926 — Three letters. Think small. Very small.
Down Hints
1 Down: Constellation whose name comes from the Latin for “dragon” — Five letters. Think Harry Potter.
2 Down: “___ Burr, Sir” (Hamilton number) — Five letters. A Founding Father’s first name.
3 Down: Currently occupied, as a restroom — Two words, five letters total. The opposite of vacant.
4 Down: Community honored by the GLAAD Media Awards, for short — Four letters. An initialism you will recognise immediately.
5 Down: “___ or nay?” — Three letters. The affirmative option in a formal vote.
NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Stop scrolling here if you still want to solve it yourself. Full answers are directly below.
Across Answers
1 Across — DAILY: The Mini Crossword is published every single day of the week, making DAILY the obvious answer once you have that first letter locked in. It is one of the easiest fills in today’s grid and a great starting point for unlocking crossing letters.
6 Across — RANGE: In statistics, the range is calculated by subtracting the lowest value in a data set from the highest. A five-letter answer that sits squarely in middle-school mathematics but shows up beautifully in a crossword clue.
7 Across — ARUBA: A constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba is a small Caribbean island located just 29 kilometres north of Venezuela. It is renowned for its near-perfect climate, dry weather, and some of the most photographed beaches in the Western Hemisphere. ARUBA fits cleanly across the middle of today’s grid.
8 Across — COST: A four-letter word for the price you pay. Short, clean, and one of the fastest fills in the puzzle. COST intersects with several Down answers, making it a cornerstone entry for completing the bottom half of the grid quickly.
9 Across — ONE: This clue references Micah Parsons, the star linebacker who made headlines when he joined the Green Bay Packers and received jersey number 1 — the first Packer to wear that number since 1926. It is a deceptively tricky clue for non-NFL fans, but the answer is simply ONE.
Down Answers
1 Down — DRACO: DRACO is one of the largest constellations in the northern sky and takes its name from the Latin word for dragon. It is also, of course, the name of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, which makes this an especially satisfying clue for pop culture fans. DRACO shares its D with DAILY at the top of the grid, making it one of the first crossing opportunities solvers will encounter.
2 Down — AARON: The clue references “Aaron Burr, Sir,” one of the most recognisable opening numbers from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway musical Hamilton. In the song, Alexander Hamilton introduces himself to Aaron Burr at a party in New York. The answer is AARON, which also shares its A-R opening with ARUBA in the Across row — a clever bit of grid construction from today’s puzzle editor.
3 Down — IN USE: When a restroom is currently occupied, the indicator on the lock reads IN USE. This two-word, five-letter answer is a common crossword entry and one of the quicker fills once you have a crossing letter or two already placed.
4 Down — LGBT: The GLAAD Media Awards celebrate outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in media. The four-letter initialism LGBT is the answer here, and it appears annually in lists of the most recognised acronyms in contemporary culture.
5 Down — YEA: In formal parliamentary and legislative voting, a “yea” is a vote in favour of a motion. The phrase “yea or nay” refers to the two options available to a voter. YEA is a three-letter crossword staple and one of the fastest fills for experienced solvers.
How to Play the NYT Mini Crossword
The New York Times Mini Crossword is available for free to anyone with a New York Times account. You can play it on the NYT website, within the dedicated NYT Games app, or through the Play tab inside the main NYT News app. The puzzle is designed to be completed in a few minutes and features a 5×5 grid with intersecting Across and Down answers. When you complete the grid correctly, the app plays a short congratulatory animation and records your solve time. There is no streak mechanic in the Mini the way there is in Wordle, but the built-in timer allows you to track your personal best and challenge friends to beat your time through the leaderboard feature.
Past puzzles are available to NYT Games and All Access subscribers, so if you missed a day, you can always go back and complete the archive. The Mini is widely considered the best entry point for anyone curious about crossword puzzles but intimidated by the full-size New York Times Crossword, which runs on a 15×15 grid on weekdays and expands to a 21×21 grid on Sundays.
Tips for Solving the NYT Mini Crossword Faster
Experienced Mini solvers typically start with the shortest answers first. In today’s puzzle, YEA (three letters) and COST (four letters) are the two fastest fills, and dropping them into the grid early immediately reveals crossing letters that make longer answers like DRACO and ARUBA significantly easier to confirm. Pay attention to shared letters at intersections: DAILY and DRACO both start with D, while ARUBA and AARON share the same A-R opening sequence. Spotting these relationships is the key to shaving seconds off your solve time and building toward a personal best.
If a clue references a proper noun – a constellation, a geographic location, a Broadway musical, or an NFL player – do not panic. These are often the most memorable answers in the entire grid once you know them, and they tend to reward solvers who read broadly across news, sports, arts, and science.
Check back at The Eastern Herald every day for the latest NYT Mini Crossword hints and answers, updated as soon as each new puzzle goes live.
