Saturday’s NYT Mini Crossword is live, and today’s puzzle arrives with a clever internal theme stitched across three answers. The grid rewards solvers who think in team metaphors, and if you caught the hidden architecture early, you may have set a personal best. If not, you are in the right place. Every clue, every answer, and the full puzzle logic are laid out below.
The Mini Crossword resets at 10 p.m. Eastern on weeknights and Saturdays, which means today’s grid has been live since Friday evening. New Saturday editions run on a slightly larger board, and this one uses that expanded space to thread a connecting idea through three separate fills. That structural wink is the kind of design detail that makes the Mini one of the most-played daily puzzles in the New York Times Games catalog.
Before the full answers, a fair spoiler warning: if you still want to solve today’s grid independently, stop reading here and return once you are ready for the reveal.
NYT Mini Crossword Hints for Saturday, June 13, 2026
These directional hints are arranged to guide without giving everything away. Scroll past this section when you are ready for the complete solutions.
Across Hints
1 Across: Sentry’s “Stop!”: Starts with the letter H
5 Across: ___ vera (succulent): Ends with the letter E
6 Across: “That feeling should fade”: Ends with the letter S
10 Across: $1,000,000, informally: Starts with the letter M
11 Across: One of the Three Stooges: Ends with the letter E
12 Across: Caller of balls and strikes: Starts with the letter U
13 Across: ___-1 (class of drugs that includes Ozempic and Wegovy): Starts with the letter G
14 Across: Crunchy tendril used in Asian cuisine: Ends with the letter T
17 Across: ___ Stadium, former home of the Mets: Starts with the letter S
18 Across: Silverstein who wrote “The Giving Tree”: Ends with the letter L
Down Hints
1 Down: Student’s slip: Ends with the letter S
2 Down: The “A” of GOAT: Ends with the letter A
3 Down: Chop (off): Starts with the letter P
4 Down: Collective objective … or what the ends of 1-Down, 6-Across and 14-Across lead to: Ends with the letter L
6 Down: “Okay, it’s my turn”: Starts with the letter I
7 Down: The “T” of GOAT: Ends with the letter E
8 Down: All by oneself: Ends with the letter O
9 Down: Month #9: Abbr.: Starts with the letter S
15 Down: Librarian’s warning: Ends with the letter H
16 Down: Tee-___ (giggle): Starts with the letter H
NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, June 13, 2026
Here are the complete verified solutions for every Across and Down clue in today’s grid.
Across Answers
| Clue | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 Across: Sentry’s “Stop!” | HALT |
| 5 Across: ___ vera (succulent) | ALOE |
| 6 Across: “That feeling should fade.” | ITLLPASS |
| 10 Across: $1,000,000, informally | MIL |
| 11 Across: One of the Three Stooges | MOE |
| 12 Across: Caller of balls and strikes | UMP |
| 13 Across: ___-1 (class of drugs that includes Ozempic and Wegovy) | GLP |
| 14 Across: Crunchy tendril used in Asian cuisine | PEA SHOOT |
| 17 Across: ___ Stadium, former home of the Mets | SHEA |
| 18 Across: Silverstein who wrote “The Giving Tree.” | SHEL |
Down Answers
| Clue | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 Down: Student’s slip | HALL PASS |
| 2 Down: The “A” of GOAT | ALL |
| 3 Down: Chop (off) | LOP |
| 4 Down: Collective objective … or what the ends of 1-Down, 6-Across and 14-Across lead to | TEAM GOAL |
| 6 Down: “Okay, it’s my turn.” | I’M UP |
| 7 Down: The “T” of GOAT | TIME |
| 8 Down: All by oneself | SOLO |
| 9 Down: Month #9: Abbr. | SEPT |
| 15 Down: Librarian’s warning | SHH |
| 16 Down: Tee-___ (giggle) | HEE |
Clue-by-Clue Breakdown
1 Across: HALT. A direct command with military roots, “halt” is the kind of short, unambiguous fill that gives solvers an immediate anchor in the top-left corner. It also sets up the crossing H in 1-Down.
5 Across: ALOE. Aloe vera is the most widely cultivated species of the aloe genus, prized for the soothing gel found in its thick, fleshy leaves. It appears in crossword grids so reliably that veteran solvers often pencil it in before even reading the clue fully.
6 Across: ITLLPASS. A conversational reassurance that maps cleanly onto the puzzle’s hidden theme. The word PASS sits at the end of this fill, which 4-Down later identifies as part of the TEAM GOAL structure connecting three answers. It’s the kind of layered construction that distinguishes a good Saturday grid from a forgettable one.
10 Across: MIL. Informal shorthand for one million dollars. Tight, clean, and unambiguous: exactly what the Mini needs in a three-letter slot.
11 Across: MOE. Moe Howard, born Moses Harry Horwitz in 1897, was the de facto leader of the Three Stooges and the most recognizable face of the slapstick comedy trio. His bowl-cut silhouette remains one of the most iconic images in American comedy history.
12 Across: UMP. Short for umpire, the official who calls balls and strikes behind home plate in baseball. Three letters, zero ambiguity.
13 Across: GLP. GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, refers to a class of receptor agonist drugs that includes Ozempic and Wegovy, both semaglutide-based medications that have reshaped conversations about obesity treatment and metabolic health in recent years. The abbreviation appeared in mainstream crosswords as these drugs became household names.
14 Across: PEA SHOOT. The delicate, curling young tendrils of the pea plant, widely used as a garnish and salad ingredient across East and Southeast Asian cuisines. The word SHOOT at the end of this fill completes the third piece of the TEAM GOAL hidden structure.
17 Across: SHEA. Shea Stadium served as the home of the New York Mets from 1964 until 2008, when the team moved to Citi Field. The stadium, named after William A. Shea, the New York attorney who helped bring National League baseball back to the city after the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants departed, was also the site of the Beatles’ landmark 1965 concert. It was demolished in 2009.
18 Across: SHEL. Shel Silverstein, born Sheldon Allan Silverstein in Chicago in 1930, was a poet, author, illustrator, and songwriter whose picture book The Giving Tree, published in 1964, became one of the most enduring and widely discussed children’s titles of the twentieth century. He died in 1999, but his work continues to sell in vast numbers annually.
1 Down: HALL PASS. The permission slip a student carries to move through school corridors during class time. PASS anchors the end of this answer and feeds directly into the 4-Down reveal.
2 Down: ALL. The A of GOAT, the acronym for Greatest Of All Time. Short, direct, and placed to assist multiple crossings in the upper portion of the grid.
3 Down: LOP. To chop or cut off, typically a branch or limb. A compact three-letter verb that crossword constructors reach for when the grid demands a consonant-heavy short fill.
4 Down: TEAM GOAL. The thematic centerpiece of today’s puzzle. The clue spells it out explicitly: the ends of HALL PASS (1-Down), ITLLPASS (6-Across), and PEA SHOOT (14-Across) each contain words that, read together, form the phrase TEAM GOAL. PASS plus PASS plus SHOOT equals a sequence familiar to any basketball or soccer fan: pass, pass, shoot. It is clean, elegant construction that rewards solvers who pause long enough to notice it.
6 Down: I’M UP. The phrase a player uses to signal that it is their turn. Its placement crossing 6-Across adds another layer of wordplay to an already thematically rich corner of the grid.
7 Down: TIME. The T of GOAT. Paired with 2-Down (ALL), it’s a subtle nod to the full acronym embedded across two separate down answers.
8 Down: SOLO. All by oneself. A clean, satisfying fill that benefits from widespread recognition across multiple cultural registers, from Han Solo to a solo musical performance.
9 Down: SEPT. The standard abbreviation for September, the ninth month of the year. A reliable crossword staple that appears in grids throughout the summer.
15 Down: SHH. The universal sound of a librarian’s warning. Three letters, instantly recognizable, and one of the more charming short fills in the puzzle.
16 Down: HEE. The first part of “tee-hee,” an expression of light, giggly laughter. A small entry that still manages to carry a bit of personality.
Difficulty and Puzzle Design
Saturday’s Mini sits in the moderate range. The expanded grid offers more real estate than a standard weekday edition, but the hidden TEAM GOAL architecture is where the real craft lives. Solvers who identified the theme early likely moved through the puzzle without friction. Those who missed the structural cue may have found the middle section slightly slower, particularly where ITLLPASS and PEA SHOOT intersect.
The GLP clue is the most topical entry in today’s grid and reflects the New York Times’ ongoing practice of incorporating culturally current abbreviations alongside more timeless fill. It is the kind of clue that plays differently depending on how closely a solver has followed health news over the past two years.
SHEA and SHEL sit in the bottom right corner with adjacent SH- openings, a small phonetic echo that likely wasn’t accidental. Joel Fagliano’s editorial hand is visible throughout a grid like this, where small details reward the attentive solver without punishing those who miss them.
Speed-Solving Tips for the NYT Mini Crossword
Start with the shortest fills. UMP, MIL, MOE, LOP, ALL, and SHH are all three-letter answers that can be confirmed quickly and provide crossing letters for the longer entries. In a compact grid, locking in even two or three short fills early creates a scaffold that makes the longer answers fall much faster.
Look for conversational clues first. ITLLPASS and I’M UP are phrased the way people actually speak, which means they often come to mind more quickly than formal dictionary definitions. If a clue sounds like something someone would say in a text message, trust that instinct.
Read the meta-clue carefully. Today’s 4-Down explains its own architecture, pointing solvers directly toward the ends of three other answers. Whenever a clue references multiple other entries, treat it as a map rather than a standalone puzzle. It will orient the entire grid.
The Mini Crossword is one of several daily puzzles in the New York Times Games suite. If you are tracking your solve times across the full daily lineup, today’s NYT Connections, Wordle, and NYT Strands answers are also available.
About the NYT Mini Crossword
The Mini Crossword launched in 2014 as a compact companion to the flagship New York Times Crossword, which runs on a 15-by-15 grid on weekdays and a 21-by-21 grid on Sundays. The Mini’s five-by-five format was designed for speed and accessibility, targeting players who wanted the satisfaction of completing a crossword during a short break rather than committing to a longer solve session.
Since its launch, the Mini has grown into one of the most-played digital word games in the world, sitting alongside Wordle, Connections, and Strands inside the NYT Games ecosystem. Unlike the full crossword, the Mini is free to play for anyone with a New York Times account, and its daily reset at 10 p.m. Eastern has built a consistent global player base that spans time zones and experience levels.
Today’s puzzle is a strong example of what makes the Mini endure: a small grid, a clean theme, and enough structural ingenuity to reward the curious solver long after the timer has stopped.
