All 10 answers to today’s NYT Mini Crossword (Sunday, July 5, 2026) are listed below. Sunday’s grid runs on the easy end, with the SNL reference in 6-Across and the compressed phrase in 7-Across the only entries likely to give solvers a moment’s pause.
Hints for the trickiest clues
If you are still working through the puzzle and want a nudge rather than a full reveal, here are hints for Sunday’s hardest clues:
- 6-Across (___ Thompson, longest-tenured cast member in “S.N.L.” history): If the name does not come immediately, think of the comedian who joined the show in 2003 and currently anchors a sitcom that shares his first name.
- 7-Across (“My turn!”): The answer is a compressed two-word phrase — two common words run together as a single five-letter grid entry — that you would say at a board game table or while waiting in a queue.
- 4-Down (Giving evasive answers): Think of a word meaning deliberately vague or noncommittal. A politician who will not give a straight yes or no is behaving this way.
NYT Mini Crossword full answers, July 5, 2026
Across
- 1-Across (Nature’s marshmallow holder): STICK
- 6-Across (___ Thompson, longest-tenured cast member in “S.N.L.” history): KENAN
- 7-Across (“My turn!”): ILLGO
- 8-Across (Snow/rain combo): SLEET
- 9-Across (Messy home for pigs): STY
Down
- 1-Down (Tackles a double-black diamond, perhaps): SKIS
- 2-Down (Poker player’s giveaways): TELLS
- 3-Down (Small bay): INLET
- 4-Down (Giving evasive answers): CAGEY
- 5-Down (Shape for a shoelace or pretzel): KNOT
Sunday’s puzzle fulfilled the promise of its difficulty rating. STICK, SLEET, STY, and KNOT all resolve on first reading. SKIS, TELLS, and INLET are equally clean once the crossing letters confirm direction. KENAN is the cultural reference that sorts the room: anyone who grew up watching Kenan and Kel on Nickelodeon, or who follows current SNL seasons, lands it without hesitation. Anyone without that reference goes entirely to the crossings, which in a well-filled grid like today’s is usually enough. ILLGO is the one entry that resists pattern-matching because it is not a standalone dictionary word. It is “I’ll go” compressed into a single five-letter grid entry. Solvers who read the clue out loud and heard the phrase landed it cleanly; solvers scanning for known vocabulary sometimes stalled on the double L. For more from Sunday’s NYT Games, the NYT Strands July 5 answer covered hunting dog breeds under the theme “Barking up the right tree,” and the NYT Connections July 5 answers featured an Amex card tier group and a chemistry classroom surprise in the purple category.
