The NYT Mini Crossword for Monday, July 13, 2026 comes with a trick built into its starred clues: each one is missing exactly ONE letter from the end of its last word. The answer to 7-Across – “Number of letters missing from the ends of each starred Across clue” – is ONE, and that single omitted letter is the puzzle’s entire engine.
If you want three hints before the full solution, read the section below. The complete answers follow immediately after.
Hints for the NYT Mini Crossword – July 13, 2026
Hint 1: The starred clues are deliberately incomplete. Add one letter to the final word of each starred clue to get the real clue – then solve from there.
Hint 2: 4-Across leads you to a structure on the water; 5-Across leads you to a US state; 6-Across leads you to something a knitter does.
Hint 3: 1-Down is a word for a mischievous, small creature of folklore, and 4-Down is an Ivy League university.
NYT Mini Crossword Answers – Monday, July 13, 2026
Across
1A. “Impressive academic degree” – PHD
4A. “*Place to find a doc[k]” – PIER
5A. “*Dallas Cowboys stat[e]” – TEXAS
6A. “*Make a scar[f]” – KNIT
7A. “Number of letters missing from the ends of each starred Across clue in this puzzle” – ONE
Down
1D. “Mischievous fairy” – PIXIE
2D. “What radiators and microwaves generate” – HEAT
3D. “Nurses’ co-workers: Abbr.” – DRS
4D. “Ivy League school in Philly” – PENN
5D. “Boxing ref’s decision” – TKO
The clue-writing here is clean and genuinely clever – the trick announced in 7-Across reframes the three starred entries rather than hiding the mechanism. Once you see that “doc” needs a K (dock), “stat” needs an E (state), and “scar” needs an F (scarf), the grid fills quickly. The harder entries are PIXIE in the Down stack and TKO, where solvers unfamiliar with boxing shorthand may need a crossing letter or two.
For more of today’s NYT puzzle solutions, see the Wordle answer for July 13, 2026 and the NYT Mini Crossword answers for July 12, 2026.
