Here are all the NYT Mini Crossword answers for Thursday, July 23, 2026.
Across
1A: BANJO – Instrument in the bluegrass classic “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”
6A: ALECK – Smart ___ (wise guy)
7A: STARE – Compete in a contest that’s lost by blinking
8A: HATED – Strongly disliked
9A: ROW – One of eight on a chessboard, or five in a Mini crossword
Down
1D: BASH – Criticize harshly
2D: ALTAR – Where wedding rings are exchanged
3D: NEATO – Cool beans!
4D: JCREW – Preppy clothing brand
5D: OKED – Gave the green light
Notable Clues
The opener, 1A (BANJO), rewards players who know the Earl Scruggs standard Foggy Mountain Breakdown. Solvers who landed on BANJO quickly had a strong foothold through B (1D: BASH) and the A that feeds into ALTAR.
9A (ROW) is the puzzle’s neatest construction: the clue is self-referential, since the Mini’s 5×5 grid has exactly five rows and the answer occupies one of them. It is the kind of playful meta-cluing that makes the Mini feel like a puzzle rather than a vocabulary test.
4D (JCREW) requires brand recognition for J.Crew, the preppy American clothing retailer. Without that association, the crossing letters become essential. 5D (OKED) is the informal past tense of OK, a reliable crossword fill that some solvers take a moment to recognise in writing.
For recent Mini Crossword coverage, see our answers for July 22, 2026 and July 21, 2026.
