NYT Mini Crossword answers today, Thursday, August 20, 2026: the across entries are LAB, LINUS, AGGRO, SHELL and TRY, and the down entries are LIGHT, ANGER, BURLY, LAS and SOL.
If you would rather finish it yourself, the hints come first and the full grid follows below.
NYT Mini Crossword Hints Today, August 20, 2026
- The three-letter word across the top row is where a scientist works, and each of its letters begins one of the long down answers.
- One clue ends in a question mark. Trust it. That entry is not defining anything.
- Two answers are more British than the rest of the grid, and one of them is a nineties song title.
- The Peanuts answer is a boy, not a beagle.
- The musical scale entry is the note most people learn as “so”, spelled the longer way.
NYT Mini Crossword Across Answers Today
- 1 Across. Scientist’s workplace – LAB
- 4 Across. Best friend of Charlie Brown – LINUS
- 6 Across. Looking for a fight, informally – AGGRO
- 7 Across. Turtle’s hiding place – SHELL
- 8 Across. Give an effort – TRY
NYT Mini Crossword Down Answers Today
- 1 Down. Plant food? – LIGHT
- 2 Down. “Don’t Look Back in ___” (Oasis hit) – ANGER
- 3 Down. Large and muscular – BURLY
- 4 Down. ___ Vegas – LAS
- 5 Down. Note after do, re, mi, fa … – SOL
The One Clue Worth Slowing Down For
“Plant food?” is the whole puzzle. The question mark is the constructor telling you the clue is playing rather than defining, and a solver who takes it at face value goes hunting for fertiliser, compost or water. None of those is five letters, and none of them is what a plant actually eats. Photosynthesis is, and the answer is LIGHT.
It is the best kind of Mini clue because the misdirection costs nothing once you see it and everything while you do not. LIGHT also runs down the second column, so getting it wrong blocks the top-left corner entirely.
The grid underneath is more elegant than a Thursday Mini usually bothers to be. LAB sits across the top, and its three letters seed the three long downs in order: L begins LIGHT, A begins ANGER, B begins BURLY. Solve three squares, and you have the opening letter of every five-letter answer on the board.
AGGRO is the entry most likely to stall an American solver. It is British slang, clipped from aggravation, and it means trouble or a willingness to cause some. Paired with the Oasis reference two clues earlier, it gives this Mini an unusually British accent for a grid that also contains Charlie Brown and Las Vegas.
More NYT Puzzle Answers Today
Also solving? Today’s Wordle answer is MURKY, and our NYT Strands hints and answer are published every morning alongside this one.
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