NYT Mini Crossword Answers Aug 26, 2026

NYT Mini Crossword Answers: August 26, 2026

Here are all the answers to the NYT Mini Crossword for Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Today’s puzzle leans heavily on trivia, rewarding players with broad knowledge of chemistry, zodiac signs, heraldry, and music. Scroll down for the complete solution.

Mini Crossword Across Answers: August 26, 2026

1-Across: Only three-letter element – TIN
TIN (chemical symbol Sn) is one of only two elements on the periodic table whose name has just three letters. Its atomic number is 50, and it has been used by humans for thousands of years in alloys and food preservation.

4-Across: Hole food – DONUT
A punny clue playing on hole rather than whole. A DONUT is a ring-shaped fried pastry with a hole through the center, one of the most recognizable foods in American baking culture.

6-Across: Section at the end of a song – OUTRO
An OUTRO is the concluding section of a musical track, the structural counterpart to the intro. The term has migrated from studio recording into everyday music vocabulary and crossword grids alike.

7-Across: Emblem topping a coat of arms – CREST
A CREST is the uppermost element of a heraldic achievement, sitting above the helmet in the full coat of arms design. It often takes the form of an animal, a hand, or a symbolic object tied to a family’s history.

8-Across: Only three-letter zodiac sign – LEO
LEO, covering July 23 to August 22, is the only zodiac sign spelled with just three letters. All eleven other signs run to five letters or more, making LEO a reliable crossword staple.

Mini Crossword Down Answers: August 26, 2026

1-Down: Visit, as a college – TOUR
Prospective students TOUR college campuses before submitting applications. The clue’s phrasing “as a college” signals the informal academic sense of the verb rather than the travel sense.

2-Down: Something gathered by a spy – INTEL
INTEL is short for intelligence, the classified information that espionage agencies collect, analyze, and act on. It has crossed from spy jargon into general business and technology vocabulary.

3-Down: Sip slowly – NURSE
To NURSE a drink is to sip it slowly over a long period rather than finishing it quickly. The word takes on a completely different meaning here from its medical context, which is exactly the kind of wordplay Mini Crossword clue-writers love.

5-Down: Big name in high-end toilets – TOTO
TOTO is a Japanese brand renowned for luxury bathroom fixtures, including the famous Washlet bidet toilet seat. The brand has become synonymous with premium plumbing, especially in Asia and among design enthusiasts worldwide.

How the Puzzle Played

Today’s Mini Crossword rewards trivia breadth. The “only three-letter” pattern appears twice (element and zodiac sign), which becomes a hint in itself once you notice it. The wordplay clue (hole food) is the lightest entry in an otherwise knowledge-heavy grid. Overall difficulty rates as moderate.