The NYT Mini Crossword for September 20, 2026, leans on wordplay and trivia in equal measure. GMAIL is the entry almost everyone solves first – an app clue that lands instantly for any smartphone user – while UMBER’s clue, which asks solvers to find a brown shade that becomes gold with a single letter swap, is the puzzle’s most elegant construction.
All ten answers for today’s Mini Crossword are below.
Across
1A: GAG – Running joke.
4A: UMBER – Shade of brown that becomes a shade of gold if you change its first letter to an “A” (AMBER).
6A: MAINE – State that shares the same first and last letters with MOOSE, appropriately.
7A: SIDED – Joined teams (with).
8A: LES – “___ Misérables.”
Down
1D: GMAIL – App with an envelope logo.
2D: ABIDE – Withstand.
3D: GENES – Things that might make your hair curl?
4D: UMS – Sounds of hesitation.
5D: RED – Vibrant color for a sugar maple in autumn.
The UMBER clue is the puzzle’s highlight: a substitution setter that works by transformation rather than definition, the kind of construction that makes Mini regulars pause before the answer drops. GENES earns its question mark by playing on both curly hair and the actual genetic mechanism behind it. GAG opens the grid cleanly, and ABIDE gives the Down side its backbone.
If you are working through today’s full NYT morning set, the NYT Connections answers, the Wordle solution for puzzle #1919 (answer: SHONE), and the NYT Strands answer for puzzle #931 (theme: Putting on airs) are all at Eastern Herald.
Play today’s puzzle at the NYT Mini Crossword page.
