The answers to today’s NYT Mini Crossword (September 22, 2026) are WEB, BOXUP, AMIGO, CELLO, and KNEEL (Across), and WOMEN, EXILE, BUGLE, BACK, and POOL (Down).
Tuesday’s puzzle sits at medium difficulty. CELLO and BUGLE lock in fast on direct definitions. The tricky entries are BOXUP (which reads like two words until the B from BUGLE confirms it) and KNEEL, where the “pop the question” phrasing steers solvers toward PROPOSE before the letter count corrects them.
If you want to solve it yourself, three hints without spoilers:
Hint 1: 1 Across is a three-letter word that links arachnids and the internet.
Hint 2: 1 Down is a Louisa May Alcott novel with its first word missing.
Hint 3: 8 Across is something you do before asking a life-changing question.
NYT Mini Crossword Answers: September 22, 2026
ACROSS
1 Across: WEB (What fills the Venn diagram of “Spider-Man” and “the Internet”)
4 Across: BOXUP (Pack, as a mover might)
6 Across: AMIGO (“Adios, ___!”)
7 Across: CELLO (Large stringed instrument)
8 Across: KNEEL (Prepare to pop the question)
DOWN
1 Down: WOMEN (Alcott’s “Little ___”)
2 Down: EXILE (Political leader unwelcome at home)
3 Down: BUGLE (Small brass instrument)
4 Down: BACK (Support politically)
5 Down: POOL (Site of cannonballs and bellyflops)
The WEB clue is the day’s cleverest construction. Spider-Man’s powers literally involve webs, and the internet is widely known as the web. Both meanings are precise, and only one three-letter word sits at their intersection. EXILE runs slightly obscure for a Tuesday. “Political leader unwelcome at home” describes a head of state in foreign asylum, but the word usually appears in harder puzzles.
Come back tomorrow for the NYT Mini Crossword answers for September 23, 2026.
