NYT Crossword Answers — August 24, 2026
The NYT-style Mini for August 24, 2026 packs a full puzzle into a tiny grid, and today's solution set spans everyday vocabulary from TIGER, AMUSE, CHAIN, HINGE. Today's mini features a word about deer vision and a paintball phrase, with a mix of straightforward and quirky clues. Because the Mini is so compact, every square does double duty — each letter belongs to both an across answer and a down answer — so a single confident entry can unlock the whole board. Today the shortest answer, TONE, is the kind of gimme that gives you crossing letters for the trickier fill, while the longest entry, TIGER, anchors the grid and often takes a crossing or two to confirm. If you're checking your work or you got stuck on one stubborn square, the complete answer key below lists every across and down clue with its solution and a short explanation. We publish these Mini answers every day, so bookmark the archive and come back whenever a clue has you second-guessing. And if reading the answers gives you the itch to solve one yourself, our free Mini Crossword plays the same way — no subscription and no account required.
NYT Mini Crossword Answers
Today's mini features a word about deer vision and a paintball phrase, with a mix of straightforward and quirky clues.
Across
| Clue | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Animal that appears orange to human eyes, but as a camouflaged green to deer | TIGER | Tigers are orange to humans, but deer see them as green due to their color vision. |
| 6. Get a smile or laugh from | AMUSE | To amuse means to entertain or cause laughter or smiles. |
| 7. Business with multiple locations | CHAIN | A chain is a business with multiple locations under one brand. |
| 8. Dating app with a curvy "H" logo | HINGE | Hinge is a dating app whose logo features a curvy uppercase H. |
| 9. "At the ___, please record your message ..." | TONE | The tone is the sound after the beep in a voicemail prompt. |
Down
| Clue | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dashboard gauge, for short | TACH | Tach is short for tachometer, a dashboard gauge measuring RPM. |
| 2. Dramatic cry in a game of paintball | IMHIT | In paintball, 'I'm hit!' is a dramatic cry when a player is shot. |
| 3. Fertilizer obtained from bats | GUANO | Guano is bat droppings used as a natural fertilizer. |
| 4. Add one's name to, as a PDF document | ESIGN | To esign is to add one's signature to a digital document. |
| 5. Actress Zellweger | RENEE | Renee Zellweger is the actress known for Bridget Jones and Judy. |
Every answer explained
TIGER
Clue: Animal that appears orange to human eyes, but as a camouflaged green to deer
Tigers are orange to humans, but deer see them as green due to their color vision. With 2 vowels across 5 letters, TIGER is exactly the kind of crossword-friendly answer worth recognizing on sight.
AMUSE
Clue: Get a smile or laugh from
To amuse means to entertain or cause laughter or smiles. AMUSE is a tidy 5-letter fill (3 vowels); constructors like it because it plays well in both directions.
CHAIN
Clue: Business with multiple locations
A chain is a business with multiple locations under one brand. With 2 vowels across 5 letters, CHAIN is exactly the kind of crossword-friendly answer worth recognizing on sight.
HINGE
Clue: Dating app with a curvy "H" logo
Hinge is a dating app whose logo features a curvy uppercase H. HINGE is a tidy 5-letter fill (2 vowels); constructors like it because it plays well in both directions.
TONE
Clue: "At the ___, please record your message ..."
The tone is the sound after the beep in a voicemail prompt. With 2 vowels across 4 letters, TONE is exactly the kind of crossword-friendly answer worth recognizing on sight.
TACH
Clue: Dashboard gauge, for short
Tach is short for tachometer, a dashboard gauge measuring RPM. As a 4-letter word with 1 vowel, TACH interlocks easily with crossing entries — one reason it turns up in grids so often.
IMHIT
Clue: Dramatic cry in a game of paintball
In paintball, 'I'm hit!' is a dramatic cry when a player is shot. As a 5-letter word with 2 vowels, IMHIT interlocks easily with crossing entries — one reason it turns up in grids so often.
GUANO
Clue: Fertilizer obtained from bats
Guano is bat droppings used as a natural fertilizer. GUANO is a tidy 5-letter fill (3 vowels); constructors like it because it plays well in both directions.
ESIGN
Clue: Add one's name to, as a PDF document
To esign is to add one's signature to a digital document. As a 5-letter word with 2 vowels, ESIGN interlocks easily with crossing entries — one reason it turns up in grids so often.
RENEE
Clue: Actress Zellweger
Renee Zellweger is the actress known for Bridget Jones and Judy. As a 5-letter word with 3 vowels, RENEE interlocks easily with crossing entries — one reason it turns up in grids so often.
Tips for solving
- 1Start with the fill-in-the-blank and short (3-letter) clues — they're usually the fastest points and hand you crossing letters for everything else.
- 2Work outward from your most confident answer instead of top-to-bottom; in a Mini, one solid entry unlocks four or five neighbors.
- 3If a clue ends in a question mark, expect wordplay or a pun rather than a literal definition.
- 4Plural clues almost always mean the answer ends in S — pencil that last letter in early.
- 5When two answers seem possible, let the crossing clue break the tie rather than guessing.