Waking up on a Sunday and staring at a blank 5x5 grid can feel like a personal affront before you've even finished your first cup of coffee. Honestly, the NYT Mini Crossword is supposed to be the "easy" one, but today’s puzzle—Sunday, January 18, 2026—threw a few curveballs that had people scratching their heads.
If you're stuck on that one pesky corner or just want to double-check your work before you lose your streak, I've got you. Let's look at the clues that defined today’s solve and why they might have tripped you up.
Today's NYT Mini Crossword Answers (Sunday, January 18)
Sometimes you just need the raw data to move on with your life. Here is the breakdown of the across and down solutions for the January 18 grid.
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Across Clues
- 1 Across: “I said so, that's why!” – The answer is CUZ. It’s a bit of a slangy, informal take that fits the vibe of the Mini perfectly.
- 4 Across: Highway division – The answer is LANE. Pretty straightforward, though "Median" might have been your first instinct if you were overthinking it.
- 5 Across: Genre for Olivia Dean and Daniel Caesar – The answer is RANDB. Note the lack of an ampersand; crosswords love to smash $R&B$ into a single string of letters.
- 6 Across: French “to have” – The answer is AVOIR. High school French coming in clutch today.
- 7 Across: Animal that would blend in well with a crossword grid – The answer is PANDA. Get it? Because they're black and white. Clever, Joel Fagliano.
Down Clues
- 1 Down: Officially accepted storylines – The answer is CANON. Whether you're talking about Star Wars or Sherlock Holmes, this is the term of art.
- 2 Down: Reversed – The answer is UNDID. A simple past-tense verb that fits snugly.
- 3 Down: Animal that would blend in well with a crossword grid – The answer is ZEBRA. This is the mirror to the Panda clue. If you got one, you likely got the other.
- 4 Down: Molten flow – The answer is LAVA. Short, sweet, and classic crossword filler.
- 5 Down: Flow over a beat – The answer is RAP. A nice little musical tie-in with the R&B clue from the across section.
Why Today’s Grid Was a Bit Sneaky
The most interesting thing about the NYT Mini Crossword today was the thematic repetition. Using the same clue for both 7 Across and 3 Down ("Animal that would blend in well with a crossword grid") is a classic NYT move. It’s meant to reward you for catching the pattern. If you figured out the Panda, you knew you were looking for another black-and-white animal for the Down.
Then there’s the RANDB situation. New solvers often get tripped up when a genre or phrase usually written with symbols or spaces is condensed. You see it a lot with "ATANDT" or "ROCKNROLL." In today's case, Olivia Dean and Daniel Caesar are the perfect modern references for $R&B$, but if you aren't familiar with their neo-soul sound, that middle "N" could have felt like a mystery.
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Tactics for the Sunday Mini
The Sunday Mini is usually a bit more playful than the midweek versions. If you’re trying to shave seconds off your time—or just finish without a hint—keep these thoughts in your back pocket:
- Trust the slang. The Mini isn't the main Sunday puzzle; it doesn't always follow the rigid rules of formal English. "CUZ" is a perfect example. If a clue sounds conversational, the answer probably is too.
- Look for the "Mini-Themes." When you see identical clues, fill one in and immediately check the intersections for the other. It's the fastest way to break open the grid.
- Vowels are your best friends. In a 5x5, nearly every word is going to rely on a few common intersections. If you have "AVOIR" and "RANDB" crossing, that "A" becomes a structural pillar for the rest of the solve.
Solving these is basically a sprint, not a marathon. If you spent more than three minutes on this one, don't sweat it—the black-and-white animal pun was a bit of a groan-over.
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To keep your momentum going, try to tackle the Connections puzzle next. Today’s categories include "Features of a duck" and "Classic Hollywood actors," which is a wild jump from highway lanes and molten lava, but that's the beauty of the NYT Games suite. If you haven't tried the Strands puzzle yet, the theme today is "Soft skills," and it’s a great way to cool down after the Mini.
Check your "Panda" and "Zebra" placements one last time and lock in that Sunday streak.