About Mini #313
Mini #313 is the daily 5×5 for Sunday, August 9, 2026. Its grid has four black squares, laid out as single squares in all four corners, which leaves 21 white squares for ten answers: five Across and five Down. By length, that's six five-letter and four three-letter answers.
The shortest clue is 1-Across, “Coffee mug”, at two words; the longest is 3-Down, “Group that chases the bad guys in a Western”, at nine words. Clues worth knowing about before you start:
- Fill-in-the-blank: 2-Down, “‘As ___’ (like always)”; 4-Down, “Wrestling surface, or a welcome ___”
Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the quickest way in, so 2-Down, “‘As ___’ (like always)”, is a good first stop. Some clues lean on a name or title, such as 3-Down, “Group that chases the bad guys in a Western”; if one is unfamiliar, work its crossing answers first. For more ways in, see the solving tips.
How this grid compares
This layout appears in 28 of the 259 daily 5×5 puzzles in our library dated up to August 9, 2026. The layout is rotationally symmetric: turn the grid upside down and the black squares land in the same places. That's two black squares more than the day before (August 8, 2026), which had two.
Like every daily 5×5 in our library, it was generated at our “easy” difficulty setting. The same date also has a 6×6 with 12 clues and a 7×7 with 16 clues.
More for August 9, 2026
Stuck? The hints for August 9, 2026 give three hints per clue, the answer key reveals one answer at a time, and there's a printable copy for solving on paper. The day before, Mini #312 (August 8, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Corporate bosses, for short”; the day after, Mini #314 (August 10, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Emeril's exclamation while cooking”.