About Mini #331
Mini #331 is the daily 5×5 for Thursday, August 27, 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 8-Across, “Pig's pen”, at two words; the longest is 4-Across, “Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, e.g.”, at five words. Clues worth knowing about before you start:
- Fill-in-the-blank: 7-Across, “Been ___, done that”
Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the quickest way in, so 7-Across, “Been ___, done that”, is a good first stop. Some clues lean on a name or title, such as 4-Across, “Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, e.g.”; 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 30 of the 277 daily 5×5 puzzles in our library dated up to August 27, 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 26, 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 27, 2026
Stuck? The hints for August 27, 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 #330 (August 26, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Coffee ___ (a single one of these makes a cup)”; the day after, Mini #332 (August 28, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Grocery shopper's checklist”.