About Mini #361
Mini #361 is the daily 5×5 for Saturday, September 26, 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 7-Across, “Distinguishing characteristic”, at two words; the longest is 4-Across, “Sounds a car horn makes”, at five words. Clues worth knowing about before you start:
- Fill-in-the-blank: 5-Down, “Ready, ___, go!”
- Marked as a short form: 1-Across, “Managed-care plan, in brief”; 8-Across, “Tender loving care, in brief”; 4-Down, “Sandwich with bacon, in brief”
Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the quickest way in, so 5-Down, “Ready, ___, go!”, is a good first stop. For more ways in, see the solving tips.
How this grid compares
This layout appears in 33 of the 307 daily 5×5 puzzles in our library dated up to September 26, 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 (September 25, 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 September 26, 2026
Stuck? The hints for September 26, 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 #360 (September 25, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Have ___ there, done that”.