About Mini #382
Mini #382 is the daily 5×5 for Saturday, October 17, 2026. Its grid has four black squares, laid out as side-by-side pairs in the top-left and bottom-right corners, which leaves 21 white squares for ten answers: five Across and five Down. By length, that's four five-letter, four four-letter and two three-letter answers.
The shortest clue is 7-Across, “Cars, informally”, at two words; the longest is 1-Down, “Girl's name that sounds like it could gamble a lot?”, at ten words. Clues worth knowing about before you start:
- Fill-in-the-blank: 4-Down, “Take ___ back!”
- Ends in a question mark: 1-Down, “Girl's name that sounds like it could gamble a lot?”
Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the quickest way in, so 4-Down, “Take ___ back!”, is a good first stop. For more ways in, see the solving tips.
How this grid compares
This layout appears in 32 of the 328 daily 5×5 puzzles in our library dated up to October 17, 2026. The layout is rotationally symmetric: turn the grid upside down and the black squares land in the same places. The day before (October 16, 2026) also had four black squares, arranged differently.
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 October 17, 2026
Stuck? The hints for October 17, 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 #381 (October 16, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Guides for road trips”.