About Mini #396
Mini #396 is the daily 5×5 for Saturday, October 31, 2026. Its grid has two black squares, laid out as single squares in the top-right and bottom-left corners, which leaves 23 white squares for ten answers: five Across and five Down. By length, that's six five-letter and four four-letter answers.
The shortest clue is 1-Across, “Young horse”, at two words; the longest is 2-Down, “Chicago airport with the code ORD”, at six words. Clues worth knowing about before you start:
- Fill-in-the-blank: 6-Down, “Mona ___ (da Vinci painting)”
Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the quickest way in, so 6-Down, “Mona ___ (da Vinci painting)”, is a good first stop. Some clues lean on a name or title, such as 9-Across, “Snow queen in Disney's 'Frozen'”, 2-Down, “Chicago airport with the code ORD”, 4-Down, “The London Underground, informally” and 6-Down, “Mona ___ (da Vinci painting)”; 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 86 of the 342 daily 5×5 puzzles in our library dated up to October 31, 2026. The layout is rotationally symmetric: turn the grid upside down and the black squares land in the same places. The day before (October 30, 2026) also had two 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 14 clues.
More for October 31, 2026
Stuck? The hints for October 31, 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 #395 (October 30, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Deep unconscious state”.