About Mini #397
Mini #397 is the daily 5×5 for Sunday, November 1, 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 5-Across, “They separate rooms”, at three words; the longest is 1-Across, “Resident of Dubai or Riyadh”, at five words. None of the ten clues is a fill-in-the-blank, a quotation, a question-mark clue or a marked short form.
There's no fill-in-the-blank this time, so a good first stop is the shortest slot: 1-Across has only four letters. Some clues lean on a name or title, such as 1-Across, “Resident of Dubai or Riyadh”; 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 87 of the 343 daily 5×5 puzzles in our library dated up to November 1, 2026. The layout is rotationally symmetric: turn the grid upside down and the black squares land in the same places. It keeps the same black-square layout as the day before (October 31, 2026).
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 November 1, 2026
Stuck? The hints for November 1, 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 #396 (October 31, 2026), opens with 1-Across, “Young horse”.