A crossword, made small
A mini crossword is a crossword puzzle on a very small grid, most often five squares wide and five squares tall. Everything else works exactly like the crossword you know. Each answer starts in a numbered square and runs either Across, left to right, or Down, top to bottom. Most squares belong to one Across answer and one Down answer, so the two have to agree on the letter they share. Fill every white square correctly and the puzzle is solved.
What changes is the scale. A 5×5 has ten answers where a full-size daily crossword has sixty or more, and the answers are three to five letters long. A mini takes minutes rather than an hour, which is why so many people solve one every day, often on a phone.
Anatomy of a 5×5
- The grid. Twenty-five squares. A few are black, usually in the corners. On our 5×5 puzzles there are usually two, four or six of them.
- The numbers. Any square that begins an Across or a Down answer gets a number, counting left to right and top to bottom. The clue “1-Down” starts in square 1.
- The clues. One per answer, listed under Across and Down. In a mini they are short and mostly direct: “Spoon for serving soup” is LADLE.
- The crossings. Because nearly every letter is shared by two answers, each one you solve gives you letters in several others. On a 5×5 a full-width answer touches all five answers running the other way.
A 5×5 with no black squares at all would be a double word square, where all ten rows and columns are real words. Those are hard to build and often need obscure words, so most minis use a few black squares to keep the answers fair.
Where the mini came from
The crossword itself is a little over a century old. The first one is generally credited to Arthur Wynne, whose diamond-shaped “word-cross” appeared in the New York World in December 1913. Within about a decade crosswords had become a national craze in the United States, with books of puzzles and a puzzle in most newspapers.
The idea of letters that read in two directions is much older. Word squares, grids in which words read both across and down, go back to the ancient world; the best-known example, the Latin SATOR square, is a 5×5 that was found among the ruins of Pompeii.
Small crosswords have long been around too, in children's puzzle books and in the “quick” crosswords that many British newspapers print alongside their cryptic puzzles, where every clue is a plain definition. The mini as a daily habit of its own is newer. In the 2010s, as more people began solving on their phones, newspapers and puzzle apps started publishing small daily crosswords that fit on one screen, and the 5×5 became a format with its own following. Today many sites and apps publish a daily mini, each with its own puzzles and editors.
How a mini differs from a full-size crossword
Length. Ten answers instead of sixty or more. You can read every clue in a few seconds, which changes how you solve: instead of working through one region at a time, you can look at the whole puzzle at once and start wherever you are most confident.
Clues. Mini clues lean toward plain definitions, everyday vocabulary and a little pop culture. Wordplay appears, usually flagged with a question mark, but it is gentle. Full-size puzzles, especially later in the week in many papers, rely much more on misdirection.
Themes. Most full-size daily crosswords have a theme that ties the longest answers together. A 5×5 has no room for one, so each answer stands alone.
Crossings. In a big puzzle, a hard answer is surrounded by many easier ones. In a mini there are fewer letters to lean on, so one unknown word can hold up a whole corner. That is why good mini clues tend to be fair and direct.
Mini vs 15×15 vs cryptic vs other daily word games
| Puzzle | Grid | Answers | Clue style | Typical time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini crossword | 5×5 (sometimes up to 7×7) | About 10 on a 5×5 | Short, mostly straight definitions | A few minutes |
| Standard American crossword | 15×15 on weekdays, often larger on weekends | Roughly 60 to 80 | Definitions plus wordplay; often a theme | Often 15 minutes to an hour |
| Cryptic crossword | Usually 15×15, not every square crossed | Around 25 to 35 | Each clue hides a definition inside wordplay | Often 30 minutes or more |
| Word-guessing games | No clue grid | One hidden word | Letter-by-letter feedback on your guesses | A few minutes |
A cryptic crossword is a different game with the same grid idea. Each clue contains a straight definition plus a piece of wordplay, such as an anagram or a hidden word, that leads to the same answer. They are a staple of British newspapers and take practice to learn. Word-guessing games, where you deduce a single hidden word from feedback on your guesses, share the daily rhythm of a mini but not its clues or grid. The mini sits at the gentle end of all of these: real crossword clues, real crossings, in a few minutes.
Why people love the format
It fits into a day. A 5×5 is short enough for a commute, a queue or the first sip of coffee, and a daily one gives you a small, satisfying routine. It is also the best way to learn crosswords: you meet the common clue conventions and the short words that appear again and again, and you finish every time, which keeps you coming back. Many solvers use the mini as a warm-up before a bigger puzzle, and many simply like being done in two minutes.
Playing a mini crossword here
Mini Crossword publishes a new 5×5 every day at midnight Eastern Time, along with a daily 6×6 and 7×7. The last 90 days live in the archive, every daily 5×5 has a hints page and an answers page, and Unlimited keeps serving puzzles from our library for as long as you want to play. Everything is free, with no account and no subscription. We are an independent site, not affiliated with any newspaper or publisher, and every puzzle here is our own.
New to crosswords? The how to play guide solves a real puzzle step by step and has a practice grid, and the solving tips explain the clue conventions that make minis quick.