Daily Mini Crossword (The Observer, Fordham)

About Daily Mini Crossword (The Observer, Fordham)

The Observer is the student newspaper of Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus in New York, and its Fun and Games section carries a Daily Mini Crossword. Each puzzle is posted as its own dated story, titled with the day, such as Monday, October 5, and signed by the student who made it. The archive runs back across dozens of pages of past puzzles.

The grid is a five by five mini with a couple of black squares and about ten clues across and down. Clues lean on pop culture and student life: a day's set might ask for a Twenty One Pilots song, an actor's surname, a singer's first name or a nickname from Phineas and Ferb. The puzzle is built with PuzzleMe and plays inside the article, with a timer, an Assist menu to check or reveal, a print option and settings.

Puzzles go up at 12:00 AM on weekdays; the archive shows Monday to Friday posts with no weekend editions. It is free and needs no account. It suits solvers who like the New York Times Mini and want a second small grid with a younger, campus voice.

How to play Daily Mini Crossword (The Observer, Fordham)

1. Open the day's puzzle from the Daily Mini Crossword page; the newest is at the top.
2. Click a square or a clue to choose an answer, then type the letters.
3. Switch between across and down by clicking the square again or choosing a clue from the lists.
4. Use the Assist menu to check or reveal a square, word or the whole grid if you are stuck.
5. Fill all the squares to finish, and watch the timer for your time.

Screenshots

Tips

• Start with the pop culture clues you know at once; their crossings fill the rest of a small grid quickly.
• Watch for clues marked (2 Wds.) or (Abbr.), which tell you the answer's form.
• Fill-in-the-blank clues, such as a song title with a missing word, are usually the fastest way in.
• If you miss a day, the category page keeps every past puzzle to solve later.

Questions