Mini Crossword (The Sydney Morning Herald)

About Mini Crossword (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Nine's Melbourne and Sydney mastheads share their daily puzzles, and the Mini is the quickest of the crosswords. Each mini has its own dated page, such as the one for Saturday 3 October 2026, and is credited to a setter by initials (LR on that day). The Age's page for the same date has the same clues.

The grid is small, with answers of three to five letters. Clues are plain definitions or fill-in-the-blanks: Become unhinged (4), Make amends (5), Domesticated animal (3). A timer starts when you press Start, and you can check or reveal a letter, word or the whole grid if you get stuck.

The page describes the crosswords as a daily puzzle playable on the web, mobile and app as part of your digital subscription, and non-subscribers see a prompt to subscribe to unlock Daily Crosswords. The same section has the Quick and Cryptic crosswords, sudoku at four levels and Target Time.

It suits subscribers who want a one-minute warm-up before the full-size Quick or Cryptic, or a puzzle to finish on a short commute.

How to play Mini Crossword (The Sydney Morning Herald)

1. Open the crosswords page on smh.com.au or theage.com.au, or the Herald app, and log in with a Premium Digital subscription.
2. Pick the Mini for today's date and press Start.
3. Click a square or clue and type; the number in brackets is the answer length.
4. Use crossing answers to fill letters you are unsure of.
5. Check or reveal a letter or word if you get stuck.

Tips

• Start with fill-in-the-blank clues; they are usually the quickest.
• In a small grid almost every letter is crossed, so test each guess against the other direction.
• Move on to the Quick crossword once the Mini is done.

Questions