Slate Mini Crossword

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A 5x5 crossword from Slate, new every morning at 6.

on slate.com

Slate Mini Crossword title art: a drawn cat reaching for a ball of crossword-grid yarn above the words Slate Mini Crossword

The Slate Mini Crossword is a small 5x5 grid posted every day of the week at 6 a.m. Eastern. It takes a minute or two, rotates between Slate's writers and editors as constructors, and sits beside the magazine's larger daily crossword.

About Slate Mini Crossword

Slate, the American online magazine, runs a small set of daily games, and the Mini Crossword is the quickest of them. Each morning at 6 a.m. Eastern a new 5x5 grid goes up as its own dated post, so the puzzle for any given day can be found and shared by its date.

The grids are made by people from around Slate rather than a single setter: posts in the same week carry bylines from different writers and editors.

The mini is free to play in the browser with ads around it. Past puzzles collect on the mini crossword tag page, which works as an archive if you miss a day. It suits players who like The Mini from The New York Times and want a second small grid with a different voice, and it pairs naturally with Slate's own full crossword, quiz and Pears.

How to play Slate Mini Crossword

Open the day's Slate Mini Crossword post, new at 6 a.m. Eastern.
Click a square or a clue to choose an across or down entry.
Type your answers; the grid moves on as you fill each word.
Finish all the across and down entries to solve the 5x5 grid.
Go back through the archive for days you missed.

Tips

Start with the fill-in-the-blank clues; they are the quickest wins in a mini.
A 5x5 grid has no black squares to hide behind, so check crossings as soon as one word is in.