If you missed Friday’s NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:

ForbesNYT Mini Clues and Answers for Friday December 20thFrom Kris Holt

The NYT Mini is a quick and dirty version of the newspaper’s larger and long-running crossword puzzle. Most days there are between three and five clues in each direction on a five-by-five grid, but the puzzles are sometimes larger, especially on Saturdays.

In contrast to its bigger brother, the NYT Mini Crosswords are free to play on the New York Times website or the NYT Games app. However, you will need a NYT Games subscription to access previous puzzles in the archives.

The NYT Mini is a fun daily distraction that usually takes no time at all. I’m trying to beat the standard weekday grid in under a minute. But sometimes I can’t quite figure out a clue or two and have to give away the answer.

To help you avoid this, here is the NYT Mini Crossword puzzle solutions (Of course, there are spoilers ahead):

NYT Mini Crossword Clues and Solutions

ABOVE

1) Zap with a beam of light – LASE

5) ___ Solstice, the shortest day of the year – WINTER

7) 100 years – CENTURY

8) 100 years, for Jimmy Carter – AGE

9) Get involved! – DIE

10) Sports newbies – ROOKIES

12) Like every day relative to the previous day, for the next six months – LONGER

13) Eugene V. ___, five-time presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America – DEBS

DOWN

1) The first space on a form, perhaps – LINEONE

2) Unwanted crawler on a kitchen counter – ANT

3) Prepares for an exam – STUDIES

4) Scarier – scarier

5) “Is everything cool between us?” – GOOD

6) Some breads…or a homophone for what they do in the oven – RYES

7) Astronomer Sagan, whose papers are archived at the Library of Congress – CARL

11) Spy organization. in “Bridge of Spies” – KGB

Really long, pretty difficult puzzle today as I didn’t actually know the word “Lase”. You laser things, you don’t laser things, that’s absurd. Or at least what science fiction books taught me. The reference to each day being relative to the day before it threw me for a loop until I understood that it was connected to the solstice reference. But yes, today it is very difficult.

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