In case you missed Friday’s NYT Mini Crossword, you can find the answers here:

ForbesToday’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues and Solutions for Friday December 6thFrom Paul Tassi

Ladies and gentlemen, I have returned. After a two week break, I’m back at the top of the NYT Mini Crossword Guide here at Forbes Games. I passed the Strands baton to my colleagues Kris Holt and Paul Tassi and picked up the mini baton. I also write a daily Wordle guide, which you can find here on my blog. Anyway, it’s the weekend and we have a lot to do and see, so let’s move on, shall we?

The NYT Mini is a smaller, faster, more digestible and bite-sized version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword and, unlike its bigger brother, is free to play without the need for a New York Times subscription. You can play it on the web or in the app, although you need the app to manage the archive.

Answers to today’s mini crossword puzzle below. . . .

Spoilers ahead!

ABOVE

1 — Gift Box Topper – BOW

4 – Name that is an anagram of CABLE – CALEB

6 – Prominent body part in a Rosie the Riveter poster – FOREARM

8 – Frequently, in poetry – OFTEN

9 – Fish in a Japanese garden pond – KOI

10 – Mysterious Special “Something” – XFACTOR

12 – Gone like the tide – EBBED

13 – English Class Assignment – ​​ESSAY

DOWN

1 – Beverage Bills – BARTABS

2 – World Cup celebration – OLE

3 – Weakened argument, in slang: WEAKTEA

4 – ___ ID card (swipe at the office before heading out for remote work) – COFFEE

5 – Unhappy and deep in thought – BROODY

6 – Smart animal – FOX

7 – Soviet-era space station – MIR

11 – “Survivor” Network – CBS

This was a tricky mini crossword puzzle with lots of words I didn’t know straight away and a few I did. Luckily with 1 and 4 Across (Bow and Caleb) it started out pretty easy and some of the drawbacks were pretty obvious – Ole! – but some of them really amazed me. I would never have come up with 10-Across as “XFACTOR” without first guessing 6-Down “Fox”. Overall, my guessing game was slow, or, in 3-Down’s understanding of slang, “weak tea.”

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If you also play Wordle, I also write instructions for it. You can find these and all of my TV guides, reviews and much more here on my blog. Thanks for reading!