NYT Midi Crossword Answers and Hints for Friday, Nov. 6, 2026: The Maze Runner Theme, 19 Clues

The New York Times (NYT) Midi Crossword for Friday, Nov. 6, 2026: a hint for each of Ian Livengood's 19 clues, how the title Maze Runner works, plus answers.

By Fresh Calendars News Desk

Published November 5, 2026, 10:27 p.m. ET 5 min read

NYT Midi Crossword answers for Nov. 6, 2026: a blank crossword grid with one row and one column highlighted — The New York Times Midi Crossword for Friday, Nov. 6, 2026; hints come first, the full list of answers at the end. Illustration: Fresh Calendars

In this article

What “Maze Runner” means in this Midi
Hints for every clue
How today’s grid is shaped
Today’s NYT Midi answers (spoilers)

The New York Times (NYT) Midi Crossword for Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, is a nine-by-nine grid with only 19 clues, written by Ian Livengood. Its title, “Maze Runner,” is the key to the theme, and two clues say so outright. Below, each clue has a hint that stays hidden until you open it, and the answers wait in a marked spoiler section at the end.

What “Maze Runner” means in this Midi

The puzzle data titles the grid “Maze Runner.” Two clues spell out the idea. 6-Across reads “Maze runners trying to thwart this puzzle’s subject,” and 14-Across reads “Iconic maze runner hinted at in this puzzle.” Together they describe a classic arcade game in which one hero runs a maze while a group of pursuers chases it. Both the hero and the pursuers appear in the grid as answers, so the hints below never name them.

Notice where they sit: the pursuers are on row 2 near the top, the hero on row 8 near the bottom, with the middle of the grid between them. Check the answers that cross the two themed entries, because every crossing letter you land gives you a letter of a theme answer for free. The cleverest wordplay is 2-Down, “Jockeys jockey for position in it”: the clue uses the word first as a noun and then as a verb, and the answer is a nine-letter event with a starting gate.

Hints for every clue

Across

1-Across (6 letters), Restaurant chain with a red pepper in its logo
a casual-dining name that sounds like a spicy stew; it starts with C and ends with S.
Show the answer
Chilis
6-Across (6 letters), Maze runners trying to thwart this puzzle’s subject
the colorful chasers in the arcade game the title hints at; it starts with G and ends with S.
Show the answer
Ghosts
7-Across (6 letters), Flew high
what a bird did on a rising current of air; it starts with S and ends with D.
Show the answer
Soared
8-Across (5 letters), Not as good
the comparison word for something bad; it starts with W and ends with E.
Show the answer
Worse
9-Across (4 letters), Sitting around not doing much
unoccupied, with no work to do; it starts with I and ends with E.
Show the answer
Idle
10-Across (5 letters), Surgery marks
the permanent lines a healed incision leaves; it starts with S and ends with S.
Show the answer
Scars
12-Across (6 letters), Empty, boastful talk
two short words run together, one of them what a balloon holds; it starts with H and ends with R.
Show the answer
Hotair
14-Across (6 letters), Iconic maze runner hinted at in this puzzle
the round yellow hero of the arcade game, a single name; it starts with P and ends with N.
Show the answer
Pacman
16-Across (6 letters), Snapple rival
a bottled iced beverage brand, written as one word; it starts with N and ends with A.
Show the answer
Nestea

Down

1-Down (9 letters), Total fraud
a person who fakes skill or knowledge; it starts with C and ends with N.
Show the answer
Charlatan
2-Down (9 letters), Jockeys jockey for position in it
a contest at a track, two words run together; it starts with H and ends with E.
Show the answer
Horserace
3-Down (4 letters), “Yes, that makes sense”
a two-word phrase of understanding, run together; it starts with I and ends with E.
Show the answer
Isee
4-Down (3 letters), British abbreviation similar to “Inc.”
the short form a company in Britain puts after its name; it starts with L and ends with D.
Show the answer
Ltd
5-Down (2 letters), “What ___ the meaning of all this?!”
a present-tense form of the verb “to be”; it starts with I and ends with S.
Show the answer
Is
6-Down (7 letters), One member of a police interrogation team
the friendly half of a pair of questioners, two words run together; it starts with G and ends with P.
Show the answer
Goodcop
7-Down (5 letters), Nothing-but-net sound
what a basketball makes passing cleanly through the hoop; it starts with S and ends with H.
Show the answer
Swish
11-Down (4 letters), Virtual people in a 2000s computer game franchise
the plural name of the tiny digital residents; it starts with S and ends with S.
Show the answer
Sims
13-Down (3 letters), Member of order Rodentia
a scurrying gnawing animal that fits a maze; it starts with R and ends with T.
Show the answer
Rat
15-Down (2 letters), The Cornhusker State, in a mailing address
the state’s two-letter postal code; it starts with N and ends with E.
Show the answer
Ne

How today’s grid is shaped

Count the clues first. Friday’s list has 19: nine Across and ten Down. The other six Midis in our saved set run from 30 clues (Oct. 31 and Nov. 5) to 42 (Nov. 4), so Friday has 11 fewer than the next smallest. Ian Livengood’s other saved grid, Nov. 3, had 32.

The reason is the black squares. The grid has 31 of them and 50 letters, where the six other saved Midis have between 13 and 24 black squares. The black squares form a wedge pushed in from the right edge: one square on row 1, growing by one each row to five on row 5, then shrinking back to one on row 9. Three more sit in the top-left corner and three in the bottom-left. What remains is a broad white band down the left side.

By length, the nine Across entries are six of 6 letters, two of 5 and one of 4. The Down entries are two of 9 letters, one of 7, one of 5, two of 4, two of 3 and two of 2. The two nine-letter Downs, 1-Down and 2-Down, run side by side in the third and fourth columns from the top row to the bottom row.

With only 19 clues today, the rules for a Midi are quick to review on our Midi Crossword page.

Mark the solving days on our printable weekly calendar or the November 2026 printable calendar.

More of Friday’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints, Strands hints, Spelling Bee hints and Pips hints. The smaller sibling for the same date is our Mini answers for Nov. 6. Thursday’s grid is in our Midi answers for Nov. 5.

Today’s NYT Midi answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

Clue	Answer
1-Across	Chilis
6-Across	Ghosts
7-Across	Soared
8-Across	Worse
9-Across	Idle
10-Across	Scars
12-Across	Hotair
14-Across	Pacman
16-Across	Nestea
1-Down	Charlatan
2-Down	Horserace
3-Down	Isee
4-Down	Ltd
5-Down	Is
6-Down	Goodcop
7-Down	Swish
11-Down	Sims
13-Down	Rat
15-Down	Ne

The filled grid, with each clue number in its first square. Drawn from the official puzzle data published by The New York Times.

The answers come from the puzzle’s official data.

Yesterday's Midi Crossword answer

The Midi on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026: Across 1 Mash, 5 Spam, 9 Inky, 10 Tale, 11 Skip, 12 Alot, 13 Ohdearme, 15 Rat, 16 Calamari, 21 Wifi, 22 Egad, 23 Earn, 24 Nemo, 25 Book, 26 Usps; Down 1 Miso, 2 Ankh, 3 Skid, 4 Hyperlink, 5 Startmenu, 6 Palm, 7 Aloe, 8 Met, 14 Aaa, 16 Ciao, 17 Afro, 18 Ages, 19 Ramp, 20 Idos, 21 Web. Yesterday's hints and full solution.

Frequently asked questions

Who made today's NYT Midi Crossword?

Ian Livengood constructed the Nov. 6, 2026 Midi, according to the puzzle data. He also made the Nov. 3 grid, so he wrote two of the seven Midis we have saved from Oct. 31 to Nov. 6.

Why does the Nov. 6 Midi have so few clues?

The grid is nine by nine, as on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, but 31 of its 81 squares are black, against 13 and 14 on those days. That leaves 50 letters. Two of the entries run the full height of the grid at nine letters each, and several others have six, so fewer clues cover the same area. The 19 clues split into nine Across and ten Down.

What are the NYT Midi Crossword answers for Nov. 6, 2026?

Spoilers: Across, Chilis, Ghosts, Soared, Worse, Idle, Scars, Hotair, Pacman, Nestea; Down, Charlatan, Horserace, Isee, Ltd, Is, Goodcop, Swish, Sims, Rat, Ne.

Sources

The Midi Crossword (The New York Times)

Fresh Calendars News Desk

Editorial team, daily puzzles

The Fresh Calendars News Desk is the editorial team behind Fresh Calendars News. It publishes the daily puzzle pages for games such as Wordle, NYT Connections, Strands, Pips, Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword and Contexto, each with graded hints first and a clearly marked answer section after them. Answers come from the publisher's own game data where it exists and are checked against that saved data before a page goes live; for games without official data, a page waits until two independent published solutions agree. The desk also handles reader tips and correction reports for the whole site, works with the editors who cover holidays, school calendars, money, time changes and seasonal events, and notes each correction at the end of the article with the date it was made.