NYT Mini Crossword Answers Today, November 11, 2026

Ian Livengood built the New York Times (NYT) Mini Crossword for Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026: a 5-by-5 grid with 10 clues and just two black squares. Each clue below has a hint that opens on a tap, and the filled grid sits in the marked spoiler section at the end.

Hints for every clue

Across

• 1-Across (5 letters), Animal whose prominent feature makes it an unofficial mascot of Wednesday

  a desert animal known for the bumps on its back; it starts with C and ends with L.

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  Camel
• 6-Across (5 letters), Black pizza topping

  the small fruit of a Mediterranean tree, sliced into rings; it starts with O and ends with E.

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  Olive
• 7-Across (5 letters), Mischievous sprite

  a tiny fairy-tale creature with pointed ears and a taste for pranks; it starts with P and ends with E.

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  Pixie
• 8-Across (5 letters), In a pickle

  unable to move forward or get free; it starts with S and ends with K.

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  Stuck
• 9-Across (3 letters), Make a choice

  to pick one option over another; it starts with O and ends with T.

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  Opt

Down

• 1-Down (4 letters), Halloween costumes with badges and handcuffs

  the plural of a slang word for police officers; it starts with C and ends with S.

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  Cops
• 2-Down (5 letters), Supreme Court justice Samuel

  the justice’s surname; it starts with A and ends with O, and the last letter is also the first letter of 9-Across.

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  Alito
• 3-Down (5 letters), Minor confusion

  a small slip in communication, such as two guests told different start times; it starts with M and ends with P.

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  Mixup
• 4-Down (5 letters), Force out, as from an apartment

  to remove a tenant by order of a landlord or court; it starts with E and ends with T.

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  Evict
• 5-Down (4 letters), Vegetable that resembles a large scallion

  a long white-and-green stalk that flavors soups; it starts with L and ends with K.

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  Leek

Wednesday’s animal clue, the clue types and Tuesday’s grid

The clue to try last is 1-Across. It never defines the animal; it gives a joke. Wednesday carries the nickname “hump day”, because the week climbs to Wednesday and then slopes down toward the weekend. The clue asks for the animal that carries the matching body part on its back and treats it as the day’s mascot. Once you see the nickname, the five letters follow, and the answer also supplies the first letters of 1-Down, 2-Down, 3-Down, 4-Down and 5-Down.

Sorted by what they ask for, the 10 clues break down like this:

Clue type	Count	Clues
Plain definition or description	7	6-Across, 7-Across, 9-Across, 1-Down, 3-Down, 4-Down, 5-Down
Wordplay or joke	1	1-Across
Everyday phrase	1	8-Across
Proper name	1	2-Down
Fill-in-the-blank	0	none
Question mark	0	none

Tuesday’s Mini opened with two blank-style clues, each with a dotted gap; today has none. 2-Down is the only clue that points to a person, and it gives the first name alone.

Constructors changed overnight: Tuesday’s grid was by Joel Fagliano, today’s is by Ian Livengood. The two layouts differ a lot, counted from the saved data:

Count	Tue., Nov. 10	Wed., Nov. 11
Constructor	Joel Fagliano	Ian Livengood
Black squares	4	2
Where they sit	Two stacked at the top right, two at the bottom left	One in each bottom corner
White squares	21	23
Across lengths	4, 4, 5, 4, 4	5, 5, 5, 5, 3
Down lengths	3, 5, 5, 5, 3	4, 5, 5, 5, 4
Three-letter entries	2	1
Four-letter entries	4	2
Five-letter entries	4	7
Entries spanning the full width	1	4
Clues with a question mark	0	0

Today’s grid is far more open than Tuesday’s: two more white squares, seven five-letter entries against four, and four full-width Across rows against one. The one short Across entry is 9-Across, the three squares between the two black ones. Down entries 2, 3 and 4 run the full height in both grids.

With 10 clues and 23 white squares today, the rules for a Mini are on our Mini Crossword page.

Mark the solve on the November 2026 printable calendar or the printable weekly calendar.

More for Wednesday, Nov. 11: Wordle hints, Connections hints, Strands hints, Spelling Bee hints and Pips hints. Bigger grids: the Midi answers for Nov. 11 and the daily Crossword answers for Nov. 11. Tuesday’s grid is in the Mini answers for Nov. 10.

Today’s NYT Mini answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

Clue	Answer
1-Across	Camel
6-Across	Olive
7-Across	Pixie
8-Across	Stuck
9-Across	Opt
1-Down	Cops
2-Down	Alito
3-Down	Mixup
4-Down	Evict
5-Down	Leek

The answers come from the puzzle’s official data.

Yesterday's Mini Crossword answer

The Mini on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026: Across 1 Cute, 5 Unix, 6 Pints, 8 Ogre, 9 Neat; Down 1 Cup, 2 Union, 3 Tinge, 4 Extra, 7 Set. Yesterday's hints and full solution.