NYT Mini Crossword Answers Today, November 15, 2026

Sunday's New York Times (NYT) Mini Crossword, Nov. 15, 2026: Sam Ezersky's 10 clues with hints, the grid's crossings counted and the riddle clue unpacked.

By Fresh Calendars News Desk, Editorial team, daily puzzles

Published November 14, 2026, 10:34 p.m. ET 3 min read

NYT Mini Crossword hints for Nov. 15, 2026 beside a five-by-five grid with one black square in the top right corner — Sunday's New York Times Mini Crossword, Nov. 15, 2026: hints first, the filled 5-by-5 grid in the spoiler section. Illustration: Fresh Calendars

In this article

Hints for every clue
How Sunday’s grid plays
Today’s NYT Mini answers (spoilers)

Sam Ezersky made the New York Times (NYT) Mini Crossword for Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026: a 5-by-5 grid with 10 clues and just one black square. Each hint below opens on a tap, and the filled grid sits in the marked spoiler section at the end.

Hints for every clue

Across

1-Across (4 letters), Fat-sounding freshwater fish
a river and lake fish whose name sounds like a word for plump; it starts with C, ends with B, and its four letters begin the first four Down answers.
Show the answer
Chub
5-Across (5 letters), “What a headache!”
a Yiddish cry of dismay, written as two words run together; it starts with O, ends with the letter that begins 6-Down, and has the letter Y twice.
Show the answer
Oyvey
7-Across (5 letters), Jules who wrote “Around the World in 80 Days”
the French novelist’s surname; it starts with V and ends with E.
Show the answer
Verne
8-Across (5 letters), Put into effect, as a law
a verb, the way a legislature makes a bill official; it starts with E and ends with T.
Show the answer
Enact
9-Across (5 letters), Give a friendly greeting
a short phrase of two words run together; it starts with S and ends with I.
Show the answer
Sayhi

Down

1-Down (5 letters), Sheltered inlets
small bays where boats wait out weather, in the plural; it starts with C, the letter that opens 1-Across, and ends with S.
Show the answer
Coves
2-Down (5 letters), African carnivore known for its laugh
a spotted scavenger and hunter of the savanna; it starts with H, the second letter of 1-Across, and ends with A.
Show the answer
Hyena
3-Down (5 letters), Bit of light that sunscreen protects against, for short
a two-part term entered as one word; it starts with U, the third letter of 1-Across, and ends with Y.
Show the answer
Uvray
4-Down (5 letters), Park seating
a long seat for several people; it starts with B, the last letter of 1-Across, and ends with H.
Show the answer
Bench
6-Down (4 letters), Snowy mountain version of Bigfoot
a creature of Himalayan legend; it starts with Y, the last letter of 5-Across, and ends with I.
Show the answer
Yeti

How Sunday’s grid plays

The least literal clue is 3-Down. Nothing in it is a pun, but “for short” changes what you are looking for: the answer does not spell out a whole word for the light. Its first piece is an abbreviation for a kind of light, followed by a second word for what a beam of light is called, and the two are pressed together in the grid. Read “bit of light” as the second word and “that sunscreen protects against” as the first.

The grid itself is built tightly. Counted from the saved data:

Count	Sun., Nov. 15
Grid size	5 by 5
Black squares	1 (top right corner)
White squares	24
Clues	10 (5 Across, 5 Down)
Four-letter entries	2 (1-Across, 6-Down)
Five-letter entries	8
Entries crossing five others	8
Entries crossing four others	2

The single black square cuts one letter from the top row and from the right-hand column, which is why 1-Across and 6-Down run four squares while the other eight entries run five. Because no other square is blocked, all 24 white squares belong to one Across and one Down entry, and no entry can be solved alone: 1-Across touches 1-Down through 4-Down, and 6-Down touches the rows from 5-Across to 9-Across.

Where to begin: eight entries tie at five crossings, the four lower rows and the first four Down answers. The clue you can answer fastest among those is the best opener, since each letter you place lands in five other entries. Saturday’s grid was 8-by-8 with 20 clues and 12 black squares, so today is a much smaller board, and its constructor changed from Ian Livengood to Sam Ezersky.

Today’s grid is 5-by-5, and how the Mini plays is on our Mini Crossword page.

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

More for Sunday, Nov. 15: Wordle hints, Connections hints, Strands hints, Spelling Bee hints and Pips hints. Saturday’s grid is in the Mini answers for Nov. 14.

Today’s NYT Mini answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself. Three entries are two words run together, as one string in the grid.

Clue	Answer
1-Across	Chub
5-Across	Oyvey
7-Across	Verne
8-Across	Enact
9-Across	Sayhi
1-Down	Coves
2-Down	Hyena
3-Down	Uvray
4-Down	Bench
6-Down	Yeti

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 Mini Crossword answer

The Mini on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026: Across 1 Sack, 5 Scions, 7 Sharpei, 8 Sharpies, 9 Tenfold, 10 Elk, 11 Does, 13 Eve, 14 Stet, 15 Red, 16 Spy; Down 1 Scarf, 2 Airpods, 3 Copilots, 4 Kneedeep, 5 Shanked, 6 Sis, 7 Shelve, 8 Steer, 12 Sty. Yesterday's hints and full solution.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the best place to start Sunday's Mini?

Any of the four full-width rows from 5-Across down, or any of the first four Down entries: each of those eight crosses five other entries. The four-letter 1-Across and 6-Down cross only four.

What does "for short" tell you in 3-Down?

The first part of the answer is an abbreviation, and the whole answer goes into the grid as one run of five letters. The hint for 3-Down spells out how the pieces split.

What are the NYT Mini answers for Nov. 15, 2026?

Spoilers: Across, Chub, Oyvey, Verne, Enact, Sayhi; Down, Coves, Hyena, Uvray, Bench, Yeti.

Sources

The Mini 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.