NYT Mini Crossword Answers and Hints for Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026: One Clue, Two Answers

The New York Times (NYT) Mini Crossword for Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, fills a five-by-five grid with 10 clues written by Tracy Bennett. One clue appears twice, once for an Across entry and once for a Down entry, and the two answers are different words. Every hint below stays closed until you tap it, and the answers wait at the bottom in a marked spoiler section.

Hints for every clue

Across

• 1-Across (4 letters), Experimental and provocative

  a word for art or comedy that pushes at the limits of taste; it starts with E and ends with Y.

  Show the answer

  Edgy
• 5-Across (5 letters), “Top Chef” alum ___ Hall

  the chef’s first name, which the clue leaves blank before her surname; it starts with C and ends with A.

  Show the answer

  Carla
• 6-Across (5 letters), Once more

  what an audience shouts when it wants a song played a second time; it starts with A and ends with N.

  Show the answer

  Again
• 7-Across (5 letters), Throw … or a protection for an injured arm

  a verb for hurling a stone, and a cloth support hung from the neck; it starts with S.

  Show the answer

  Sling
• 8-Across (4 letters), Something a camper sets up

  a canvas shelter held up by poles and stakes; it starts with T and ends with T.

  Show the answer

  Tent

Down

• 1-Down (5 letters), Keen-eyed bird of prey

  a large raptor known for its sharp sight; it starts and ends with E.

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  Eagle
• 2-Down (5 letters), “You Can Never Go Down the ___” (Mister Rogers song for kids afraid of bath time)

  the opening at the bottom of a tub where the water runs out; it starts with D.

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  Drain
• 3-Down (5 letters), Flash of light

  a brief sparkle, like sun catching a metal edge; it starts with G and ends with T.

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  Glint
• 4-Down (4 letters), Yin’s counterpart

  the bright, active half of the Chinese pair the clue names; it starts with Y.

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  Yang
• 5-Down (4 letters), Throw … or a protection for an injured arm

  what an angler does with a fishing line, and the hard shell set around a broken bone; it starts with C.

  Show the answer

  Cast

The clue that shows up twice

Thursday’s grid prints “Throw … or a protection for an injured arm” at 7-Across and a second time at 5-Down. Each answer has to be a verb for throwing and also a thing a doctor puts on a hurt arm. The grid asks for one word of five letters and one of four, so the letter count is the first way to tell them apart.

The entries also share a square. 5-Down starts in the first square of row 2 and runs to the bottom, and 7-Across fills row 4 from the left edge. That puts the first letter of 7-Across at the third square of 5-Down. Solve one of the pair and the other is half started, since that shared letter plus its length narrows the choice to one word.

How the grid is built

The grid is 5 by 5, 25 squares in all. Only 2 are black: the top-left square and the bottom-right square, so the first and last rows each lose one square. The Across entries run 4, 5, 5, 5, 4 letters from top to bottom and the Down entries run 5, 5, 5, 4, 4 from left to right, which adds up to 23 letters in each direction.

How a Mini works is on our Mini Crossword page.

Track a solving streak on our printable weekly calendar or the November 2026 printable calendar.

More of Thursday’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints, Strands hints, Spelling Bee hints and Pips hints. The bigger themed grid for the same date is our Midi answers for Nov. 5. Wednesday’s grid is in our Mini answers for Nov. 4.

Today’s NYT Mini answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

Clue	Answer
1-Across	Edgy
5-Across	Carla
6-Across	Again
7-Across	Sling
8-Across	Tent
1-Down	Eagle
2-Down	Drain
3-Down	Glint
4-Down	Yang
5-Down	Cast

The answers come from the puzzle’s official data.

Yesterday's Mini Crossword answer

The Mini on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026: Across 1 Bridge, 7 Ohmary, 8 Wienie, 9 Enact, 10 None; Down 1 Bowen, 2 Rhino, 3 Imean, 4 Dance, 5 Grit, 6 Eye. Yesterday's hints and full solution.