NYT Mini Crossword Answers and Hints for Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026: Three Rhyming Clues and an Acronym

The New York Times (NYT) Mini Crossword for Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, is a five-by-five grid with 10 clues by Joel Fagliano. Three of the Across clues rhyme with each other, and one answer is a three-letter acronym. Below is a hint for every clue, each one hidden until you open it, then the full answers in a marked spoiler section.

Hints for every clue

Across

• 1-Across (4 letters), Gummy ___

  a candy shaped like a woodland animal that hibernates.
• 5-Across (5 letters), Dummy

  a word for a foolish person.
• 7-Across (5 letters), Tummy

  the soft part of the body below the chest.
• 8-Across (5 letters), Mean facial expression

  a scornful look with a curled lip.
• 9-Across (3 letters), Left-wing political org. that includes Zohran Mamdani and A.O.C.

  an abbreviation of the group’s name, three letters; the group’s first word is “Democratic.”

Down

• 1-Down (4 letters), Garments worn in high chairs

  what a baby wears to keep food off a shirt.
• 2-Down (4 letters), Garden for Adam and Eve

  a biblical paradise, starting with E.
• 3-Down (5 letters), Felt sick

  the past tense of a verb meaning to be unwell, ending in -ed.
• 4-Down (5 letters), Willy Wonka and Bob Dylan, for Timothée Chalamet

  parts an actor plays on screen.
• 6-Down (4 letters), Banks of “America’s Next Top Model”

  the model and host’s first name, four letters.

Solving tips

Start with the three rhyming Across clues, 1-Across, 5-Across and 7-Across: “Gummy,” “Dummy” and “Tummy.” Each crosses the Down answers. Then use 2-Down, a famous garden, to confirm the second letter of 1-Across. Leave 9-Across until last: it sits in the bottom row, and its letters come from 3-Down, 4-Down and 6-Down.

Keep a streak log on our printable weekly calendar or the October 2026 printable calendar.

More of today’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints, Strands hints, Spelling Bee hints and Pips hints. Tuesday’s grid is in our Mini answers for Oct. 27.

Today’s NYT Mini answers (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself. The three-letter answer for 9-Across stands for Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Clue	Answer
1-Across	Bear
5-Across	Idiot
7-Across	Belly
8-Across	Sneer
9-Across	DSA
1-Down	Bibs
2-Down	Eden
3-Down	Ailed
4-Down	Roles
6-Down	Tyra

Tyra Banks hosted and judged “America’s Next Top Model.” The answers come from the puzzle’s official data.