Monday March 23, 2026 NYT Mini Crossword Hints and Answers

March 23, 2026 by

Abigail

Need help with today's NYT Mini Crossword? Here are all the clues, hints, and full answers for Monday, March 23, 2026. Hints come first — scroll past them only when you're ready for the full solutions.

What Is the NYT Mini Crossword?

The NYT Mini Crossword is a fast 5×5 crossword puzzle published daily by The New York Times. It's designed to be solved in minutes, making it a perfect daily brain warm-up before tackling the full crossword. Monday puzzles tend to be on the gentler side, though today's grid has at least one clue that rewards following the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Across Clues and Answers — March 23, 2026

1 Across: Often-skipped parts of podcasts

Answer: ADS

Podcast listeners know this one well — those brief interruptions that most people fast-forward through without a second thought.

4 Across: Netherlands city that's home to the International Court of Justice, with "The"

Answer: HAGUE

The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government and home to several major international legal institutions, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

6 Across: Stopped sleeping

Answer: AWOKE

A simple past-tense verb meaning to have come out of sleep. Watch out — AWOKE shares letters with 5-Down (AWOL), so the crossing A is a useful anchor.

7 Across: Contents of a bear-shaped bottle

Answer: HONEY

The classic squeezable bear-shaped bottle is one of the most recognisable food containers around, and its contents are exactly what you'd expect.

8 Across: ___ Liu, gold medal-winning figure skater at the 2026 Olympics

Answer: ALYSA

Alysa Liu made history at the 2026 Winter Olympics, claiming gold in figure skating and becoming one of the Games' most celebrated athletes. If you missed her performance, this clue may have been today's trickiest.

Down Clues and Answers — March 23, 2026

1 Down: Sheer torment

Answer: AGONY

A strong word for intense suffering — physical or emotional. Five letters, starting with A, and a satisfying grid anchor in the top-left corner.

2 Down: "The ___ of Hazzard"

Answer: DUKES

A reference to the classic American TV series The Dukes of Hazzard, which aired from 1979 to 1985. The full title is The Dukes of Hazzard.

3 Down: "Catch you later!"

Answer: SEEYA

A casual farewell — informal enough that it might trip you up if you're expecting standard dictionary spelling.

4 Down: Text reaction button between "👎" and "‼️"

Answer: HAHA

This clue references the reaction buttons in iMessage, where the laughing reaction sits between the thumbs-down and the exclamation marks. A neat, modern clue.

5 Down: Nowhere to be found, for short

Answer: AWOL

An acronym standing for "Absent Without Leave," commonly used in military contexts but now used more broadly to describe anyone who's disappeared without explanation.

Full Answer Summary — March 23, 2026

Across

1A: ADS
4A: HAGUE
6A: AWOKE
7A: HONEY
8A: ALYSA

Down

1D: AGONY
2D: DUKES
3D: SEE YA
4D: HAHA
5D: AWOL

Today's grid was neatly constructed, with AWOKE and AWOL crossing cleverly at the shared A. The 8-Across clue about Alysa Liu was the most topical entry, rewarding anyone who followed the 2026 Winter Olympics figure skating results.

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