NYT Mini Crossword — September 12, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's larger weekend grid opens with what an Italian menu word meaning "oysters" actually refers to, then Microsoft's branded AI assistant.
Hint 2 of 5
Continue across with a term for a house ready to move into immediately, and the scoreboard word for a team not playing on its own field.
Hint 3 of 5
Keep going with a word describing something old-school and classic, like a well-preserved car, and the things under a hood that roar to life with a "Vroom."
Hint 4 of 5
The last across answer is the letter that marks one gender option on many forms.
Hint 5 of 5
Down runs from a musical interval spanning eight notes, a phrase for conceding defeat, and a word for pouncing suddenly, through the boy Scrooge helps save in a classic holiday tale, a mountain grazing animal, fish roe, a pig's messy home, an actress known for a Bond villain role, hairstyling product, and a suffix meaning "of a nationality."
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
- If you order "ostriche" on an Italian menu, you actually get these — OYSTERS
- Microsoft's A.I. assistant — COPILOT
- Move-in-ready, as a house for sale — TURNKEY
- Home's opposite, on scoreboards — AWAY
- Old and classic, as a car — VINTAGE
- They're revved with a "Vroom!" — ENGINES
- M, on a form — MALE
- Span from C to C, in music — OCTAVE
- "Fine, I give up" — YOUWIN
- Pounced — SPRANG
- Young boy saved by Scrooge's change of heart — TINYTIM
- Antlered animal of the Rockies — ELK
- Fish eggs — ROE
- Home with a trough of slop — STY
- Actress de Armas — ANA
- Stylist's goo — GEL
- Suffix with Vietnam and Senegal — ESE
This puzzle by the numbers
- 7 across, 10 down
- OYSTERS (7)
Counted from our own archive of NYT Mini Crossword answers — not published anywhere else.
