October 21, 2026archive
NYT Mini Crossword — October 21, 2026
Hints — one at a time
Hint 1 of 5
Today's grid has a fun wordplay theme: the first and last across answers work together to spell out what you'd whisper to get someone's attention quietly.
Hint 2 of 5
Elsewhere across, you'll find the abbreviation for AI tools that generate images and text, and a cozy brand of furry boots.
Hint 3 of 5
Down starts with the barnyard animal who stars alongside Charlotte in a beloved children's book, and a phrasal verb meaning to eat something completely.
Hint 4 of 5
Continue down with what fills up a music-streaming playlist, and a word for sudden, unexpected hitches or complications.
Hint 5 of 5
Down ends with a suffix often tacked onto words like "novel" or "capital" to describe a type of person.
The answer — spoilers!
Reveal the full answer
- With 5-Across, words whispered in a game of telephone — PASS
- See 1-Across — ITON
- Modern way of creating images and text, for short — GENAI
- Some fuzzy brown boots — UGGS
- Whisper appropriately spelled (in order!) by the circled letters of 1-/5-Across — PSST
- Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web," e.g. — PIG
- Devoured completely — ATEUP
- Spotify playlist makeup — SONGS
- Unexpected problems — SNAGS
- Suffix with "novel" or "capital" — IST
This puzzle by the numbers
- 5 across, 5 down
- GENAI (5)
Counted from our own archive of NYT Mini Crossword answers — not published anywhere else.
