If you missed Tuesday's NYT Mini, you can find the answers here:

ForbesToday's NYT Mini Crossword Clues and Solutions for Tuesday October 22ndFrom Paul Tassi

Today's mini actually took me a total of six minutes, not because it's that hard, but because I had to constantly look away to do other things. But it pauses when you press tab!

The NYT Mini is a quick-and-dirty version of the newspaper's larger and longer Rumgys. There are between three and five clues in each direction on a five-by-five grid, but the puzzles are sometimes larger, especially on Saturdays.

Unlike its bigger brother, the NYT Mini Crossword is free to play on the New York Times website or the NYT Games app. However, you will need a NYT Games subscription to access previous puzzles in the archives. The NYT Mini is a fun daily distraction that typically takes no time at all. I'm trying to beat the standard weekday grid in under a minute. But sometimes I can't quite figure out a clue or two and have to give away the answer.

Spoilers ahead, of course. Skip ahead to see the picture of today's solved puzzle.

ABOVE

1) Spice that tastes like licorice – ANISEE

6) Popular hot drink in autumn – CIDER

7) Flexible body parts – KNEES

8) Bird that surprisingly has no blue pigment in its feathers – JAY

9) Apple Pie ___ Mode – ALA

DOWN

1) Cute scream of frustration – ACK

2) “Teenage Mutant ___ Turtles” – NINJA

3) Best possible – IDEAL

4) “Peace!” – SEEYA

5) Hospital areas in medical dramas, ERS for short

You know real doctors still call them “emergency rooms,” right? Because they do. I didn't know that blue jays don't have blue pigmentation, and I'm not entirely sure how that science works. I had joints instead of knees for flexible body parts, but that didn't work. I have no idea what the spice anise is, and that's easily the hardest clue of the puzzle if you ask me. Did you know? If you ask me, the puzzle is harder today, but maybe you did it better than me, and I guess you definitely did it under six minutes, right?

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