Clues and Solutions for Today’s NYT Mini Crossword: Saturday, June 7th

In case you missed Friday’s NYT Mini Crossword puzzle, you can find the answers here:

Forbes‘NYT Mini’ Crossword Hints For Friday, June 6: Clues And Answers For Today’s GameBy Kris Holt

Paul Tassi and I traded weeks for the NYT Mini Crossword guides while I was away in Scotland, so I’m taking over for him this week. That means you’re stuck with me for two weeks straight. Lucky you! It’s Saturday, which means we have our biggest and most daunting Mini of the week to solve. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

The NYT Mini is a smaller, quicker, more digestible, bite-sized version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword, and unlike its larger sibling, it’s free-to-play without a subscription to The New York Times. You can play it on the web or the app, though you’ll need the app to tackle the archive.

Spoilers ahead!

Across

1. Yoga class need — MAT
2. Umlaut, rotated 90° — COLON
3. “That is shocking!” — OHMYGOD
4. “___ You the One?” (reality TV show) — ARE
5. Egg cells — OVA
6. One of two “royal” sleeping options — KINGBED
7. Bar seating — STOOL
8. Favorite team of the “Chicago Pope,” for short — SOX

Down

1. Slices of life — MOMENTS
2. Olympic gymnast Raisman — ALY
3. Request at the end of a restaurant meal — TOGOBOX
4. Hayes of MSNBC — CHRIS
5. Medium for Melville or McCarthy — NOVEL
6. Wood used for wine barrels — OAK
7. June honoree — DAD
8. Sticky stuff — GOO

Here are all the words on the grid:

As you can see, this one took me awhile. 3:28 to be exact. I really struggled with a lot of these, only filling them in after I’d knocked out easier ones like 8-Across (ARE) and 12-Across (STOOL). 1-Across was also pretty straightforward (MAT) but others less so. I was thinking CHECK for what you’d request at the end of a restaurant meal, but TOGOBOX makes sense. “Royal” sleeping options was less of a clue and more of a headfake. It didn’t occur to me for the longest time that the puzzle meant KING and QUEEN beds, though it’s obvious in retrospect. Clearly, I’m a little rusty.

How did you do? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

If you also play Wordle, I write guides about that as well. You can find those and all my TV guides, reviews and much more here on my blog. Thanks for reading!