Today's Mini Crossword Solutions from The New York Times for December 28th, Saturday's Puzzle

Today's Mini Crossword Solutions from The New York Times for December 28th, Saturday's Puzzle

In case you missed last Friday's NYT Mini Crossword puzzle solution, you can find it here:

It's the last weekend before 2025. These are the final Mini Crosswords we'll be solving before the new year arrives on Wednesday. It's astonishing how fast the year has gone by. In fact, it's been something of a blur. Here's to hoping the upcoming year will be memorable. For now, let's tackle this crossword puzzle!

The NYT Mini is a compact, quicker, and more straightforward version of the larger and more challenging NYT Crossword. Unlike its bigger sibling, it's available for free without a subscription to The New York Times. You can play it online or through the app, but you'll need the app to access the archive.

Answers to today’s Mini Crossword puzzle below . . . .

Spoilers alert!

ACROSS

1 - French lake - LAKE

4 - Associated with the Vatican - VATICAN

6 - Self-service station serving tacos and shells - TACO STAND

8 - Very long ago - AGES AGO

9 - Completely destroy - DESTROY

10 - Rules to follow before starting a new board game - GAME RULES

11 - Animal visited by a vet - PET

DOWN

1 - Laces used on hiking boots - BOOT LACES

2 - One of the 12 depicted in da Vinci's "The Last Supper" - APOSTLE

3 - Nightclub, such as the Moulin Rouge - CABARET

4 - Alert device for an on-call doctor - PAGER

5 - Nigerian city with a population of over 21 million (the most in Africa) - LAGOS

6 - A tiny amount - A TRIFLE

7 - The colors of the rainbow, in order - ROYGBIV

This wasn't the most challenging Saturday Mini Crossword ever, but a few clues gave me trouble. For instance, I was unaware that LAGOS was so populous. Other clues, such as RULES and PET, were a breeze. I found PAGER to be more confusing than CABARET. It's hard to believe how far technology has come in an era of smartphones. This crossword puzzle took me 2 hours and 45 minutes, with a few pauses to tend to other matters.

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After solving the puzzle, I had a hard time deciphering the 'Nigerian city with a population of over 21 million (the most in Africa)' crossword clue. It wasn't until I looked it up that I discovered it was LAGOS. The 'alert device for an on-call doctor' crossword clue stumped me as well, but once I remembered the term 'pager', it all clicked.

For today's NYT Mini Crossword, the clue 'One of 12 depicted in da Vinci's "The Last Supper" crossword clue' led me directly to the answer 'Apostle'. The 'ties as hiking boots' crossword clue was another challenging one, but I eventually figured out it meant 'BOOT LACES'.

If you're looking for some hints or answers for the NYT Mini Crossword, you can check out 'nyt mini crossword hints' or 'nyt mini crossword answers' online. For example, 'nyt mini crossword saturday answers' can help you solve this week's Saturday puzzle.

Similarly, if you're stuck on a clue relating to the Vatican, you might find 'VATICAN' as an answer. If you come across a clue related to a French body of water, you could try 'LAKE' as an answer.

These examples demonstrate how using resources like the Internet can be helpful when tackling the NYT Mini Crossword.

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