I would've aced today's Mini Crossword if not for 1 Down. That was something I had never heard of before, and I tried a varietion on it as just a guess, then had to backtrack when

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.

Are you excited for the NYT Mini Crossword clues and answers for January 9, 2025? This game is quite different from Wordle, Strands, and Connections. Here players need to guess the words and arrange them in across and down columns.