The Saturday, December 20, 2025, edition of the NYT Mini Crossword may be small enough to fit beside your morning coffee, but it is not exactly shy about testing your knowledge. This puzzle mixes college mascots, New York City politics, Broadway awards, computer shortcuts, desserts, sports, slang, and one famous graham cracker brand. In other words, it is less a tiny crossword and more a miniature trivia convention.
This guide begins with spoiler-light hints, moves gradually toward stronger clues, and then reveals the complete NYT Mini Crossword answers for December 20, 2025. You can therefore stop scrolling whenever your grid starts cooperating again. No need to let one stubborn square turn breakfast into a personal feud with the English language.
Quick Overview of the December 20, 2025 NYT Mini
This Saturday puzzle contains six Across entries and seven Down entries. Several answers are longer than those commonly seen in compact weekday Minis, including two seven-letter Across entries. The result is a puzzle that rewards crossing letters rather than instant recall.
The most date-sensitive clue is 7-Across, which asks for the person succeeding Eric Adams as mayor of New York City. The most playful entries include an informal word for a belly and a conversational response meaning, roughly, “Fine, I will accept what you said, although enthusiasm has left the building.” Contemporary solution guides agree on the clue set, although one guide published an incorrect shorter answer for 9-Across. The six-letter grid entry is IGUESS.
NYT Mini Crossword Across Hints for December 20, 2025
1-Across: Boston-area university with an elephant mascot
Gentle hint: This private university has campuses in and around Boston, including its main campus in Medford and Somerville.
Stronger hint: Its famous elephant mascot is named Jumbo. The answer has five letters and ends in S. Tufts University identifies Jumbo as its official mascot, a tradition dating to the nineteenth century.
6-Across: Be nearly out of stock
Gentle hint: Imagine checking the refrigerator and discovering that only one heroic splash of milk remains.
Stronger hint: This six-letter phrase begins with R and describes a supply that is almost exhausted.
7-Across: Adams’s successor as New York City mayor
Gentle hint: The clue refers to Eric Adams and the politician elected to follow him.
Stronger hint: The seven-letter surname begins with M and ends with I. Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York City on January 1, 2026, succeeding Adams.
8-Across: “Wicked,” for “good”
Gentle hint: Think about the relationship between the ordinary meanings of these two words.
Stronger hint: The seven-letter answer is a vocabulary term beginning with A. Merriam-Webster defines it as a word having the opposite meaning of another word.
9-Across: “If you say so …”
Gentle hint: This is a mildly doubtful response, not a wholehearted celebration of the speaker’s wisdom.
Stronger hint: The answer contains six letters when entered without a space. It begins with I and ends with S.
10-Across: Counterparts of Repubs
Gentle hint: “Repubs” is an informal political abbreviation.
Stronger hint: The four-letter answer is the corresponding informal abbreviation for members of the Democratic Party.
NYT Mini Crossword Down Hints for December 20, 2025
1-Down: Belly, informally
Gentle hint: This playful expression sounds like a word a parent might use when talking to a young child.
Stronger hint: The six-letter answer repeats the same three-letter syllable twice.
2-Down: Fixes with Ctrl+Z
Gentle hint: Ctrl+Z reverses a recent action in many Windows programs.
Stronger hint: The six-letter verb begins with U. Microsoft lists Ctrl+Z as the keyboard shortcut used to undo the last typing or action.
3-Down: Custardy desserts
Gentle hint: These desserts are commonly made with eggs and milk and are often topped with soft caramel.
Stronger hint: The five-letter plural answer begins with F.
4-Down: Awards for Broadway stars
Gentle hint: These honors are among the biggest prizes in American theater.
Stronger hint: The five-letter plural answer begins with T. The Tony Awards are presented through a collaboration involving the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League.
5-Down: Complete the first leg of a triathlon
Gentle hint: In the standard form of a triathlon, participants enter the water before getting on a bicycle and eventually running.
Stronger hint: The answer is a four-letter verb ending in M. USA Triathlon commonly describes race components in the order swim, bike, and run.
6-Down: Place to hone one’s golf swing
Gentle hint: Golfers go here to repeatedly hit practice balls without playing a complete course.
Stronger hint: The five-letter answer begins with R.
7-Down: Honey ___ (brand of graham crackers)
Gentle hint: This familiar brand is frequently used for snacks, pie crusts, and s’mores.
Stronger hint: The missing four-letter word begins with M. Honey Maid’s official product information describes its graham crackers as being made with real honey.
Complete NYT Mini Crossword Answers for December 20, 2025
The spoiler curtain has officially been removed. Below are all of the correct entries for the Saturday puzzle.
Across Answers
- 1-Across: TUFTS Boston-area university with an elephant mascot
- 6-Across: RUNLOW Be nearly out of stock
- 7-Across: MAMDANI Adams’s successor as New York City mayor
- 8-Across: ANTONYM “Wicked,” for “good”
- 9-Across: IGUESS “If you say so …”
- 10-Across: DEMS Counterparts of Repubs
Down Answers
- 1-Down: TUMTUM Belly, informally
- 2-Down: UNDOES Fixes with Ctrl+Z
- 3-Down: FLANS Custardy desserts
- 4-Down: TONYS Awards for Broadway stars
- 5-Down: SWIM Complete the first leg of a triathlon
- 6-Down: RANGE Place to hone one’s golf swing
- 7-Down: MAID Honey ___, brand of graham crackers
Explanation of the Trickiest NYT Mini Answers
Why TUFTS Works for 1-Across
The elephant mascot narrows the clue considerably. Tufts University’s mascot is Jumbo, named for the famous nineteenth-century elephant associated with showman P.T. Barnum, who was also an early Tufts benefactor. Solvers who know Boston-area colleges may immediately consider Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Boston College, or Northeastern, but only TUFTS fits both the five-letter space and the elephant detail.
Why MAMDANI Was the Puzzle’s Most Time-Sensitive Answer
MAMDANI depends on knowing a recent political development rather than a timeless fact. The clue appeared shortly before Zohran Mamdani formally took office on January 1, 2026. For solvers who followed the 2025 New York City mayoral election, the answer may have been immediate. For everyone else, the crossings were essential.
Date-sensitive clues can age quickly, but they are also useful snapshots of the period in which a crossword was published. Years later, this entry will instantly place the puzzle in late 2025, much as an old entertainment clue can reveal which television show or celebrity was dominating conversation at the time.
Why ANTONYM Fits “Wicked,” for “Good”
In their conventional meanings, wicked and good express opposite moral qualities, so one is an ANTONYM of the other. The quotation marks add a small layer of mischief because wicked can also function as slang meaning impressive or excellent. The clue invites you to notice the standard relationship while briefly wondering whether slang has turned the words into friends.
Why 9-Across Is IGUESS, Not SURE
“If you say so” can certainly be answered with SURE in ordinary conversation, which explains why that alternative may seem tempting. However, the December 20 grid requires a six-letter entry. IGUESS matches the hesitant tone of the clue and works with every crossing. A contemporaneous clue database also identifies IGUESS as the six-letter answer used in this puzzle.
How to Solve This Mini Without Revealing Every Answer
Begin with clues containing concrete, familiar references. The Ctrl+Z clue points strongly toward UNDOES, while “Honey ___” is likely to produce MAID for many American shoppers. TONYS is another dependable fill because Broadway awards have a highly recognizable name.
Next, use those answers to build crossing letters for the proper nouns. MAMDANI is much easier once several letters are present. Proper names often become the largest obstacles in a Mini because knowing the general subject is not enough; you need an exact spelling that fits a rigid space.
Pay close attention to grammar. “Custardy desserts” is plural, so the entry must also be plural: FLANS rather than FLAN. “Fixes with Ctrl+Z” is a present-tense verb agreeing with an implied singular subject, which leads to UNDOES. The clue “Counterparts of Repubs” uses an informal plural abbreviation, signaling the similarly informal DEMS.
Finally, treat conversational clues as expressions rather than dictionary definitions. “If you say so …” is not asking for a synonym of one isolated word. It is asking what a person might actually reply. Reading the clue aloud can help reveal the slightly doubtful rhythm of I GUESS.
A 500-Word Solving Experience: Where This Puzzle Clicks and Stalls
A satisfying way to approach this Mini is to ignore the timer at first and scan for entries that feel nearly automatic. TONYS is an excellent starting point. The phrase “Awards for Broadway stars” is direct, the plural form is obvious, and the answer supplies useful letters to nearby Across entries. MAID offers another friendly opening because Honey Maid is such a familiar grocery-store name. Two answers in, the grid no longer looks like a blank field waiting to judge you.
UNDOES is likely the next breakthrough. Ctrl+Z is closely associated with the Undo command, but the clue’s grammar matters. It asks what something “fixes” by using the shortcut, so the correct form is UNDOES. This is a good example of why crossword solving is not simply trivia retrieval. You may know the concept immediately and still need to adjust the word to match tense, number, and crossing letters.
TUFTS can create either a quick victory or a complete pause. Solvers familiar with the Boston area or college mascots may picture Jumbo immediately. Others may mentally parade through Harvard, MIT, Northeastern, and Boston College before realizing that none of those names fits. Once TUFTS enters the grid, TUMTUM becomes easier. The repeated syllable gives the puzzle a playful change of tone after several factual clues.
The middle of the grid is where the challenge increases. MAMDANI relies on recent political knowledge, making it more difficult for anyone outside New York or anyone who spent 2025 sensibly avoiding election coverage. The crossing letters are the fair way into the answer. Even if the full surname does not arrive instantly, a pattern such as M-MD-NI quickly becomes recognizable.
ANTONYM provides the puzzle’s neatest linguistic moment. At first, “wicked” and “good” can look like slang equivalents, since someone might call an impressive performance “wicked good.” The intended reading is more traditional: wicked is the opposite of good. The clue briefly sends the mind down the slang road before directing it back to vocabulary class.
IGUESS may be the final holdout because several responses seem plausible. SURE, OKAY, or even “fine” could fit the mood of “If you say so.” The six-letter space and crossings settle the matter. Entering IGUESS produces a response that sounds appropriately unconvinced, as though the speaker has agreed only because continuing the discussion would require too much paperwork.
The finished puzzle feels balanced rather than themed. It moves from universities and politics to dessert, theater, golf, computing, and snack food without becoming random. The larger Saturday entries create enough crossing support to make obscure knowledge recoverable. The best lesson from this solve is simple: fill the certain answers first, respect grammar, and let intersections do the research your memory refuses to perform.
Final Thoughts
The NYT Mini Crossword for December 20, 2025, delivers a lively Saturday mix of current events, word relationships, brand recognition, sports, and cultural trivia. MAMDANI is likely the hardest answer because it depends on timely political knowledge, while ANTONYM offers the cleverest bit of wordplay. Entries such as UNDOES, TONYS, SWIM, RANGE, and MAID give solvers enough footholds to complete the more challenging center of the grid.
Most importantly, the correct answer to 9-Across is IGUESS. It has six letters, fits the clue’s skeptical conversational tone, and matches the crossings. With that potential troublemaker resolved, the grid should finish cleanlyfollowed, ideally, by the tiny victory music that makes a two-minute crossword feel like a major athletic achievement.
