NYT Mini Crossword today: puzzle answers for Saturday, December 21

digitaltrends.com:

Love crossword puzzles but don’t have all day to sit and solve a full-sized puzzle in your daily newspaper? That’s what The Mini is for!

A bite-sized version of the New York Times’ well-known crossword puzzle, The Mini is a quick and easy way to test your crossword skills daily in a lot less time (the average puzzle takes most players just over a minute to solve). While The Mini is smaller and simpler than a normal crossword, it isn’t always easy. Tripping up on one clue can be the difference between a personal best completion time and an embarrassing solve attempt.

Just like our Wordle hints and Connections hints, we’re here to help with The Mini today if you’re stuck and need a little help.

Below are the answers for the NYT Mini crossword today.

• NYT Strands today: hints, spangram and answers for Saturday, December 21
• Wordle Today: Wordle answer and hints for December 21
• NYT Connections tips: how to win Connections every day

NYT Mini Crossword answers today

Across

• Zap with a beam of light – LASE
• ___ solstice, the shortest day of the year – WINTER
• 100 years – CENTURY
• 100 years, for Jimmy Carter – AGE
• Roll with it! – DIE
• Sports newbies – ROOKIES
• Like each day relative to the day before it, for the next six months – LONGER
• Eugene V. ___, five-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America – DEBS

Down

• First blank on a form, maybe – LINEONE
• Unwanted crawler on a kitchen counter – ANT
• Prepares for a test – STUDIES
• More spooky – EERIER
• “Everything cool between us?” – WEGOOD
• Some loaves of bread … or a homophone for what they do in the oven – RYES
• Astronomer Sagan whose papers are archived in the Library of Congress – CARL
• Spy org. in “Bridge of Spies” – KGB