Mini Crossword Hint Today: Answers for Oct. 9, 2026

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Hope you know your rock bands, especially the ones whose names are also common words. Read on if you need help solving the puzzle today.

The Mini Crossword is a nice break from the tougher puzzles, and it takes only a fraction of the time of the vaunted, regular New York Times Crossword puzzle.

CNET publishes daily answers and hints for Wordle, The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: “Abbott Elementary” network
Answer: ABC

4A clue: Coffee supplement … or a ’60s rock band
Answer: CREAM

7A clue: Valentine’s Day symbol … or a ’70s-’80s rock band
Answer: HEART

8A clue: Desert watering hole … or a ’90s-’00s rock band
Answer: OASIS

9A clue: Glorifying poem
Answer: ODE

The completed NYT Mini Crossword puzzle for Oct. 9, 2026.NYT/Screenshot by CNET

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Sound preceding “Gesundheit!”
Answer: ACHOO

2D clue: Basis for croutons
Answer: BREAD

3D clue: Stop
Answer: CEASE

5D clue: Name found in “nefarious”
Answer: ARI

6D clue: Denali and Whitney: Abbr.
Answer: MTS

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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