The Midi Crossword

The Midi Crossword is a daily New York Times crossword positioned between the Mini and the full Crossword. Its grids are 9×9 to 11×11, with 9×9 as the default, and it is designed as a digestible daily solve rather than a speed-only challenge. Every puzzle has a title and is available to NYT Games subscribers.

1. Open the day’s Midi puzzle and read the Across and Down clues.
2. Enter words and phrases into white squares so the crossing entries agree.
3. Use the timer and optional tools such as Check, Reveal, pencil mode and clue navigation as needed; complete the grid to finish.

Choose the Midi when the Mini feels too short and the full Crossword feels like too much. It offers a daily, human-made crossword with manageable grids, titles and themes, while preserving the familiar clues, crossings and progress systems of NYT crosswords.

A correct solve plays music and displays a congratulatory message. A completed grid without that message has at least one wrong square. Checked letters show blue, while ordinary pen entries are black and pencil entries are gray. Gold stars indicate qualifying consecutive solves; blue stars mark completed puzzles that do not qualify for a streak.

Daily Midi

A new subscriber-only midsize crossword is available each day, with 9×9 to 11×11 grids.

Midi Archive

Subscribers can solve past daily Midi puzzles in the NYT Crossword Archive on the web and in the Games app.

Pen and pencil

A pencil control switches entries between black pen text and gray pencil text.

• Treat the Midi as a bridge between the Mini and the Daily Crossword: NYT designed it for a longer but still digestible solve.
• Use crossing answers to confirm an uncertain clue rather than committing to a single interpretation too early.
• Avoid Check or Reveal when protecting a qualifying streak: both tools disqualify that puzzle from the Midi streak.