The Mini Crossword is always longer on Saturdays -- 16 clues and answers as opposed to 10. I didn't find today's too tough, except that as a child of the 1980s, when I see "SMOOTH

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.