Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Thanks, today’s Mini Crossword! You were pretty simple again, and I love that. Almost got tripped up on 5-Down, but was able to fill in the other letters and move on. Need answers? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue:  Blowout party
Answer: BASH

5A clue: Airline with Sky Club lounges
Answer: DELTA

6A clue: Body part that can be held with one hand, but not both
Answer: ELBOW

7A clue: Get an «F» on
Answer: FLUNK

8A clue: Subdued
Answer: TAME

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Ramsey of «The Last of Us»
Answer: BELLA

2D clue: Collection of Facebook photos
Answer: ALBUM

3D clue: Building material for the Washington Monument
Answer: STONE

4D clue: «Red-tailed» or «red-shouldered» bird
Answer: HAWK

5D clue: Masterful
Answer: DEFT

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition wasn’t terribly tough. It helps to be a fan of college football rivalry games, and of a certain legendary baseball player who sadly died young. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.  

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Good times outside.

Green group hint: Apple Cup is another one.

Blue group hint: Lots of rings.

Purple group hint: «Luckiest man on the face of the earth.»

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Lawn games.

Green group: College football rivalries.

Blue group: Teams with the most Super Bowl wins.

Purple group: Associated with Lou Gehrig.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is lawn games. The four answers are bocce, cornhole, croquet and horseshoes.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is college football rivalries. The four answers are Backyard Brawl (Pitt vs. West Virginia), Bedlam (Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma), Iron Bowl (Alabama vs. Auburn) and The Game (Michigan vs. Ohio State).

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams with the most Super Bowl wins. The four answers are Dallas, New England, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Lou Gehrig. The four answers are 4, Iron Horse, New York and Wally Pipp.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a tough one. I grabbed on to «chocolate» and ran it through every connection I could with the other words, so I landed the purple category first, which is rare. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Regular.

Green group hint: Leave.

Blue group hint: Read the fine print of your labels.

Purple group hint: Not light, but …

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Ordinary

Green group: Abandon

Blue group: Specs on consumer packaging

Purple group: Dark ____

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is ordinary. The four answers are normal, plain, standard and vanilla.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is abandon. The four answers are desert, dump, maroon and strand.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is specs on consumer packaging. The four answers are count, measure, volume and weight.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is dark ____. The four answers are ages, chocolate, horse and matter.