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.

I admit I’d never heard of the doubled-up phrase that fills in 1-Across and 4-Across in today’s Mini Crossword. Thankfully, the other clues were easy enough that it filled itself in. Want the 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:  With 4-Across, non-alcoholic drink with a flavor reminiscent of beer
Answer: HOP

4A clue: See 1-Across
Answer: WATER

6A clue: Houston M.L.B. player
Answer: ASTRO

7A clue: Sister’s daughter
Answer: NIECE

8A clue: «Just ___ a bite» (parent’s dinner encouragement)
Answer: TRY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Possesses a certain unnameable quality
Answer: HASIT

2D clue: Animal that’s the mascot of California State University, Monterey Bay
Answer: OTTER

3D clue: Best friend of Thomas the Tank Engine
Answer: PERCY

4D clue: Sickly in appearance
Answer: WAN

5D clue: Spheres on a sushi roll
Answer: ROE

Nintendo released its Switch 2 almost two months ago, and it sold close to 6 million units, according to the company’s latest quarterly report. The new console has had a few hardware issues pop up, but Nintendo did confirm that it does have a bit of a heating problem. 

In a July 31 post on its X support account, Nintendo advised users to avoid playing the original Switch and the Switch 2 in high temperatures. The company says operating the consoles in a hot environment will raise the temperature within it and could lead to a malfunction. 

«When using a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 in a high-temperature environment, the device’s temperature may rise. This could potentially cause malfunctions, so please use it in a location between 5–35°C,» the post says, according to a translation on X.  «Recently, temperatures have been exceeding 35°C. Please be cautious when using it outdoors.»

In the U.S., «5–35°C» would be approximately 41–55°F.

Nintendo of America didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the tweet. 

Some Switch 2 owners have noted on Reddit the overheating warning weeks after the console’s launch in June. When the console gets too hot, a message will pop up advising that the system is overheating, and it will immediately go into sleep mode to cool it off. 

So far, it’s unclear what is causing the console to overheat. Some users on the Reddit thread said it happened while they were playing the console in docked mode, which is when the Switch 2 usually displays the highest resolution. Other times, owners said it happened in handheld mode. 

Back in 2022, Nintendo confirmed that the original Switch also had a tendency to overheat. It gave a similar message then as to the one that was posted on X just a few days ago. 

Folding phones are no longer a fad. But they have moving parts that regular smartphones lack, and the constant folding and unfolding could eventually lead to failure. For the last few days, the host of Korean YouTube channel Tech-it has been folding and unfolding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 over and over and over, with the goal of doing 200,000 folds. 

The fold-a-thon is presumably meant to see how the redesigned hinge and flexible display hold up on Samsung’s thinnest foldable yet. 

Tech-it’s host, whose name isn’t given, is folding the phone by hand. After 150,000 folds, the device is still working fine. The final 50,000 folds will air via a live stream later Monday. The video features an on-screen counter which is linked to a sensor that’s taped to the Z Fold 7’s inner display. 

Representatives for Tech-it and Samsung didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Phones from companies such as Samsung, Apple, Motorola and Google all go through simulated durability testing. In the case of folding phones, machines will open and close phones thousands of times to see how they might hold up in the real world. 

Given that foldable phones have complex hinge designs and flexible displays, they are more prone to damage or failure than regular slab-style phones. Durability is actually one major reason, along with battery life, that some consumers aren’t jumping into the folding phone world.