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.

Dog lovers, today’s Mini Crossword is barking your name. You’ll likely have fun with this one. 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:  *Workplace for scientists
Answer: LAB

4A clue: *Grub
Answer: CHOW

6A clue: Maliciously revealed one’s private identity, informally
Answer: DOXED

8A clue: Spanish «but»
Answer: PERO

9A clue: Gasoline type: Abbr.
Answer: REG

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: TV screen option, for short
Answer: LCD

2D clue: __, a skip and a jump
Answer: A HOP

3D clue: *Someone who’s always taking jabs at you?
Answer: BOXER

4D clue: Used to be
Answer: WERE

5D clue: ___ days (time of summer suggested by the answers to the starred clues)
Answer: DOG

ChatGPT’s long-awaited new engine is here, and GPT-5 promises faster speeds and more time spent thinking. But the new generative AI model has turned off some users with a tone shift away from its casual, conversational style.  

GPT-5 has been in the works for months. It’s a big step for OpenAI, more than two years after the release of GPT-4, with the company touting the model as a giant leap for large language models. «I tried going back to GPT-4 and it was quite miserable,» said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. «This is significantly better in obvious ways and subtle ways.»

Like its predecessor, GPT-5 powers the chatbots, agents, and search tools in ChatGPT and other apps that use OpenAI’s technology. Yet this version is supposed to be smarter, more accurate and faster. 

Demonstrations showed GPT-5 quickly creating custom applications with no coding required, and developers said they’ve worked on ways to make sure it provides safer answers to potentially treacherous questions. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

One model for everybody (kinda)

The new model is available now, including those who use ChatGPT’s free tier. Unlike some of OpenAI’s incremental releases, GPT-5 will be rolled out for all users, not only to the companies paying for big enterprise plans. 

There are, naturally, some differences between how it looks based on your pricing plan. Here’s a breakdown:

• Free users: You’ll get access to GPT-5 up to a usage cap, after which you’ll have a lighter GPT-5-mini model.
• Plus users: Similar to free users, but with higher usage limits. 
• Pro users: Unlimited access to GPT-5 and access to a more powerful GPT-5 Pro model.
• Enterprise/EDU/Team users: GPT-5 will be the default model.

GPT-5 itself is really a couple of different models. There’s a fast but fairly straightforward LLM and a more robust reasoning model for handling more complex questions. A routing program identifies which model can best handle the prompt.

OpenAI originally replaced all its previous models with GPT-5, but users quickly rebelled. GPT-5, many said, was more stodgy and had less personality, sounding more corporate. After hearing that backlash on Reddit, Altman and OpenAI said they’d make older models like GPT-4o available again, at least for now. 

Altman said in a post on X that some people have become attached to specific models and that it may be contributing to their use in potentially harmful ways, like therapy. 

«If people are getting good advice, leveling up toward their own goals, and their life satisfaction is increasing over years, we will be proud of making something genuinely helpful, even if they use and rely on ChatGPT a lot,» Altman wrote. «If, on the other hand, users have a relationship with ChatGPT where they think they feel better after talking but they’re unknowingly nudged away from their longer term well-being (however they define it), that’s bad. It’s also bad, for example, if a user wants to use ChatGPT less and feels like they cannot.»

Even faster coding skills

OpenAI particularly highlighted the skills and speed at which the new GPT-5 model can write code, which isn’t just a function for programmers. The model’s ability to write a program makes it easier to solve the problem you present to it by creating the right tool. 

Yann Dubois, a post-training lead at OpenAI, showed off the model’s coding ability by asking it to create an app for learning French. Within minutes, it had coded a web application complete with sound and working game functions. Dubois actually asked it to create two different apps, running the same prompt through the model twice. 

The speed at which GPT-5 writes code allows you to try multiple times and pick the result you like best — or provide feedback to make changes until you get it right.

«The beauty is that you can iterate super quickly with GPT-5 to make the changes that you want,» Dubois said. «GPT-5 really opens a whole new world of vibe coding.»

Read more: Never Use ChatGPT for These 11 Things

New safety features

After announcing some steps to improve how its tools handle sensitive mental health issues, OpenAI said GPT-5 has some tweaks to make things safer. The new model has improved training to avoid deceptive or inaccurate information, which will also improve the user experience, said Alex Beutel, safety research lead. 

It’ll also respond differently if you ask a prompt that could be dangerous. Previous models would refuse to answer a potentially harmful question, but GPT-5 will instead try to provide the best safe answer, Beutel said. This can help when a question is innocent (like a science student asking a chemistry question) but sounds more sinister (like someone trying to make a weapon). 

«The model tries to give as helpful an answer as possible but within the constraints of feeling safe,» Beutel said.

Customized voices and colors

If you prefer to chat with your bots vocally rather than typing, expect improvements in voice capabilities. The Advanced Voice mode will now be available to all users, whether free or paid, and usage limits will be higher. 

You can also change the color of your chats, with some options exclusive to paid users. Other customization options include the ability to tweak personalities. You’ll be able to set ChatGPT to be thoughtful and supportive, sarcastic or more. The options — Cynic, Robot, Listener and Nerd — are opt-in, and you can change them anytime.

Connect to your mail and calendar

ChatGPT will now be able to connect with your Google Calendar and Gmail accounts, meaning you can ask the chatbot about your schedule, and it will suggest things. You won’t have to — and you may not want to, depending on how you feel about sharing your private info — but you can enable it to automatically pull info from your mail or calendar without asking permission. 

These connectors will start for Pro users soon, with other tiers gaining access thereafter.

The path to AGI?

Altman told reporters the model is a «significant step along the path to AGI,» or artificial general intelligence, a term that often refers to models that are as smart and capable as a human. But Altman also said it’s definitely not there yet. One big reason is that it’s still not learning continuously while it’s deployed. 

OpenAI’s stated goal is to try to develop AGI (although Altman said he’s not a big fan of the term), and it’s got competition. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been recruiting top AI scientists with the goal of creating «superintelligence.»

Whether large language models are the way there, nobody knows right now. Three-quarters of AI experts surveyed earlier this year said they had doubts LLMs would scale up to create something of that level of intelligence. 

Marvel Rivals season 2 may have taken our heroes off-world as they battled across Arakko, but season 3 is throwing us into the furthest reaches of space to fight a new threat: Knull and his symbiote army.

Stopping one symbiote is tough enough. Fighting off an army of them is going to require a whole new wardrobe’s worth of battle gear. Luckily for you, there are many ways to unlock some free skins in the hit hero shooter right now — including the Queen’s Codex event pass that evens the odds with a free Thing Symbiote Thing skin and the Summer Special pass that includes the free Thor Worthy Waves skin.

Outside of the latest event, there are still other ways to earn free skins right now. Whether you’re getting used to Phoenix’s dense set of abilities or you’re still getting used to the ever-shifting landscape of team-up moves, season 3.5 has introduced a slate of free skins that you can use to deck out your favorite characters.

Here’s every free skin available right now in Marvel Rivals season 3.5, including in-game events, Twitch drops, competitive rewards and more.

What Marvel Rivals skins are available for free right now?

There are currently 12 free skins available. Here’s how you get them: 

• Thor Worthy Waves: Complete tier 14 on the Summer Special event pass by Aug. 15 in order to unlock this skin.
• Thing Symbiote Thing: Complete tier 18 on the Queen’s Codex event pass by Sept. 12 in order to unlock this skin.
• Mantis Will of Galacta: To claim this skin, you’ll need to link a Twitch account to your Marvel Rivals account and then watch four hours of livestreams from streamers participating in the drop campaign. The Mantis Will of Galacta skin is available until Friday, Sept. 5.
• Star Lord Ignite: To claim this skin, you’ll need to link a Twitch account to your Marvel Rivals account and then watch four hours of livestreams from the Marvel Rivals Ignite mid-season finals tournament matches. This Twitch campaign is available concurrently with the Mantis Will of Galacta skin, but watching streams will only contribute to one set of drops at a time. The Star Lord Ignite skin is available until Saturday, Sept. 6.
• Phoenix Emerald Flames: Reach Gold rank or higher in competitive mode in season 3. You must play at least 10 competitive matches to be eligible to receive the skin.
• Blade Emerald Blade: Reach Gold rank or higher in competitive mode in season 3.5. You must play at least 10 competitive matches to be eligible to receive the skin.
• Groot Symbiote Flora: Reach page 4 in the season 3 battle pass by Sept. 11.
• Rocket Raccoon Symbiote Raccoon: Reach page 10 in the season 3 battle pass by Sept. 11.

Four of the currently available free skins are not time-gated, although they are locked behind achievements or platform exclusivity. Here are the Marvel Rivals skins you can unlock at any time:

• Spider-Man Scarlet Spider: This skin is available to PS Plus subscribers who play the game on the PS5. It can be found on the PSN Store under Marvel Rivals DLC. 
• Peni Parker Ven#m: Like the Scarlet Spider skin, this Ven#m skin is available for PS Plus subscribers and can be found in the PSN Store. This skin is also available in the Marvel Rivals in-game store, where it can be purchased with units.
• Storm Ivory Breeze: Earn 200 Achievement Points in the Heroic Journey achievement section. 
• Star-Lord Jovial Star: Earn 400 Achievement Points in the Heroic Journey achievement section.

How can I get free skins during Marvel Rivals season 3.5?

Players who link their Twitch account to their Marvel Rivals account can nab a free Mantis and Star Lord skin by watching participating streams.

But if you only care about rewards you can earn in-game, free Phoenix and Blade skins are available by progressing through the competitive ladder and new looks for Groot and Rocket Raccoon are available for free on the season 3 battle pass.

Take part in the synthesis of stone and tentacles with the free Symbiote Thing skin

Another mini battle pass just arrived in Marvel Rivals, hot on the heels of the Summer Special pass from the first half of Season 3. The Queen’s Codex event pass is themed around Knull-infused Hela, and the premium reward track includes 24 separate rewards.

You can purchase this pass for 690 Lattice (which is roughly equivalent to $7) to have a chance to unlock the Black Widow Phoenix Widow and Hela Queen in Black skins, as well as remove the time limit from the event.

But if you’re a free-to-play gamer, there’s still a big incentive for you on this pass. The Thing Symbiote Thing skin is on the free reward track, and it’s available at tier 18. You need only play quick match and competitive game modes to earn XP points to unlock the new free skin.

If you don’t buy the premium track for this pass, it will disappear on Sept. 12 — if you haven’t unlocked the new Thing skin by then, it’ll be consumed by the symbiotes on Klyntar and disappear forevermore. So long as you earn Symbiote Thing before that date, the skin will be permanently unlocked on your account.

How can I get more free Marvel Rivals skins?

There are many ways to get skins in Marvel Rivals. Sometimes the developer issues special codes to unlock them while others require completing challenges. There are also some made available by watching streams on Twitch and many skins are «free» for progressing through the Marvel Rivals Battle Pass, which costs 990 Lattice, or about $10.

You can also earn skins through regularly playing the game, as a free skin is frequently awarded with the completion of seasonal events. Players who reach gold rank or higher in competitive mode also receive a free skin as a reward for their performance. Live events like season 3’s Milano Repair Logs challenge include free skins as a completion reward.

What free skins used to be available in Marvel Rivals?

Twitch drops, battle passes, and promo codes get cycled in and out of rotation, allowing Marvel Rivals players to earn different free skins from engaging with the game during different events. Here are all of the previously available free skins, what season they were introduced in and how they were obtainable.