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.

Today’s Mini Crossword isn’t too tough, but if you need some help, read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

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: The «Hawaiian» version of this food was invented in Canada
Answer: PIZZA

6A clue: Unintuitive phrase for a language learner
Answer: IDIOM

7A clue: Tiny bit of change
Answer: PENNY

8A clue: Wise ones
Answer: SAGES

9A clue: Drug that supposedly influenced the Beatles on «Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band»
Answer: LSD

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Black dots on dominoes
Answer: PIPS

2D clue: «In an ___ world …»
Answer: IDEAL

3D clue: Witty insults
Answer: ZINGS

4D clue: Spaced (out)
Answer: ZONED

5D clue: Vegetarian foods brand
Answer: AMYS

It’s like Apple finally listened to what a majority of phone owners have been asking for: longer battery life. The iPhone 17 Pro Max delivers «the best battery life of any phone that CNET has ever tested» according to Managing Editor Patrick Holland in his review, but it’s not just due to a physically larger power unit. A new feature in iOS 26 called Adaptive Power contributes to extended battery life in the latest iPhone 17 and iPhone Air models, as well as several earlier Apple iPhones.

Currently, the iPhone uses as much power as it needs to perform its tasks. You can extend the battery life by doing a number of things, such as decreasing screen brightness and turning off the always-on display. Or, if your battery level is starting to get dire, you can activate Low Power Mode, which reduces background activity like fetching mail and downloading data in addition to those screen adjustments. Low Power Mode also kicks in automatically when the battery level reaches 20%.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

If Low Power Mode is the hammer that knocks down power consumption, Adaptive Power is the scalpel that intelligently trims energy savings here and there as needed. Based on Apple’s description that accompanies the control, the savings will be felt mostly in power-hungry situations such as recording videos, editing photos or perhaps even playing games:

«When your battery usage is higher than usual, iPhone can extend your battery life by making performance adjustments, such as lowering display brightness, allowing some activities to take longer, or turning on Low Power Mode at 20%.»

Apple says Adaptive Power takes about a week to analyze your usage behavior before it begins actively working. It works in the background without needing any management on your part. The iPhone user guide describes it as follows: «It uses on-device intelligence to predict when you’ll need extra battery power based on your recent usage patterns, then makes performance adjustments to help your battery last longer.»

Which iPhone models can use Adaptive Power?

The feature uses AI to monitor and choose when its power-saving measures should be activated, so that means only phones compatible with Apple Intelligence get the feature. These are the models that have the option:

• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

Although some iPad and Mac models support Apple Intelligence, the feature is only available on iPhones.

How to turn Adaptive Power on

On the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air, Adaptive Power is on by default. For other models, you must opt in to use it. In iOS 26, you’ll find the Adaptive Power toggle in Settings > Battery > Power Mode. If you want to be alerted when the feature is active, turn on the Adaptive Power Notifications option.

Adaptive Power sounds like an outgrowth of Gaming Mode, introduced in iOS 18, which routes all available processing and graphics power to the frontmost app and pauses other processes in order to deliver the best experience possible — at the notable expense of battery life.

What does this mean for your charging habits?

Although we all want as much battery life as possible all the time, judging by the description, it sounds as if Adaptive Power’s optimizations will not always be active, even if you leave the feature on. «When your battery usage is higher than usual» could include a limited number of situations. Still, considering that according to a CNET survey, 61% of people upgrade their phones because of battery life, a feature such as Adaptive Power could extend the longevity of their phones just by updating to iOS 26.

I also wonder whether slightly adjusting display brightness could be disruptive, but in my experience so far, it hasn’t been noticeable. Because the feature also selectively de-prioritizes processing tasks, the outward effects will likely be minimal.

Read more: Adaptive Power in iOS 26 Could Save the iPhone 17 Air From This Major Pitfall

We’ll get a better idea about how well Adaptive Power works as more people adopt iOS 26 and start buying new iPhone models. Also, remember that shortly after installing a major software update, it’s common to experience worse battery life as the system optimizes data in the background; Apple went so far as to remind customers that it’s a temporary side effect.

OpenAI and Nvidia have struck one of the biggest partnerships in AI, with Nvidia pledging to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI while supplying the compute power needed to build the company’s next generation of models.

The deal, announced Monday in a letter of intent, calls for OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems over the coming years. The first phase, one gigawatt, is scheduled for the second half of 2026 on Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin platform, named for the late dark-matter astronomer. Nvidia’s investment will grow in scale as each new system is deployed. 

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

«Everything starts with compute,» said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a statement. «Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future, and we will utilize what we’re building with Nvidia to both create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale.»

Read also: Is AI Capable of ‘Scheming?’ What OpenAI Found When Testing for Tricky Behavior

This partnership is notable as AI research is increasingly constrained by access to massive computing resources. By securing a long-term pipeline of Nvidia hardware, OpenAI seeks to guarantee its ability to keep pace with rivals like Google, Anthropic, Microsoft and Meta.

For Nvidia, the deal makes it more than just a supplier. By gradually taking a large stake in OpenAI, it positions itself at the center of the AI boom, buying into the biggest AI company.

Read also: OpenAI Is Building a Teen-Friendly Version of ChatGPT

The completion of this deal will take years. If the partnership holds, it could define how quickly AI advances, what kinds of models OpenAI can deliver in the future and how accessible those models will be to the global population.