NYT Midi Crossword: What It Is and How to Make Your Own
July 16, 2026
The New York Times has been quietly filling a gap that crossword solvers didn't always know they wanted: a puzzle that's bigger than the Mini but won't consume your entire lunch break.
That's the Midi. A 7×7 crossword that sits squarely between the five-minute Mini and the forty-minute daily struggle. If you've been seeing it mentioned alongside the NYT Games lineup and weren't sure what it was, here's the full picture — what it is, how it differs from the Mini and the full puzzle, and what to do when you want to make your own version on any topic you actually care about.
What Is the NYT Midi Crossword?
The Midi is a medium-format crossword published by the New York Times. The grid runs 7×7, giving you 49 squares to fill — nearly four times the 25-square Mini, and still less than a quarter of the full daily's 225 squares.
That middle-ground size isn't arbitrary. The Midi was designed to deliver a more satisfying solve experience than the Mini while remaining short enough to finish during a commute, a break, or the ten minutes before a meeting. It's a distinct format from the rest of the NYT lineup, not just a resized version of an existing product.
AI Crossword Maker operates in a similar space for people who want to make their own compact crosswords — more on that below.
Midi vs. Mini: The Key Differences
Grid size. 7×7 versus 5×5. That's 24 additional squares, which sounds small until you realize how much more a constructor can do with seven columns to work with versus five.
Solve time. The Mini averages 90 seconds for experienced solvers and 3–5 minutes for casual players. The Midi lands around 5–12 minutes. That's a real shift — long enough to feel like you completed something, short enough to stay a daily habit.
Clue difficulty. Mini clues are mostly direct, with occasional light misdirection. The Midi clues more like a Monday or Tuesday New York Times puzzle. Some clues are straightforward; others require a pause. You'll encounter wordplay that wouldn't fit in a five-letter constraint.
Themes. The Mini sometimes uses themes, but the 5×5 grid limits how much thematic material a constructor can embed. The Midi has room for a proper theme — a connecting idea across the longest answers — which changes how experienced solvers approach the grid. Look for patterns in the longer entries before committing to corner answers.
Answer length. The longest entry in a Mini tops out at five letters. The longest entry in a Midi can run seven letters across the center. More letters means more opportunities for interesting vocabulary and misdirection.
Midi vs. the Full Daily Crossword
The full New York Times crossword runs 15×15 on weekdays (larger on Sundays). A fast solver can complete a Monday puzzle in 5–7 minutes; most people spend 15–40 minutes on a weekday puzzle, and significantly longer as the week progresses toward Saturday.
The Midi is not competing with the full puzzle. It serves a different need.
For solvers who do the Mini every morning and want a bit more without tripling their solving time, the Midi fills that window. For people who enjoy the full crossword but want a quick mid-day reset or a lighter puzzle on a busy morning, the Midi fits where the full puzzle can't. It's the same format, deliberately scaled to a different pace.
How to Access the NYT Midi Crossword
The Midi is available through NYT Games at nytimes.com/games or through the NYT Games app. Like the Mini, it resets daily. Subscription requirements depend on NYT's current Games pricing — the Mini has typically been free, while the Midi and other games have varied between free access and Games subscription tiers. Check the NYT Games page for the current access model.
Why the Compact Format Works
There's a reason the Mini took off the way it did after its 2014 launch and why the Midi has generated its own following. Compact crosswords offer something the full daily can't: a complete solve experience in a constrained window.
A 15×15 grid is a long-form experience. You abandon it if you run out of time. You get stuck in a corner and might set it down. The solve is non-linear — you can work sections independently without much pressure from the rest of the grid.
A 7×7 is different. Every answer touches almost every other answer. There's no isolated corner to retreat to. You either crack it or you don't, and the time window is short enough that you don't have the option to let it run overnight. That tightness is part of what makes compact crosswords satisfying. You finish them.
The Midi extends that experience just far enough to add genuine wordplay and occasional themes — the things that make a crossword feel like a crossword rather than a vocabulary test.
Make Your Own Midi-Style Crossword
If you like the compact crossword format and want to make your own — on a topic you actually care about — AI Crossword Maker is the fastest way to do it.
You type any topic: a TV show, a city, a sports team, a historical period, a celebrity, a hobby. The AI builds a complete crossword with custom clues in under a minute. The grid size scales to your word list — for most topic-specific content with 8–15 key terms, the result lands in the Mini-to-Midi size range. Same compact format, custom topic.
This is what editorial crossword publishers can't give you: a crossword about the subject you want, available right now, as many times as you want. The NYT Midi is about whatever the constructor chose for that day. AI Crossword Maker is about whatever you type in.
Common uses: crosswords for a family game night, a classroom vocabulary review, a party icebreaker, or a custom puzzle gift. People building topic-specific crosswords — around a TV series a group is watching, a team someone is obsessed with, a city a friend is visiting — have no equivalent in the editorial crossword world. The compact AI-generated format is it.
Free on iPhone. Three generations daily at no cost, with Crossword+ for unlimited.
What Makes a Good Compact Crossword
Whether you're solving an NYT Midi or building one, a few things separate good compact crosswords from flat ones.
Intersecting entries matter more. In a 7×7 grid, every square is shared by an across and a down answer. A weak entry in one direction undermines the corner for both. The interconnection is tighter than in a full puzzle.
The longest answer does the most work. In a Midi, the 7-letter center answer carries the puzzle's personality. If there's a theme, it shows up there first. If there's wordplay, that's where to look. Experienced Midi solvers often read the longest clue before committing to any corner.
Misdirection has more impact. In a full crossword, a misleading clue costs you a minute. In a compact grid, it can stall an entire quadrant. The shorter the puzzle, the harder the ripple effect of a wrong answer.
The Midi's appeal comes directly from these constraints. It's a puzzle format that demands precision from constructors and rewards attention from solvers — in a time window that fits almost anywhere in your day.
The Midi is the best evidence yet that the crossword format rewards constraint. Smaller grids force sharper clues, tighter construction, and a more immediate solve experience. If you've been enjoying it and want to go further — making your own crossword around a topic that matters to you — AI Crossword Maker is the fastest path there. Free on iPhone. Any topic. Under a minute.
For more on crossword formats, puzzle-making, and word game recommendations, visit the AI Crossword blog.