Today's NYT mini crossword answers for Monday, June 1

At a glance:

• NYT Mini Crossword answers for June 1, 2026 released
• Answers follow a building‑letter pattern across both across and down entries
• Complete clue‑answer list includes 1A “CHA”, 4A “CHAR”, 5A “CHARM”, 6A “BOOM”, 7A “DOS”, and down clues through 5D “CBD"

What the puzzle looks like

The New York Times Mini Crossword for Monday, June 1, 2026 is a 5×5 grid that challenges solvers with a chain‑building mechanic. Each successive across entry adds a single letter to the previous answer, while the down entries mirror the same incremental pattern. This design creates a satisfying “word ladder” feel that is both approachable for casual players and intriguing for seasoned puzzlers.

The grid’s layout is straightforward: the first across entry (1‑Across) is three letters, and each subsequent across clue (4‑Across, 5‑Across, 6‑Across, 7‑Across) extends the word by one letter. The down clues operate similarly, starting with a three‑letter answer at 1‑Down and growing by one letter through 5‑Down. The symmetry of this construction makes the puzzle easy to scan, yet the clues themselves require a blend of general knowledge and lateral thinking.

Full list of clues and answers

Across

• 1A: When tripled, playful syllables sung after "Happy birthday to you!" → CHA
• 4A: Burn on the grill → CHAR
• 5A: ___ City, nickname for Baltimore → CHARM
• 6A: Explosion's sound → BOOM
• 7A: Half of cuatro → DOS

Down

• 1D: Utter pandemonium → CHAOS
• 2D: Damage, as a reputation → HARM
• 3D: Spot for a tattoo sleeve → ARM
• 4D: Jimmy ___ (high‑end footwear brand) → CHOO
• 5D: Ingredient in some relaxing gummies, for short → CBD

These answers were compiled from the official NYT puzzle and verified against CNET’s daily hints page, which aggregates the newspaper’s solutions alongside Wordle, Strands, Connections, and Connections: Sports Edition answers.

How the building‑letter pattern works

The puzzle’s cleverness lies in its incremental letter addition. Starting with CHA, the next across clue adds an “R” to become CHAR, then adds an “M” for CHARM. The down column follows the same logic: CHAOS expands from CHA, HARM adds an “R”, and so on. This mirroring creates a visual and linguistic echo that helps solvers anticipate later entries once the early clues are solved.

Because each new word is a superset of the previous one, any mistake early in the grid quickly propagates, making the initial clues crucial. Solvers often use the intersecting letters to cross‑check their guesses, a technique that reduces the chance of dead‑ends in such tightly coupled puzzles.

Where to find more hints and related puzzles

CNET maintains a dedicated NYT puzzle hints page that publishes daily answers for the Mini Crossword as well as companion games like Wordle, Strands, Connections, and Connections: Sports Edition. Readers can visit that page for real‑time guidance, tip sheets, and strategy articles such as “Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword.” The NYT itself also offers a subscription‑based app where the Mini Crossword can be played directly, with optional hint features for premium members.

For those looking to improve their solving speed, CNET recommends practicing the incremental pattern on older Mini Crossword archives, which are publicly available on the NYT website. Over time, recognizing the letter‑addition motif becomes second nature, turning the puzzle from a novelty into a daily mental warm‑up.