The NYT Midi Crossword August 20, 2026 puzzle by Nguhi Ross and Erik Agard is solved below. The answers were grouped based on their orientation on the grid.
Across
- 1 Breakfast food chain IHOP
- 5 Big ___, Sesame Street resident with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame BIRD
- 9 Magician’s exclamation TADA
- 10 Smoothie bowl berry ACAI
- 11 Mix, as soup STIR
- 12 Facial feature stroked when thinking, perhaps CHIN
- 13 Eating between lunch and dinner, say SNACKING
- 15 Barbell units: Abbr. LBS
- 16 “It’s safe to enter” ALLCLEAR
- 21 Neo-soul singer India.___ ARIE
- 22 Vocalist who might sing the middle part in a harmony ALTO
- 23 Web programmer’s code HTML
- 24 See 4-Down PLAY
- 25 “Agreed,” at sea AYE
- 26 “When I’m feeling ___, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad!” (lyric from “The Sound of Music”) SAD
Down
- 1 “___ the hard-knock life” ITS
- 2 Hard ___ (head protectors) HATS
- 3 Thor’s dad ODIN
- 4 With 24-Across, alone-together activity … or a hint to the arrangement of this puzzle’s circled letters PARALLEL
- 5 Encouraging touches from teammates BACKSLAPS
- 6 One, in Japanese ICHI
- 7 Umbrella weather RAIN
- 8 Bit of minor car damage DING
- 14 North-of-the-border TV network CBC
- 16 Bohemian ARTY
- 17 Light green LIME
- 18 Jazz legend Fitzgerald ELLA
- 19 Slightly ATAD
- 20 ___ G. Biv (rainbow mnemonic) ROY
- 21 Exclamation during a “light bulb moment” AHA
MINI Clues are grouped in the order they appeared in the puzzle and If the answers above do not solve a specific clue just open the clue link and it will show you all the possible solutions that we have for that clue.