NYT Mini Crossword Answers April 21, 2025

Across
1 What the beaklike teeth of a parrotfish are used to bite (Answer: CORAL)
🐠 5 letters, starts with C, ends with L
🪥 Parrotfish clean it up
🌊 Underwater structure
🦷 Chomped on by fish
🏝️ Found in reefs
🐚 Marine calcium base
🐡 Fish diet item
🌴 Popular snorkeling sight
🧱 Natural reef builder
💎 Beautiful and colorful

6 On top of (Answer: ABOVE)
🧱 5 letters, starts with A, ends with E
⬆️ Higher than
🕊️ Opposite of “below”
📍 Floating position
🏠 Roof is this relative to rooms
💬 Figuratively superior
🧭 Directional term
📦 Shelf placement
🚀 Sky position
📜 Higher rank or level

7 Noodle soup with “tonkotsu” and “shoyu” varieties (Answer: RAMEN)
🍜 5 letters, starts with R, ends with N
🥚 Often topped with eggs
🥢 Japanese comfort food
🧄 Rich broth essential
🍖 Includes pork belly sometimes
🌶️ May be spicy or not
🥬 Add some bamboo shoots
🍲 Popular college meal
🛍️ Sold in instant form too
🍽️ Served hot and slurpable

8 Sharp as a tack (Answer: SMART)
🧠 5 letters, starts with S, ends with T
🏆 Quick-minded
📚 Bookworm compliment
💡 Full of bright ideas
🗣️ Witty and alert
🧩 Solves puzzles easily
🚀 Often a techie
🎓 Academic strength
🕵️ Detective trait
🤓 Brainy description

9 “___ questions?” (Answer: ANY)
❓ 3 letters, starts with A, ends with Y
🗣️ Teacher’s closing line
💬 Open for inquiries
👋 Anyone wondering?
📢 Common post-presentation ask
📚 May follow a lecture
🙋 Invite to speak up
🧾 “Got ___ questions?”
🔍 Check for confusion
📈 Post-meeting wrap-up

Down
1 Dealership choices (Answer: CARS)
🚗 4 letters, starts with C, ends with S
🛻 Lots full of these
🛞 What you take for a spin
🪪 VINs belong to them
💳 You can lease them
🧼 Often washed and waxed
🚙 Sedan or SUV
🛠️ Require maintenance
⛽ Fueled up
🔑 Come with keys

2 His presidential center is being built on Chicago’s South Side (Answer: OBAMA)
🇺🇸 5 letters, starts with O, ends with A
🏛️ 44th U.S. president
🗣️ “Yes We Can”
📖 Author of Dreams from My Father
🎤 Great orator
🎓 Harvard Law grad
📍 Born in Hawaii
🏠 White House from 2009–2017
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Married to Michelle
🧑‍🏫 Former professor too

3 Like Caesar and Cicero (Answer: ROMAN)
🏛️ 5 letters, starts with R, ends with N
📜 Ancient leaders
👑 Empire-born
🗣️ Spoke Latin
🪖 Wore togas and armor
📚 Classical figures
📆 Namesake of a calendar
🗺️ From a famous republic
🎭 Theater roots
🏟️ Colosseum dwellers

4 Tex ___, animator who drew Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck (Answer: AVERY)
🎨 5 letters, starts with A, ends with Y
📺 Looney Tunes legend
🎬 Animation pioneer
🦆 Gave life to Daffy
🐰 Bugs Bunny builder
🎭 Cartoon innovator
🎞️ Worked at Warner Bros
📚 Tex who drew toons
📼 Silly, slapstick creator
🎉 Influential animator

5 Gave for a short time (Answer: LENT)
📅 4 letters, starts with L, ends with T
🤝 Temporary loan
📚 Past tense of give
🛠️ Borrowed item
👓 Could apply to glasses
⏳ Not a gift, just a lend
💼 Business term, too
🙋 Helped out briefly
💸 Often money-related
⛪ Also a religious season