Archive · Puzzle #44
Thursday, July 9, 2026
Mini Crossword
Across
- 1Coffee
- 5Innocence proof
- 7Engine
- 8Distribute
- 9Backups, briefly
Down
- 1Predicaments
- 2Hawaiian greeting
- 3Crucial
- 4Cancel
- 6Angers
Mid-week Mini Crossword puzzles are calibrated between the easy early-week tier and the harder weekend tier. Puzzle #44 from Thursday, July 9, 2026 reflects that middle setting: longer solve time than Monday or Tuesday on average, but without the harder calibration the weekend reserves. The mid-week puzzles are the ones most players consider canonical Mini Crossword — neither padded easy nor stretched difficult.
Mid-July sits in the steady-rotation middle of the calendar month. The Mini Crossword difficulty calibration does not adjust for calendar position; puzzle #44 runs the same calibration the day-of-week band specifies, regardless of where in the month it falls. The mid-month archive is the most representative slice of typical Mini Crossword difficulty over time.
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