Archive · Puzzle #88
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Mini Crossword
Across
- 1Match
- 5Perfect
- 7Cabin retreat
- 8Dehydrates
- 9Hearing organs
Down
- 1Coat with gold
- 2Worship
- 3News outlets
- 4Excited
- 6Fewer
Saturday and Sunday Mini Crossword puzzles sit at the top of the weekly difficulty curve — longer solves, more unusual vocabulary or patterns, and a higher rate of player solve-rate drops than any other day of the week. Puzzle #88 from Saturday, August 22, 2026 reflects that calibration. The weekend puzzles are the ones that produce the most interesting share-string variation across the community and the highest concentration of "how did you do" conversations.
Late-August puzzles close the calendar month, with puzzle #88 part of that closing run. The Mini Crossword calibration does not shift specifically for end-of-month — the puzzle difficulty follows the day-of-week band per the published methodology — but players who track monthly solve streaks often pay extra attention to the closing days to lock in a full-month run.
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