| Clue | Answer | Letters | Puzzle | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sailboat’s post | MAST | 4 | NYT Mini Crossword | September 2, 2025 |
The NYT crossword clue sailboat’s post has appeared in the New York Times puzzle more than once, and the answer is the same every time: MAST. Four letters, confirmed. It appeared in the NYT Mini Crossword on August 13, 2025, and showed up again in the NYT Crossword on September 2, 2025.
Table of Contents
Why the Answer Is MAST
The clue works through a single piece of wordplay: the word “post.”
Most people read “post” and think of mail, or a social media update. In crossword construction, though, “post” is used in its structural sense — a vertical pole fixed upright. A fence post. A lamp post. A goal post. That same logic applied to a sailboat points directly to the mast.
The mast is the tall vertical pole that rises from the deck of a sailing vessel. It is the defining structure of any sailboat, and in plain language, a post is exactly what it is.
What a Mast Does on a Sailboat
The mast is not decorative. Every major function of a sailboat runs through it:
- Supports the sails — the mainsail and any secondary sails are rigged directly to the mast
- Anchors the rigging — the system of lines and wires that stabilize the mast and control sail position
- Holds the boom — a horizontal pole fixed at the base of the mast that swings to angle the sail against the wind
- Carries the halyards — the lines used to raise and lower sails run up through or alongside the mast
On larger vessels, multiple masts are used. A schooner or barque can carry two, three, or more. For the purpose of this clue, the NYT is referring to the mast in its most standard, recognizable form.
About the NYT Mini Crossword
The NYT Mini Crossword is a daily 5×5 grid puzzle published by The New York Times. Compared to the full NYT Crossword — which scales in difficulty from Monday to Saturday — the Mini is built for speed. Most solvers finish it in under five minutes.
Clues in the Mini are designed around common words and general knowledge, though they often use indirect phrasing to keep things interesting. The sailboat’s post clue is a good example: technically simple, but worded in a way that makes solvers second-guess themselves.
The NYT Mini is available free on the New York Times Games website and app.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
The NYT Mini regularly recycles clues across different puzzle dates. MAST has already appeared at least twice for this exact clue. Crossword constructors return to clean, versatile clues like sailboat’s post because the wordplay holds up.
If you are building your crossword vocabulary, the connection between “post” and vertical pole is one worth locking in. It shows up across multiple puzzle formats beyond just the NYT Mini, and MAST will be the answer in almost every case.
