The answer is SCARY. Five letters, confirmed. That is the solution to the “how a leap of faith might feel” clue from the NYT Mini Crossword, published on August 24, 2025. If your grid has five spaces and the crossing letters hold up, that is the word that completes it.
Table of Contents
Quick Answer Reference
| Clue | Answer | Letters | Puzzle | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How a leap of faith might feel | SCARY | 5 | NYT Mini Crossword | August 24, 2025 |
Why SCARY Is the Correct Answer
The clue is not asking for a dictionary definition of “leap of faith.” It is asking for an emotional response. Taking a leap of faith means committing to something without any certainty of the outcome. There is no guarantee on the other side.
The word “might” in the clue is doing real work here. The puzzle is not asking what a leap of faith always feels like. It is asking what it could feel like. SCARY holds up immediately when you say it out loud: a leap of faith might feel scary. No stretch, no wordplay, just a clean, honest match.
That directness is intentional. The NYT crossword team regularly builds emotional clues around phrases that have both a literal and figurative reading, then locks in the answer that satisfies both.
A Related NYT Clue Worth Bookmarking
The phrase “leap of faith” has appeared in the NYT Crossword more than once, and each time from a completely different angle:
| Clue | Answer | Letters | Puzzle | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How a leap of faith might feel | SCARY | 5 | NYT Mini | August 24, 2025 |
| Take a leap of faith, quite literally | SKYDIVE | 7 | NYT Crossword | June 24, 2024 |
The June 2024 clue took the expression at face value. Skydiving is physically jumping into open air with no confirmed landing spot in sight. Both clues work off the same phrase but pull it in opposite directions, which is exactly the kind of wordplay the NYT puzzle editors favour.
How to Solve Feeling-Based NYT Crossword Clues
When a clue asks “how does something feel,” the answer will always be an adjective. These clues look simple, but they narrow the field fast when you approach them right:
- Start with letter count. SCARY at five letters immediately ruled out ANXIOUS (7) and TERRIFYING (10). The grid does most of the filtering work.
- Think about tone, not just vocabulary. A leap of faith carries tension and risk. That points toward fear-adjacent words, not excitement-based ones like GREAT or THRILLING.
- Lock in the crossing letters first. Even one confirmed intersecting letter usually cuts the list of possibilities down to one or two candidates.
- Watch for hedging words in the clue. Words like “might,” “could,” or “sometimes” signal that the answer does not have to be universal. It only has to be plausible.
About the NYT Mini Crossword
The NYT Mini Crossword has run as a daily online puzzle since 2014. It sits alongside the flagship New York Times Crossword, which has been published continuously since 1942.
Key details at a glance:
- Grid size: Standard 5×5 (Saturdays use a larger format)
- Clues: Five Across, five Down
- Difficulty: Scales through the week. Monday is the most accessible; Saturday leans into wordplay and misdirection
- Access: Free on the NYT website and the NYT Games app. Archived puzzles require a Games or All Access subscription
- Release times: 10 p.m. EST on weekdays and Saturdays. Sunday’s puzzle drops at 6 p.m. EST on Saturday
For solvers who want something between the Mini and the full-sized crossword, the NYT Midi Crossword offers a 9×9 to 11×11 grid that sits squarely between the two.
One More Thing Before You Close the Tab
The NYT Mini does not often make its emotional clues this clean and direct. When a five-letter answer lands this naturally against a figurative phrase, it usually means the puzzle editor has something more layered in mind. Keep an eye on clues that use the word “might.” They show up often in the Mini, and recognising that structure will save you time across dozens of future puzzles.
