I wasn’t expecting that a word I’ve often seen in video games would help me solve the “defrost” clue in today’s NYT Mini Crossword. While it seems like a difficult word to find, it’s very common when things are frozen in video games like Pokémon.
As a big Pokémon fan, I remembered the word used to show that something is no longer frozen. If you’re not a Pokémon fan or don’t play video games, here are some tips to help you get the right answer quickly.
Hints and answer to Defrosts Crossword clue
- Hint 1: This word is very specific to ice melting.
- Hint 2: The answer is not “melts,” even though it fits the clue perfectly.
- Hint 3: It starts with a “T.”
- Hint 4: The clue is in present form, so the answer needs to end with an “S.”
You can check the final answer below, but if you don’t want to be spoiled yet, skip this section or try to answer it yourself first.
The answer to “defrosts” in today’s Crossword is “THAWS.” It’s a word I’ve seen a lot in games when a monster or character is frozen and then isn’t frozen anymore. They say the character has thawed out, so that’s why I remembered it. However, it’s not a particularly common word for ice melting in our daily lives, which makes this crossword clue tricky, because the most common word isn’t the answer. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “”thaw” means “to be warm enough to melt ice and snow.”
Full answers for the July 3 NYT Mini Crossword
Check out the full list of answers to the July 3 Mini Crossword below. I solved them all by myself, so I can guarantee you they are correct.
ACROSS
- 1A Defrosts – THAWS
- 6A Event with barrel racing and bull riding – RODEO
- 7A “Gosh darn it!” – AWMAN
- 8A Rocker who plays himself, as a murder suspect, on “Only Murders in the Building” – STING
- 9A Have the ___ for (be attracted to) – HOTS
DOWN
- 1D Totally awful, in slang – TRASH
- 2D Words on many self-help books – HOWTO
- 3D Confess – ADMIT
- 4D Gradually introduces to solid food – WEANS
- 5D Best Original ___ (Oscars category) – SONG
Defrosts crossword clue difficulty rating
I rate the difficulty of this puzzle as four out of five, or very hard, because it’s a specific word in a specific context with a more common synonym in everyday language. It’s not intuitive, and you might not have heard of it if you don’t pay attention to weather forecasts or live in a place without snow.
How to play more Crosswords after solving the NYT Mini
If you want to play more mini crosswords after solving today’s NYT puzzle, check out the LA Times, Washington Post, and other online newspapers or mobile apps. They offer crosswords the same size of the New York Times minis and are just as fun. They help you warm up your brain in the morning with a quick and enjoyable puzzle. I also recommend trying other word games like Strands and Spelling Bee, which provide different challenges that are short and sweet. These games have large communities where fans love to share their results and performance. Lots of people play them every day.
