Quick Answer
The New York Times crossword clue “See 1-Down” has the answer “DREAM”, which is a 5-letter Across entry.
Clue: “See 1-Down”
Answer: DREAM
Length: 5 letters
Clue number and direction: 9-Across
The entry in the grid is DREAM.
Why DREAM Is the Right NYT Answer
- “See 1-Down” tells you this Across answer is part of a longer idea whose main clue sits at 1-Down. In this Mini, 1-Down provides the main wording, and 9-Across supplies the word DREAM to complete that phrase.
- This type of cross-reference is standard NYT clueing: “See 1-Down” essentially means “finish the phrase that starts at 1-Down using these five squares.”
- Because 1-Down’s text points clearly toward something involving a dream, answer sources list DREAM as the correct 5-letter completion at 9-Across.
What DREAM Means in Plain English
- A dream is the series of thoughts, images, and sensations that occur in your mind while you are asleep.
- The word is also used figuratively to mean a strong hope or goal (“a dream job”) or something wonderfully ideal (“this vacation is a dream”).
- In the Mini context, it’s used in its ordinary sense and slotted into a multi-word phrase built across 1-Down and 9-Across.
Crossword-Specific Help: Cross-Referenced Clues like “See 1-Down”
- “See 1-Down” means you must read the clue at 1-Down first; together, 1-Down and 9-Across typically create a two-part answer, like “SOMETHING / DREAM” or similar.
- Crossings from the downs and other acrosses will give you letters such as D–E–A–M, making DREAM easy to confirm once you know the theme phrase.
- This “See 1-Down” structure appears often in NYT puzzles—constructors use it to split longer phrases across the grid while keeping clues compact.
Solving Tips for Similar NYT Clues
- When you see “See 1-Down” (or “See 5-Across”), immediately jump to that referenced clue; treat the two answers as pieces of one longer entry.
- Fill crossings first: even if 1-Down’s full phrase isn’t obvious, cross letters in the “See 1-Down” entry will often reveal a standalone word like DREAM, STAR, JOB, or STATE.
Remember that these linked clues are rarely trick questions—they’re usually straightforward phrases broken up for grid design.
More NYT Mini Crossword Answers for February 03, 2026
| Clue | Answer | |
| 1A | ‘That’s incredible!’ | View |
| 4A | Makes a mistake | View |
| 6A | “Piece of cake” or “spill the beans” | View |
| 8A | Cool in a throwback kind of way | View |
| 9A | See 1-Down | View |
| 1D | With 9-Across, something you might wake up from and go “Huh?!” | View |
| 2D | What’s spoken into a fast-food intercom | View |
| 3D | Pen | View |
| 5D | OpenAI product that creates video clips based on prompts | View |
| 7D | 1-Across, flipped upside down | View |
