Quick Answer
Clue: “Winner of a Booker prize, fittingly”
Answer: BOOK
Answer length: 4 letters
Position: 2-Down
The New York Times crossword clue “Winner of a Booker prize, fittingly” has the 4-letter answer BOOK, as confirmed in the January 16, 2026 NYT Mini solution lists.
Why “BOOK” Is the Right NYT Answer
- The Booker Prize is a major literary award given each year to an outstanding book of fiction, so the thing that literally “wins” the prize is a book, not the author. The word “fittingly” signals a bit of wordplay: the “Booker” prize is, fittingly, for a BOOK.
- Because the slot is four letters and the clue is clearly going for a clever but simple pun, BOOK is the only clean, literal answer that fits both the grid and the definition.
What “BOOK” Means in Plain English
- In everyday English, a book is a written work published as a physical or digital volume, such as a novel or collection of stories. The Booker Prize specifically honors full-length novels, which are all books, making the answer a straightforward play on the award’s name.
- For solving purposes, no deep literary knowledge is needed just the basic idea that the Booker is a prize for books.
Crossword-Specific Help: Pattern, Crossings, and Variants
- At 2-Down, BOOK appears in the grid as B‑O‑O‑K, so partial patterns like B_OK or _OOK from crossings will quickly point you there. Short, common words with double letters, like BOOK, are favorites in small grids such as the NYT Mini because they mesh smoothly with many crossing entries.
- You may also encounter BOOK in clues like “Library item,” “Volume,” or “Novel, informally,” but here the hook is the punny echo of “Booker.”
Solving Tips for Similar NYT Clues
- Watch for “fittingly,” “appropriately,” or “as one might expect” in clues; these often introduce playful self-referential answers like BOOK for “Booker prize.”
- When a prize name looks like it already contains a common word (Booker, Emmy, Tony), consider whether the answer might be that embedded word, especially in short grids.
For award-themed clues, think about what literally receives the prize (a book, film, album) rather than who, and then match that to the letter count.
