The Mini Crossword: Thursday, January 8, 2026
Zealous passion: five letters.
A smallish puzzle.
January 8, 2026
Loading game...
Kate Chin Park is an associate puzzles-and-games editor at The New Yorker.
Read More
Video
[
Virtual Togetherness Through Partner Crosswords
](https://www.newyorker.com/video/watch/virtual-togetherness-through-partner-crosswords)
Social dynamics of the crossworld, a crossword meet-cute, and other ways to puzzle with friends while social distancing.
Crossword
[
The Crossword: Wednesday, January 7, 2026
](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/crossword/2026/01/07)
Martial-arts icon who starred in “Enter the Dragon”: eight letters.
Crossword
[
The Crossword: Tuesday, January 6, 2026
](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/crossword/2026/01/06)
A moderately challenging puzzle.
The Current Cinema
[
The Zealous Voyagers of “Magellan” and “The Testament of Ann Lee”
](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/magellan-movie-review-the-testament-of-ann-lee#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
In two portraits of seafaring religious zealots, the directors Lav Diaz and Mona Fastvold employ bold formal devices to hold their protagonists at a compelling remove.
The Theatre
[
In Tracy Letts’s “Bug,” Crazy Is Contagious
](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/bug-theatre-review#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
A Broadway revival arrives at a moment when paranoia plots are everywhere.
The Lede
[
What “The Pitt” Taught Me About Being a Doctor
](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-lede/what-the-pitt-taught-me-about-being-a-doctor#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
It’s as if the show’s creators absorbed every important conversation in health care today—and somehow transfigured it into good television.
Shuffalo
[
Shuffalo: Friday, January 9, 2026
](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/shuffalo/2026/01/09#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
Can you make a longer word with each new letter?
Crossword
[
The Mini Crossword: Friday, January 9, 2026
](https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/mini-crossword/2026/01/09#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
Pixar movie whose title robot’s name is an acronym: five letters.
Goings On
[
Dances of the Georgian Court and Countryside
](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/goings-on/dances-of-the-georgian-court-and-countryside#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
Also: Bang on a Can and St. Vincent in Richard Foreman’s “What to Wear,” the celestial folk of Cassandra Jenkins, Jennifer Wilson and Richard Brody on comfort in the cold weather, and more.
Open Questions
[
Is Life a Game?
](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/open-questions/is-life-a-game#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
In “The Score,” the philosopher C. Thi Nguyen argues that play is the meaning of life.
Letter from Trump’s Washington
[
Why Donald Trump Wants Greenland (and Everything Else)
](https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/why-donald-trump-wants-greenland-and-everything-else#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
There’s no Trump Doctrine, just a map of the world that the President wants to write his name on in big gold letters.
Postscript
[
Béla Tarr’s Unbroken Visions
](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/bela-tarrs-unbroken-visions#intcid=_the-new-yorker-article-bottom-recirc_61ff1082-10ce-45a4-bbce-745db8e63a27_roberta-similarity1_fallback_cral-top2-2)
In muckily deliberative masterworks such as “Sátántangó” and “The Turin Horse,” the Hungarian director monumentalized the process of decay and the passage of time.