‘Awaits a final judgment’ NYT Mini Crossword puzzle clue answer and hints

Have you ever been stuck in a queue to get your favorite movie tickets? Today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue, “Awaits a final judgment,” tests your patience and tasks you with finding a word that would suggest something ongoing.

If today’s NYT Mini Crossword has you scratching your head, our hints and solutions are here to help you breeze through the puzzle.

‘Awaits a final judgment’ NYT Oct. 19 Mini Crossword hints and answer

• Hint 1: The answer is something that decisions or judgments often use to indicate they’re still in progress.
• Hint 2: The five-letter solution means something is waiting or unresolved.
• Hint 3: It starts with the letter “P.” 
• Hint 4: The solution sounds similar to the words mends, bends, and tends.

Let’s jump in and reveal the answer.

The answer to nine across in the Oct. 19 New York Times Mini Crossword is “PENDS.” The word “pends” is the simple present form of the word pending, which is the more commonly used form in most contexts.

‘Awaits a final judgment’ NYT Mini Crossword difficulty rating

If you’re banging your wall in frustration after knowing the answer, you aren’t alone. While NYT’s Saturday clues are one of the most difficult ones to solve, this one takes it a notch higher by giving you a short form of a simple word to guess through a simple clue. Even after solving the rest of the crossword and revealing two letters of the answer, I still couldn’t figure it out.

However, if you’re someone having a law background, and are familiar with terminologies like case dismissed or pending daily, you might’ve solved the clue by yourself. So, I’d give it a four out of five for difficulty. 

NYT Mini Crossword (Oct. 19) answers

Across

• 1A Lawyer’s assignment — CASE
• 5A “I’m outta here!” — LATER
• 6A Be a nuisance to — BOTHER
• 7A Net flicks? — VOLLEYS
• 8A Pop star Grande — ARIANA
• 9A Awaits a final judgment — PENDS
• 10A On the boundaries of acceptable behavior — EDGY

Down

• 1D Taylor Swift, per the signature on her endorsement of Kamala Harris — CAT LADY
• 2D Capital of Greece — ATHENS
• 3D “I’m outta here!” — SEE YA
• 4D Makes a mistake — ERRS
• 5D Cracking up, to a texter — LOL ING
• 6D Totally uninterested in a lecture, perhaps — BORED
• 7D Use an e-cigarette — VAPE

How to play other word games like the NYT Mini Crossword

If the NYT Mini Crossword word games have you sweating, try some other transitional crossword like the LA Times, and Washington Post. However, if you’re craving something new, Strands and Spelling Bee are a fun way of enhancing your vocabulary.