‘Blue Ribbon brewery’ NYT Crossword clue hints and answers

Today’s NYT mini crossword puzzle was baffling, with the major clue that has many players stumped—and probably why you’re here—to do with a “Blue Ribbon brewery.”

This clue is from the July 19 NYT mini crossword puzzle, and despite my initial thoughts, it doesn’t actually refer to the Blue Ribbon ice cream brand. This one is hard to solve even if you’re familiar with beers. Here are all the clues you’ll need.

‘Blue Ribbon brewery’ July 19 NYT Mini Crossword hints and answer

• Hint 1: It’s abbreviated to PBR.
• Hint 2: The brewery was established in Wisconsin in 1844.
• Hint 3: It starts with “P.”
• Hint 4: Its logo is a blue ribbon.

Spoiler Warning: The answer to the Blue Ribbon brewery clue is below. So, if you’re still trying to solve it, please don’t read ahead.

The answer to “Blue Ribbon brewery” is “PABST.” Pabst Blue Ribbon, or PBR, was founded way back in 1844 in Wisconsin and was one of the largest breweries of the late 19th century. Although this brewery was initially named after its founder, Jacob Best Sr., it was renamed in 1888 after Frederick Pabst, Jacob Jr’s son-in-law.

Now you know the answer to 1A, you can complete the rest of the NYT puzzle. And if you’re struggling, all the clues and answers for this July 19 crossword are listed next.

July 19 NYT Mini Crossword puzzle: All clues and answers

Across

• 1A “Blue Ribbon” brewery — PABST
• 6A Put at ease, as fears — ALLAY
• 7A Sound heard at a ramen restaurant — SLURP
• 8A Slight trace of color — TINGE
• 9A Starts a pot, in poker — ANTES

Down

• 1D Popular meal the night before a marathon — PASTA
• 2D 100% committed — ALL IN
• 3D Untactful to a fault — BLUNT
• 4D Boot camp boss, informally — SARGE
• 5D Goes tap-tap-tape in a texting app — TYPES

How difficult is the ‘Blue Ribbon Brewery’ clue?

As a non-American, the clue stumped me a lot. Even though I occasionally enjoy beer, this isn’t a brand I’ve ever really heard of before, so it wasn’t easy to answer right off the bat. I actually had to answer a few other mini-puzzle clues before I could work this one out. Because of this, I’ll be giving it a difficulty rating of four out of five.

Best NYT Mini Crossword puzzle alternatives

Now that you’ve got the answers to today’s NYT mini crossword puzzle, there are other mini crossword puzzles that you may like to try from big-named publications such as the LA Times and the Washington Post.

But if you enjoy word games, try Strands, a word search game, or Spelling Bee, where you make words from random letters, kind of like Scrabble.