‘Finely grate as a lemon peel’ NYT Mini Crossword July 30 answer and hints

“Finely grate, as a lemon peel” is a great clue and gives the July 30 NYT Mini Crossword a lot of zing.

You need to eat your five a day to keep a lot of the bad away, and, thankfully, this doesn’t apply to lemons because if you’re of a disposition where so much as licking a lemon segment has your eyes curling up into a ball (like me), we’d be in trouble! But lemons are key to four down in today’s daily NYT Mini word game.

‘Finely grate as a lemon peel’ four down NYT Mini Crossword solution and hints

• Hint 1: Can also mean great energy.
• Hint 2: Only has one vowel.
• Hint 3: Has two consonants back-to-back in the alphabet.
• Hint 4: It starts with “Z”

If your understanding of word structure is on point you may have this cracked. If not, read on for the answer.

The solution to this NYT Mini Crossword clue is “ZEST.”

An individual can have great zest and enthusiasm, zest only has one vowel in “e,” the letters “s” and “t” follow each other in the traditional 26-letter English alphabet, and zest starts with “z”.

Zest meaning, explained

Zest has two main meanings: The enthusiasm and energetic nature of an individual, and the outer shavings of a fruit—such as a lemon.

All answers for July 30 NYT Mini Crossword

Across

• 1A “Style, charm or attractiveness,” per a modern coinage — RIZZ
• 5A Close bud — HOMIE
• 6A Black cats and red moons, supposedly — OMENS
• 7A Make a face, say — REACT
• 8A Prefix with fat or fiction — NON

Down

• 1D Title Shakespeare role for a young DiCaprio — ROMEO
• 2D “That is to say …” — IMEAN
• 3D Chemical element found in many immune-boosting supplements — ZINC
• 4D Finely grate, as a lemon peel — ZEST
• 5D Car’s noisemaker — HORN

‘Finely grate as a lemon peel’ NYT Crossword Mini difficulty rating

This is a slightly trickier clue difficulty rating to gauge than normal. The clue itself isn’t inherently difficult, but I found the word “ZEST” eluding me—even though I’ve imbibed much of the substance courtesy of drinks I don’t condone! However, it’s not too challenging a clue and answer, so I’ll give it a safe three out of five.

How to play other word games and crosswords like NYT Mini puzzle

The NYT Mini Crossword is one of the most popular daily word games out there, but it’s not alone. If you want more juicy puzzles, check out the LA Times and Washington Post offerings, along with Strands and Spelling Bee.