‘Statesman’ NYT Mini Crossword answer and hints

The Sept. 18 “Statesman” clue in today’s NYT Mini Crossword is one of those you either know it, or you don’t. If you’re facing the latter with this daily word game, I’ve whipped up some hints to assist you, and failing that, we also have the solution if you need it.

‘Blank Statesman’ NYT Sept. 19 Mini Crossword hints

• Hint one: Usually used to describe someone who’s been around for longer and is full of wisdom.
• Hint two: Swap one letter to make it part of a famous 2022 video game.
• Hint three: Opposite of younger.
• Hint four: It starts with “E.”

No more hints, no more tips. If you scroll down a bit further, you can find the solution to today’s “_ _ _ _ _ Statesman” three-down clue.

‘Blank Statesman’ three down answer in NYT Sept. 19 Mini Crossword

“ELDER” is the word the NYT Miini Crossword is looking for from you. Quite simply, an elder statesman is a veteran politician or important person with years of experience under their belt. It can also refer to a long-time leader or the boss of an organization.

To clarify one of my main hints, if you swap the “R” in elder to an “N,” you get the one and only Elden Ring—a 2022 action-adventure RPG/souls title in FromSoftware’s acclaimed and punishing world of video-game making.

All NYT Mini Crossword Sept. 19 answers

Across

• 1A With 4- and 5-across, opposite of a fantasy land — THE
• 4A See 1-across — REAL
• 5A See 1-across — WORLD
• 6A Bend in the road — CURVE
• 7A Be in the driver’s seat — STEER

Down

• 1D French for “earth” — TERRE
• 2D Slice in two — HALVE
• 3D ____statesman — ELDER
• 4D Overwhelming victory — ROUT
• 5D Rooms with toilets, in European shorthand — WCS

‘Statesman’ NYT Mini Crossword difficulty rating, explained

Statesmen is not typically a word banded around in England and feels more like an American thing—which is cool; it highlights the difference between the two great nations! But in this instance, I’d say two different difficulty ratings need to be assigned: A two out of five rating for U.S. citizens seems about right, but for anyone else, I’m going to give this a solid three out of five rating.

How to play daily word games like NYT Mini Crossword

I find that daily word games are a terrific source of both stimulation and information. Mentally, I feel refreshed and focused as I have to engage my brain to think of the answers to clues, and even if you don’t get every answer, you can benefit from the solutions by learning more. So, I encourage you to try out other daily word games, including the LA Times, Washington Post, Strands, and Spelling Bee.