‘What each word in “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” is a stand-in’ NYT Mini Crossword hints and answer

Have you ever tried stargazing? I don’t have a good telescope to pursue my love of astronomy and constellations, but I’ve always been fascinated by what’s out there. Today’s NYT Mini Crossword clue, “What each word in ‘My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles’ is a stand-in,” asks you to decipher a term that is used to describe habitable or inhabitable places in the space.

If you can’t wrap your head around the clue, here are some hints and answers for the NYT Mini Crossword on Sept. 14 to solve the puzzle. 

‘What each word in “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” is a stand-in’ NYT Sept. 14 Mini Crossword hints and answer

• Hint 1: The answer is one of the things found in the space.
• Hint 2: The six-letter solution is what our Solar System is made up of. 
• Hint 3: It starts with the letter “P.”
• Hint 4: The solution is what scientists have been searching for in other galaxies.

Let’s jump in and reveal the answer. 

Did you see it coming? The answer to five across in the Sept. 14 New York Times Mini Crossword is “PLANET.” The phrase “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” is a classic example of a mnemonic. Each first letter of the word in the phrase stands for the first letter of a planet’s name. For example, My: Mercury, Very: Venus, Educated: Earth, and so on till the planet Neptune.You can remember the order of the planets in our solar system, from closest to farthest from the Sun by using the phrase in the clue. 

‘What each word in “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” is a stand-in’ NYT Mini Crossword difficulty rating

Saturday’s NYT Mini crossword clues are the toughest to crack, and this clue literally shoves down a mnemonic to memorize the planets in our solar system. The clue in itself doesn’t make any sense, so it can easily derail your attempts to solve the crossword. I’d give it a four out of five for difficulty.

NYT Mini Crossword (Sept. 14) answers

Across

• 1A Shortens, as a skirt—HEMS
• 5A What each word in “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” is a stand-in for—PLANET
• 7A Puzzling question—RIDDLE
• 8A Nonhuman “child”—PET
• 9A “You reap what you ___”—SOW
• 10A Agrees to receive promotional emails, say—OPTSIN
• 12A Feats for gymnasts or bowlers—SPLITS
• 13A What some teachers claim to have in the backs of their heads—EYES

Down

• 1D “I’ve ___ it up to here with you!”—HAD
• 2D Calls off the relationship—ENDSIT
• 3D Cantaloupes and the like—MELONS
• 4D Hearty soup—STEW
• 5D Like polo shirts and varsity jackets—PREPPY
• 6D Minuscule—LITTLE
• 8D Cat or cow, in yoga—POSE
• 11D Feminine family nickname—SIS

How to play other word games like the NYT Mini Crossword

Do you love spending your morning solving word games like the NYT Mini? Then you can try the LA Times and the Washington Post crosswords. However, if you’re done with traditional crosswords, Strands and Spelling Bee are solid options to stretch your brain muscles.