Mr. Ayas is a good host, and he’s doing his best to honor that drink order. In fact, he’s trying so hard that he has removed the word “ice” from all of the theme entries in his puzzle. There are also no words in the surrounding fill that contain the letter string I-C-E, which is an elegant constructing touch.

The NYT Mini Crossword is a smaller version of the full crossword puzzle, typically featuring a 5x5 grid, although the grid size can vary slightly. Unlike the full crossword, which may take an hour or more to solve,