Sometimes, reminiscing about the good old days can be fun to do, whether you’re by yourself or with friends. In the latest New York Times Mini Crossword puzzle, however, folks could easily be fooled by the clue “Ah, this takes me back.”
“Ah, this takes me back” is a clue for a seven-letter across word in the Aug. 17 edition of the Mini Crossword, and can be a frustrating hint to figure out since it is very vague. It also doesn’t help that it is a relatively longer word, and since the New York Times has often used multiple words in one, there’s plenty of overthinking that could happen.
‘Ah, this takes me back’ Aug. 17 NYT Mini Crossword hints and answer
- Hint 1: Can also mean “undo.”
- Hint 2: _ of fortune.
- Hint 3: Backing up in a car.
- Hint 4: Not going forward, but in…
These hints should give you a pretty good idea of the word, but if you’re still working on the answer, stop here. If you need some assistance, however, you can keep reading onward to finally learn the word for 13A “Ah, this takes me back!” hint, along with the rest of the answers to the Aug. 17 Mini Crossword.
The answer for 13A “Ah, this takes me back!” is REVERSE. Reverse is a pretty basic word that shouldn’t take too long to figure out but it could have fooled some people since the hint might not have been taken so literally. The hint refers to the fact that “reverse” actually means to take someone back to where they were instead of talking about remembering the past.
All NYT Mini Crossword puzzle (Aug. 17) clues and answers
Across
- 1A Stuff chewed by a cow — CUD
- 4A Bakery offerings — CAKES
- 6A Corporate makeover — REBRAND
- 8A 100% — ALL
- 9A __ De Jing (philosophical text) — DAO
- 10A Like restrictions you might mention to a waiter — DIETARY
- 12A Difficult shape for a mini golf hole — ANTHILL
- 13A Ah, this takes me back! — REVERSE
Down
- 1D What the Disney Channel and the Golf Channel appear on — CABLETV
- 2D Kyiv’s land: Abbr.— UKR
- 3D Awkward silence in a broadcast — DEADAIR
- 4D Dion, who performed atop the Eiffel Tower at the 2024 Olympics — Celine
- 5D Responds in an aggressive and threatening tone — SNARLS
- 6D Weather-detecting technology — RADAR
- 7D Writer Arthur Conan ___ — DOYLE
- 11D The “t” of btw — THE
“Ah, this takes me back!” clue: Difficulty, ranked
When someone says that something “takes them back,” they are usually reminiscing about the past. As a result, the hint can be easily taken the wrong way and mislead people into thinking about other possible words. For example, I was confused for a bit until I managed to solve some of the other words, when I realized the clue was being literal. Because of the nature of the hint and its ability to mislead, this clue gets a three out of five difficulty rating.
