"Yippee!" — NYT Mini Crossword Clue (October 15, 2025)

The second Across slot trades tech talk for exuberant celebration. Below you will find the confirmed answer, tone cues that signal it, and techniques for translating exclamatory clues into fast fills. Apostrophes appear as ' and quotation marks as " for sanitized markup.

4 Across

"Yippee!"

WAHOO

The fill WAHOO matches the jubilant tone of the clue. Word Tips hints cite the North American elm and the alternative cry “Whoopee!,” anchoring the answer's enthusiastic register. Crossword editors lean on WAHOO because its repeating vowels cleanly intersect stacked downs.

Why WAHOO Fits the Clue

Tone & Definition

“Yippee!” is an excited exclamation, steering solvers toward celebratory interjections like WAHOO or WEE.
The Word Tips prompt references “Whoopee!,” directly confirming the vowel-heavy synonym.
Five-letter length with twin O vowels narrows options, making WAHOO a standout candidate.

Crossing Reinforcement

1-Down PAPUA secures one of the five letters.
2-Down CHILD secures one of the five letters.
3-Down SOLID secures one of the five letters.
4-Down WSJ secures one of the five letters.
5-Down OLA secures one of the five letters.

Speed Solving Techniques

Track Emotional Register

Minis frequently clue interjections via their emotional tone. Recognizing excitement words pushes you to shortlist WAHOO, WOOHOO, and HOORAY immediately.

Mind the Letter Count

Five-letter interjections are rare; WAHOO's double O construction stands out versus longer WOOHOO or shorter YAY.

Balance with Down Entries

The repeating O slots create a vowel spine that calms the Down column, smoothing fills like SOLID and OLA.

Leverage Word Tips Hints

The tool's reference to an elm named wahoo confirms that editors expect you to pick up the homograph flavor, a hallmark of Mini clue construction.

Vocabulary & Associations

Related Interjections

HOORAY
YOWZA
WOO
WEE

Crossword Crossovers

WEE (NYT Mini classic)
WOOHOO (longer Sunday grids)
OLE (sports contexts)
TA-DA (puzzle parlance)

Letter Pattern Insight

With only one consonant cluster (WAH), WAHOO hugs the left side of the grid and leaves abundant vowel support for the Down stack. Memorize its structure to avoid second guessing between WAHOO and WHOA.