Frown turned upside down

Latest answer — September 09, 2026

17 Down

Scroll down for rest of crossword answers

Clue explained

A frown turned upside down becomes a smile in the playful visual sense suggested by the clue. The answer is a noun naming the resulting facial expression.

Clue type:
Pun or wordplay
A simple illustration showing a frown inverted to resemble a smile

NYT Midi Crossword

This clue's Wednesday, September 09, 2026 appearance

Tap a square to reveal a letter.

Or reveal one clue at a time with the Hint and Answer buttons below.

Across

  1. 1Cold weather layer
  2. 5Easily movable bed
  3. 8What squires helped knights put on
  4. 10Rower's implement
  5. 11Spice in a grinder
  6. 13"___ Drives Me Crazy" (Fine Young Cannibals hit)
  7. 14"Help!"
  8. 15Temporary break
  9. 17Play backdrops
  10. 18Fantastic
  11. 21"Quiet, you!"
  12. 23___ and gloom
  13. 25People put on pedestals
  14. 26"What ___ can I do?"
  15. 27Something a marathon winner runs through at the end of a race
  16. 28"That feels gooood"

Down

  1. 1ALL ___ (FEATURE OF THIS CLUE)
  2. 2Crumbly topping for froyo
  3. 3Electric guitar accessories
  4. 4Appropriate grid location for this answer
  5. 5Price
  6. 6Most-populous Hawaiian island
  7. 7Uno + dos
  8. 9Puts in the microwave, as leftovers
  9. 12Cracker brand in a red box
  10. 16Out of the way
  11. 17Frown turned upside down
  12. 18Each
  13. 19Bourbon Street's locale, informally
  14. 20"Golly gee!"
  15. 21Pimple
  16. 22Civil rights leader ___ B. Wells
  17. 24"It's just so-so"

The answer to “Frown turned upside down” in the New York Times Midi crossword is SMILE — a 5-letter word. It most recently appeared in the New York Times Midi crossword on September 9, 2026, a Wednesday puzzle, at 17-Down. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Frown turned upside down” answer

SMILE (5 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is SMILE.

What does SMILE mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of SMILE is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

(verb)

  • form one's features into a pleased, kind, or amused expression, typically with the corners of the mouth turned up and the front teeth exposed

When else has “Frown turned upside down” appeared?

New York Times Midi reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

September 9, 2026 (most recent) → SMILE. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

Frequently asked questions

What is the answer to “Frown turned upside down”?

The answer is SMILE, a 5-letter word. It most recently appeared in the New York Times Midi crossword on September 9, 2026.

How many letters is the answer to “Frown turned upside down”?

5 letters: SMILE.

When did this clue appear?

Most recently in the New York Times Midi crossword on September 9, 2026 (a Wednesday puzzle), at 17-Down.

Can “Frown turned upside down” have a different answer?

Yes — New York Times Midi sometimes reuses a clue with a different solution to fit the grid. The answers we've recorded for each date it appeared are listed above when available.

Where can I find the rest of this day's NYT Midi answers?

The full grid for September 9, 2026 is on the NYT Midi answers page, with every clue and answer from that puzzle.

New York Times Midi Crossword is published by The New York Times; WordHint is an independent site and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher.

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