Today's NYT Mini Crossword clue for "knick's knack" was harder than I expected. Even after I found the answer, I had to reread the clue to figure out why my answer was correct, since I didn't get it right myself. I found it by filling in the other answers.

My strategy is valid, but it is a bit strange, and I understand why you might be struggling with this clue as well. That is why I am here to help you solve it, since you probably need to pay more attention to it than you are now.

If you don't want to give away the answer, stop reading now, because it's right after this short block.

The final answer to "knick's knack" is "BBALL". It's simply an abbreviation for basketball. What's unusual is that the clue didn't mention it was an abbreviation, which made it confusing. When I solved it, I found the two B's in a row before I got another answer, which was 6A, so I was missing a letter. I thought there was no word that started with a double B, but I tried it and it worked. This can confuse a lot of people, and it's probably what confused you too: the double B's at the beginning are not very common.