The answer is ARIADNE (7 letters).
Why ARIADNE fits
ARIADNE is the usual answer. She is the daughter of King Minos of Crete who gave Theseus the thread that let him find his way back out of the Labyrinth. PHAEDRA, her sister, is also seven letters and also a daughter of Minos, so the crossings matter here more than usual.
Every answer by letter count
| Letters | Answer | When it is used |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | ARIADNE | The default answer, the thread of the Labyrinth |
| 7 | PHAEDRA | Her sister, wife of Theseus in later myth |
| 5 | MINOS | When the clue reverses and wants the father |
Clues that share these answers
- She gave Theseus the thread
- Cretan princess
- Labyrinth helper
- Theseus’s helper
- Sister of Phaedra
Two sisters, one clue
Minos had several children in the myths, but two daughters dominate crossword usage and both have seven letters, which is unusually awkward. Ariadne helped Theseus escape the Labyrinth and was later abandoned by him on Naxos. Phaedra married Theseus afterwards, and her story became the subject of tragedies by Euripides and Racine.
The practical rule is that a clue mentioning thread, the Labyrinth or the Minotaur wants ARIADNE. A clue mentioning Theseus as a husband, or referencing tragic drama, wants PHAEDRA. They share only the letter A in the second position, so a single crossing usually resolves it.
The rest of the family in crosswords
Minos himself is a five-letter entry, clued as a Cretan king or as a judge of the underworld. His wife Pasiphae turns up occasionally at eight letters. The Minotaur, their monstrous offspring, is nine and is usually reserved for themed puzzles.
Knowing the family as a set is worth more than knowing any single member, because a constructor who uses one often uses another in the same grid. If ARIADNE is already filled, a nearby unexplained mythological slot is more likely to be THESEUS or NAXOS than something unrelated.
Confirming it in your grid
Count the squares before committing. If the length matches the row above and one crossing letter agrees, you can fill the rest with confidence. When two answers of the same length both fit the clue, the crossings decide it, and it is usually faster to solve the crossing entry than to argue with the definition.