The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

You can play the New York Times Crossword puzzle at nytimes.com/games, in the The New York Times Games app (iOS and Android), and in the Play tab of the New York Times News app. 

The Crossword in Print

You can access the daily Crossword in print by purchasing a Home Delivery subscription or picking up a copy of The New York Times newspaper at your local newsstand.

• The daily Crossword puzzles are printed in the Arts section of the print edition of The New York Times Monday through Saturday. 
• The Sunday Crossword puzzle is printed in the Sunday Magazine.

Each daily crossword puzzle is available for Games and All Access subscribers the evening before it appears in the print edition. 

• Weekday and Saturday puzzles are available at 10 p.m. EST the previous day.
• Sunday puzzles are available at 6 p.m. EST on Saturday.
• To receive alerts on your device when the newest daily puzzle is available, you can enable push notifications in the Games app Settings. 
• If you previously rejected push notifications but want to re-enable them for the Crossword, navigate to the Games app in your device settings and turn on Notifications. 
• The monthly bonus puzzles are available online on the first day of the month.

 

The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases that cross each other, by solving clues in the Across and Down columns which lead to the answers.

• The New York Times Crossword increases in difficulty from Monday to Saturday. 
• The Sunday puzzle is approximately on the same difficulty level as the Wednesday or Thursday puzzle, and is larger than other daily puzzles.  

 

How do I know if I’ve successfully solved the puzzle? 

• When you solve the puzzle correctly, music will play and a congratulatory message will appear on the screen. 
• If the board is completely filled in and you don’t receive a message, this means there is at least one incorrectly filled square. 

 

Blue and Gold Stars

Completion of the puzzle is represented with different colored stars. 

• Gold Stars reflect the number of consecutive puzzles solved before midnight EST on the publication date without using Check or Reveal.
• Blue Stars are puzzles that were solved but do not qualify as part of a streak. This could mean they were solved after midnight EST on the publication date, you skipped a puzzle day, or you used Check or Reveal. 

 

Keyboard Shortcuts 

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to play the Crossword on a computer:  

• Arrow keys - stay in the same square, move in the direction of the arrow, jump back to the first blank in the word, or jump to the next clue. 
• Spacebar - clear the current square and advance, toggle between Across and Down. 
• Backspace (Delete on Macs) - remove words or a letter from a word. 
• Tab key - Jump to the next clue
• Tab + Shift keys - Jump to the previous clue
• Escape - Enter Rebus mode

 

Customize Cursor Movement in App

To customize cursor movement in the app, select the gear icon in the upper right corner of any puzzle to open the Puzzle Settings menu. 

Players have the option to turn the following cursor settings on/off:

• Skip filled squares
• Jump back to the first blank
• Jump to the next clue

 

Enter Symbols and Numbers in App 

There is a secondary keyboard in the app for symbols and numbers. You can switch from the standard keyboard to the secondary by selecting the More button in the lower left corner of your screen.

 

Adjust Puzzle Size in App

There are two ways to adjust the puzzle size in the app:

• Spread your thumb and index finger open to zoom in on the puzzle.
• Switch to  Clue View, this presents clues in list form. You can toggle Clue View on/off by selecting the Clue View icon:

Pen and Pencil Modes

When playing the Crossword, you can alternate between pen and pencil modes. For both app and online, select the pencil icon to switch from one mode to the other.  

             

• Letters entered in the default pen mode are black, while letters entered in pencil mode are gray.
• Select the pencil icon (so it’s highlighted) to solve in pencil mode.
• Deselect the pencil icon to return to the default pen mode.

 

Letter Colors in the Crossword 

The letter colors that appear in the Crossword indicate the following:

• Black - Letters entered in the default pen mode.
• Gray - Letters entered in pencil mode.
• Blue - Letters that have been confirmed with Check.

 

How the Crossword Timer Works 

You can time how long it takes to solve a puzzle using the timer, which displays above the puzzle. 

• Pause the time by selecting the pause button or leaving the puzzle. 
• Select the Continue button to resume puzzle play and start the timer again. 
• The timer will restart if the entire puzzle is cleared.
• To hide the timer, navigate to the Puzzle settings (gear icon) at the top of the puzzle and turn off the Show Timer option.

 

Rebus and Other Special Crossword Elements 

A rebus can be a letter, number or symbol that represents a word, but in many crosswords, the rebus will be a word or group of letters that need to be written inside a single square. 

To learn more about rebus in the New York Times Crossword, visit Yes, You Can Write More than One Letter in a Square in the Wordplay column. 

The Crossword theme may also include board design. The use of these designs can be part of the challenge of solving the puzzle or a hint to some of the answers.

 

The New York Times offers many resources to help you solve puzzles and get better at solving puzzles.

In Game Help:

When the information icon (“i”) is ‘flashing’, a puzzle hint is available. 

If you are stuck on a word, select the lifesaver icon at the top of the puzzle to check or reveal a square, an answer, or the entire puzzle:

• Clear - Clear the entire puzzle to start again.
• Reveal - Reveal the correct letters for a square, an answer, or the entire puzzle.
• Check - Checks a square, word, or the entire puzzle. You can also turn on Autocheck, which will automatically check each square as you input a letter or word into the puzzle.

Note: Using Reveal or Check will result in your Crossword Streak being reset.

 

The How to Solve The New York Times Crossword

How to Solve The New York Times Crossword is a guide that includes various ways to tackle a puzzle and includes 13 free Mini puzzles to help you learn each concept.

 

NYT Daily WordPlay Column

WordPlay is a crossword column where you can read about the trickiest clues of the daily crossword and feature notes from the puzzle makers. You can also share your thoughts with other Crossword solvers in the comments.

Navigate to the WorldPlay Column on a web browser at nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column 

Worldplay can also be found in the Games app while playing the Crossword:

• Select the information icon ( i ) at the top of the game 
• Select the blue link, “Get solving tips, comment on today’s puzzle” 

 

Additional Assistance:

You can read the Wordplay FAQ or interact with Wordplay on X, formerly known as Twitter, for encouragement.

 

Subscribers can view basic statistics about streaks and puzzles solved in Your Statistics online and in the Games App (displayed as Stats). 

The Your Statistics page contains your puzzle statistics (Puzzles Solved, Solve Rate, Current Streak, and Longest Streak) with an accompanying bar graph.

• The number of Puzzles Solved reflects the number of puzzles solved regardless of whether Check or Reveal was used. 
• The Solve Rate is the number of puzzles solved over the number of puzzles attempted. 
• Streaks reflect the number of consecutive puzzles solved before midnight EST of the publication date without using Check or Reveal. These puzzles are indicated with a gold star.

Note: Using Check or Reveal disqualifies that puzzle's solve time from the Scorecard and from the Your Statistics page. These puzzles are indicated with a blue star.

In the bar graph, select any day to reveal the three colored bars for that day: 

• The pink bar indicates your solve time for the most recent puzzle solved on the selected day.
• The yellow bar indicates your best solve time for the selected day.
• The blue bar indicates your average solve time for this day of the week.

 

Acrostic and Variety Puzzles can only be played in the print edition of The New York Times and the Sunday magazine. Answers can be found in the following week's Sunday Magazine next to the puzzles.

 

Puzzles can be printed on a computer, but there is no printing functionality in the Games apps or on the mobile website. 

• Some Crosswords cannot be printed due to thematic elements. 
• Not all print options will be available for all puzzle types such as left hand and large print options

To print a puzzle, select the printer icon in the upper right corner on either the Games homepage or while playing a puzzle:

Note: If you are viewing the Crossword Archive on the web in Calendar View you can hover over a puzzle to reveal the print icon. On an iPad, use the Archive List View to print. In the Archive List View, select the word Puzzle to open a PDF for printing.

Once you select a puzzle to print, select your print options: 

• Puzzle will be auto populated. Select your layout from the options beneath.
• Solution will include the answers.
• Newspaper Version when available will format your puzzle in the same format as the newspaper edition.
• Ink Saver will make the black squares less dark.
• Left Hand will print clues on the other side of the page making it easier for left handed solvers.
• Large Print will make the print larger to make the Crossword easier to read.

 

You can adjust puzzle settings by selecting the gear icon on any puzzle online or in the app.

 

Here, you can customize your gameplay experience including: 

• Changing the behavior at the end of a word
• Changing the color theme and clue size 
• Turning off the jingle ( "San Jose Strut") that plays when you solve a puzzle

 

Games and All Access subscribers can view past archived puzzles that can be downloaded and played offline. When you select a puzzle from the archive it is downloaded to your device. Select the puzzle icon again to begin playing. To learn more, visit The New York Times Crossword Archive.