Summary
Crosswords have been a long-time staple of newspapers, but New York Times have taken this a step further, with a number of fun and unique puzzles readers can play daily online, keeping up with the modern trait of utilizing technology.
By now, most of the world are at the very least aware of the popular word-guessing gameWordle, if they haven’t already tried it themselves. But what they might not be aware of is that the New York Times have many more head-scratching puzzles for their readers to play, enjoy, andchallenge themselves with.
8Sudoku
The Classic Numbers Game
Sudokuisa classicpuzzle all know well and enjoy, in which players need to fill in 3 by 3 grids in a 3 by 3 square with numbers 1 to 9, ensuring that every grid, column and row contains one of each number.
Though The New York Times haven’t made any drastic changes to this number puzzle, they have three different difficulty levels so that everyone, from novice to veteran, can enjoy this particular puzzle.
7The Mini Crossword
A Bitesize Crossword Puzzle
Before the popularWordle, there was theMini Crossword, which has been part of the New York Times games library since 2014. As the name suggests, it is just like a crossword, in which players will need to fill the grid in with words, aided only by some hints to the side of the screen.
But, unlike a crossword puzzle, it will not take players as long to fill in as it isa much shorter, smaller puzzle. This makes it the ideal puzzle for people who don’t have the time to dedicate to a full puzzle, and it can be easily completed on the go.
6Letter Boxed
Another Word Seeking Puzzle with a Twist
New York Times gave players another word logic puzzle in 2019 calledLetter Boxed, in which a group of letters surround a white box. Players will use this box to connect a set of letters, at least three or more, to form words. The goal of the game is to use every letter at least once, in as few words as possible.
The puzzle is possible to be solved with as few as two words, but doing so will bea monumental challenge, and will end this fun letter puzzle all too quickly.
5Spelling Bee
Challenges Players Vocabulary
TheSpelling Beeis not an entirely accurate name, as that name is for competitions where competitors will have to correctly spell out the spoken words to win. New York Time’sSpelling Beefeatures a cluster of 7 letters, with one in the middle that must be included in all words.
It is up to the player to use the provided letters, including the one in the center, to string together words that are at least four letters long. It sounds simple in theory, but there have been someSpelling Beepuzzles that have been challenging because of the letters they provide. A good, varied vocabulary is needed if players hope to reach the Genius ranking.
Connections is a fun little puzzle that challenges players to find meaning across the 12 words provided. They will need to sort them into groups of four based on the commonality they share. It could be colors, animals, songs, or any kind of category one could think of.
Attempting to complete the puzzle is a lot tougher than it sounds, as sometimes it seems as though none of the words share any connection at all. This is where the players will need to take their time andthink outside the box. It’s a fun game for anyone who is up to the challenge.
3Vertex
This Isn’t Just Any Simple Connect the Dots Puzzle
Vertexis a New York Times puzzle that has endured for almost 5 years now, presenting players with aunique drawinglogic puzzle. At first, it seems easy to connect the on-screen dots to replicate a drawing, but the puzzle only gets harder the more dots the players bridge.
It sounds verysimple in theory, but the reality provides a much more challenging problem players will need to take their time with, and consider their every move lest they make one mistake, as one small error can make the puzzle impossible to complete further down the line, meaning they could need to undo many steps and try again. They better hope the next time brings success.
Word searches are puzzles that challenge players to find the listed words in a grid full of letters. New York Time’s more recent gameStrandstakes the base idea of the word search, and makes it that more challenging.
Rather than plays seeking out the provided words, they will be given a theme, such as In Closing, which are words you might say as part of a goodbye during a conversation. Players can string together letters that are to the sides, above, below or diagonally, which can make it tricky to point out words hidden in the grid.
Wordleboomed into popularity upon its release, with gamers sharing their spoiler-free solution to the puzzle, but displaying theWordletable with black colored squares, grey if it’s incorrect, yellow if the letter is in the incorrect position, and green if it’s the right time and the right letter.
The world united in its love for this puzzle game, and today it is still going strong, with thousands enjoying their daily attempt, even if not as many are sharing their solutions. Due to its unique nature and the way it became such an overnight success, there is no denying thatWordleis New York Time’s greatest game, and will likely to continue as the crowned king for years to come.
