Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (2024)

Wordlehas officially joinedthe New York Times Games section:The viral word puzzle is now part of a robust portfolio that includesSpelling Bee, Letter Boxed and the legendary New York Times daily crossword.

"If you've followed along with the story of Wordle, you'll know that New York Times Games play a big part in its origins, and so this step feels very natural to me," Worlde creatorJosh Wardle tweeted.

Last year, New York Times Gamesreached 1 million subscribers, and the paper's online games were played more than 500 million times.

Here's everything you need to know about the puzzles in the New York Times Games family, including how to play them.

For more, find out how to start playing Wordle, tips on how to best guess the daily word and how to download Wordle to keep it free forever.

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (1)

Wordle

The Times announced it acquired Wordle at the end of January, for an undisclosed sum in the "low seven figures."

On the off chance you've never played, the immensely popular word game gives you six chances to guess a five-letter word.

If the right letter is in the right spot, it shows up in a green box, while a correct letter in the wrong spot shows up in yellow. A letter that isn't in the word at all shows up gray.

Wordle players have all kinds of strategies -- including starter words, like "ADIEU" and "ROATE," that are heavy on vowels.

And despite complaints, the daily word game has not gotten more difficult since it was purchased by the Times.

"Nothing has changed about the gameplay," Times' communications director Jordan Cohen told CNET in an email. In fact, all the words in Wordle for the next five years were written into a script before the game launched in October 2021. (Spoiler: You can view that script on Medium.)

Spelling Bee

Outside of the daily crossword puzzle, Spelling Bee has the most devout following, with a daily column by Isaac Aronow and more than 600 comments a day on average.

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (2)

It's easy to learn the game but tough to master it: Each puzzle features a seven-cell honeycomb, with six letters arranged around a seventh in the center.

Players simply come up with as many words containing at least four letters as they can. You can reuse letters as often as you want, but each word must contain the center letter.

Words with four letters are worth one point, while longer words receive more. (A "pangram" uses all seven letters at least once. )

Proper nouns aren't recognized, nor are obscure or obscene words -- but exactly what qualifies as obscure is hotly debated through multiple threads.

"Of course, everyone has a different opinion about whether a clue or word is 'fair,' and solvers are not afraid to express that," Wordplay columnist Deb Amlen told CNET. "But don't all families disagree sometimes?"

The Spelling Bee comment section is filled with gripes and brags, peppered between clues to help struggling members of the Hivemind figure out all the possible words and achieve "Queen Bee" status.

Spelling Bee enthusiast Nancy Pfeffer became so enamored with the game's online "family" that sheembarked on a 5,000-mile cross-country road triplast summer to meet some of her fellow players in person.

"What comes to mind when I think about our solvers is 'community,' in the best meaning of the word," Amlen said.

"I can't think of any other newspaper games section that draws such a devoted and enthusiastic audience," she said. "Wordplay commenters have helped and supported each other when personal problems arise. There are local Wordplay groups that meet up in real life to get to know each other. Our games act as a kind of social outlet for like-minded puzzle lovers."

The game launched as a weekly feature in The New York Times Magazine in 2014 and a daily digital edition debuted four years later.

As of August last year, Spelling Bee has been maintained by Sam Ezersky, who constructs the puzzles, decides what words are acceptable and posts the new game at midnight PT (3 a.m. ET).

And, yes, there are people up at 3 a.m. waiting for the new Bee.

Read on: 10 Tips to Winning the New York Times Spelling Bee

The Mini crossword

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (3)

Sometimes you don't have the time, energy or gray matter to work on a full-blown New York Times crossword puzzle. Since 2014, the Times has offered an easier, smaller puzzle, designed by cruciverbalist Joel Fagliano, now digital puzzle editor at the Times.

The Mini is an amuse-bouche of a crossword, with a simple five-by-five grid Sunday through Friday and a seven-by-seven layout on Saturday. (Occasionally larger "midi" puzzles with 11-by-11 layouts pop up, too.)

Even within that limited space, Fagliano has devised something of a formula, as he told the Poynter Institute for Media Studies: "Six or seven clues that are pretty easy, two that are trivia and two that are a bit more cryptic."

If you've been too intimidated to try your hand at a Times crossword, a Mini is definitely a good place to start.

Letter Boxed

Launched in 2019,Letter Boxed, like Spelling Bee, relies more on vocabulary than knowledge of trivia: Three letters are featured on each side of a square and players must connect the letters to make words that are at least three letters long. The final letter of one word becomes the first letter of the next.

The catch, though, is that letters on the same side of the "box" can't be used consecutively.

The aim is to use all 12 letters by making as few words as possible. But, unlike a crossword, there's no one route to success. (The Times' answer to yesterday's puzzle, as a result, is just labeled "Our Solution.")

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (4)

Vertex

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (5)

Eschewing words altogether, Vertex is an interactive version of atangram, a Chinese geometric puzzle, that allows users to connect dots to create triangles that ultimately form a larger image.

"At its core, a vertex puzzle is a drawing game with a logic component," according to an articleon the Times website.

The number on a dot indicates how many connections it has to other dots. If you link vertices correctly, the triangle they form will be filled in a specific color.

Tiles

The Times debuted Tiles, its first nonword game, in June 2019. It's a high-concept, artfully designed take on the classic tile game Mahjong solitaire.

Instead of Chinese characters and symbols, though, users try to match squares featuring intricate patterns -- some are inspired by hand-painted Portuguese Azulejo tiles, others by the work of 1970s Op artist Bridget Riley and German color theorist Josef Albers.

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (6)

Players click on matching pairs to make them disappear until they've cleared the entire board. But the variations in the tile patterns are far more subtle than in traditional Chinese mahjong tiles, making the game significantly more difficult.

Unlike crosswords, which appeal to completists, Tiles is aimed at a more meditative player. In fact, there's even a "zen mode" that goes on forever without clearing the board.

"One additional strategy around launching Tiles is to reach users who may not be native English-language speakers," The Times wrote a release announcing the game.

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (7)

The New York Times crossword puzzle

The main draw for Games subscribers is online access to the venerable New York Times crossword puzzle that you can solve on your phone. Not just the current puzzle, but the daily archives going back to November 1993. Subscribers also get access to the new crossword the evening before it appears in print.

The app version of the Times puzzle has an autocheck feature that immediately tells you if you've entered the wrong letter. If you're stuck, you can also have the app "reveal" a square, word or the remainder of the puzzle.

More competitive players can track their solve rate and stats and see how they compare to other players on a leaderboard.

How much is a New York Times Games subscription?

Distinct from the main Times subscription, a New York Times Games digital subscription costs $5 a month or $40 for a year, and includes Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, Tiles, Vertex and the daily crossword puzzle.

The Times offers the Mini and the logic puzzle Sudoku for free to nonsubscribers. For now, Wordle will also be free for nonsubscribers.

Read more: Finished Wordle? Try one of these similar games

Beyond Wordle: The New York Times Games Section, Explained (2024)

FAQs

How do you play extreme Wordle? ›

These mind-melting puzzles are graded from Intense to Extreme. Puzzlers must guess what the correct word is, deducing from previous words in the grid what letters go where. A clue means there is only one correct solution to each puzzle, and answers can be found at the back of the book.

What is the best starting word for the New York Times Wordle? ›

If you play Wordle every day, it would take you over four and a half years to save one guess by opening with TRACE instead of SLATE. By comparison, ADIEU — the most common starting word among Wordle players — trails TRACE by about a fifth of a guess, adding up to 74 extra turns for the bot over the course of a year.

What does a nyt games subscription include? ›

With a New York Times Games subscription, you have access to all of The New York Times Word Games and Logic Puzzles, including:
  • The Crossword - Access to the Daily Crossword puzzles the evening before their release in print.
  • The Mini Crossword.
  • Wordle.
  • Connections.
  • Spelling Bee.
  • Letter Boxed.
  • Tiles.
  • Vertex.

How to play past nytimes crosswords? ›

Navigate to the Archive tab at the bottom of the Games app homepage. Select either The Crossword or The Mini. Select the month and year you would like to see puzzles from. Select the puzzle you would like to play.

What is the best word to start with in Wordle? ›

For Normal mode, SLATE, SALET, ROATE and STARE are known to be some of the best alternative starting words for Wordle. For Hard mode, DEALT is believed to be the best Wordle starting word. However, COALS and NITER were found to be the best performing word pair combination for the opening two guesses.

How do you play secret word on Wordle? ›

How do I play? The game is simple: You have six chances to guess the day's secret five-letter word. Type in a word as a guess, and the game tells you which letters are or aren't in the word. The aim is to figure out the secret word with the fewest guesses.

What is a burner in Wordle? ›

Using a burner word almost always means using more than three guesses to solve the daily word, but it also means not losing, which is more important than guessing the Wordle word within the first three guesses.

What are the four magic words for Wordle? ›

I love Wordle and pride myself on figuring out the daily word. Sometimes it seems pretty easy and others not so much. Here are the 5 "Magic" Words that will help you solve Wordle more often than not. "Derby, flank, ghost, winch, jumps."

What was the very first Wordle word ever? ›

When did Wordle start? Wordle started as a humble independent game played only among friends and family of developer Josh Wardle in June 2021 (the first answer was "Cigar").

What is the point of Tiles in New York Times? ›

Tiles is a color and pattern matching game where, using patterned squares, players are challenged to create the longest possible sequence of tile pairings with matching components.

Can you play Wordle without a NYT subscription? ›

Currently, you do not have to register or sign in to play as Wordle is free to play on all platforms. We do recommend creating a New York Times account or signing in with an existing New York Times account so you can play Wordle across devices or platforms while retaining your progress and stats.

Can I play nyt games without a subscription? ›

If you are a non-subscriber or have a subscription that does not include Games (for example Cooking, Wirecutter, or The Athletic) you have limited access to games.

What does eg mean in a crossword? ›

For example – EG (e.g., short for the Latin exempli gratia)

How do you know if a nyt crossword has Rebus in it? ›

According to The New York Times crosswords editor, Will Shortz, “A 'rebus' in a crossword is anything that gets entered in a square that's not a single letter of the alphabet.” That can mean you have to jam more than one letter into a square or use digits.

Which day of the nyt crossword is hardest? ›

The crosswords are designed to increase in difficulty throughout the week, with the easiest on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday. The larger Sunday crossword, which appears in The New York Times Magazine, is an icon in American culture; it is typically intended to be a "Thursday-plus" in difficulty.

How do you play advanced Wordle? ›

To toggle on the more difficult version, just go to the game's settings tab and turn it on. You can also switch to dark mode or high contrast mode, settings that will change the way the game appears on your device. Hard mode means that any letters you discover must be used in subsequent guesses.

What is the hardest type of Wordle? ›

PARER (Wordle #454)

Almost one in two players fail to solve this word as it has a 48% failure rate. Furthermore, it broke 60% of World streaks on the day of its release.

Is there a hard mode for Wordle? ›

From there, you select the Settings icon (it looks like a gear) and the "Hard Mode." Back at home, I first shared with my wife that I'd already solved the day's Wordle. She didn't look pleased but before she could respond, I added that I was switching to Hard Mode.

How do you play infinite Wordle games? ›

Guess the hidden word in 6 tries. Each guess must be a valid 5 letter word, you cannot enter random letters. Hit the enter button to submit the guess. After your submission, the color of the tiles will change as in the examples below.

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