New York Times games

Here. :)

I contemplate subscribing just for the games.

my husband and i do the crossword together, every single day. in the back half our lives together it has become a very important time of day for us and we make the time to do it every day without fail, whether stressed, or on vacation, or just lazy.

Present. 🙋🏻‍♂️ I do Spelling Bee, Connections, and the Mini every night at midnight before I go to sleep. Just had a personal best in the Mini (but I admit it was super easy).

I love the Spelling Bee, OP. I play it every day, and I actually got Queen Bee once!

I wordle.

I’m a gamer, OP! I even bought the app so I can play more Crosswords. I start my day with Connections, then Wordle, while I’m having coffee. It feels like it will be a good day if I can solve Connections with no misses and Wordle in 3 or less. I’ll crossword on work breaks and in the evening for a bit. I have to be in the mood for spelling bee, and I always use hints for that one.

Game on!

I do Wordle, Connections and Spelling Bee every day. I won’t quit Spelling Bee until I get to genius level and sometimes it’s maddening but I love it. I do the crossword every day except Sunday. I go for speed and I like to look at my stats. I don’t think the Sunday puzzles are enough fun for the trouble. I love the Times app.

I play every New York Times game. I wish they would add a cryptic crossword as well. The New Yorker has a weekly cryptic.

And same, R7. Connections in 4 and Wordle in 3, with coffee, is the start of a good day.

I feel like these games are having a zeitgeist moment right now - I just saw an article about them and at a concert in Vegas over the weekend, this woman next to me just started talking about them randomly.

I play connections and letter block first the spelling bee, wordle, and crossword. Vertex last. Tired of tiles.

Bump for more Games talk!

In Spelling Bee, I find the easiest days are those where ING are in the grid — you can usually get two words for the solve of one.

The hardest days are when there are no obvious word combinations and the point level of Genius is something like 50.

I start every day with Mini, Wordle, Connections, Letter Boxed and Spelling Bee over a couple of cups of coffee. Love that there is a "hive" of us here!

If I were a parent, the NYT games would be required breakfast activity for my middle- and high school children.

I was disappointed they killed off that math game, I quite enjoyed it and hope NYT releases another game in a similar vein.

I agree r12, if I had kids I would make NYT games a required daily activity.

The mini crossword gives me joy.

Crossword: I only do Th, Fr, Sat and Sun (in ink; I don't like doing them online as it's too much clicking and scrolling and you can't see all the clues at once). The other three days are too easy (and I can knock off a Sunday in one sitting). I do The New Yorker's crosswords on Mon and Tues, as those are the harder days for them. I've been doing the Times crossword for 40 years now and kinda miss doing them in the daily print edition (you had to fold the newspaper just right). Dear Will Shortz: Can we please far fewer quote clues, a la, "Way to go, me!" or "I've got it!". They're lazy. There was a puzzle within the last year that had seven such clues.

The Mini: Personal best is 15 seconds.

Wordle: I always start with ALIEN. I usually get the answer in three or four lines, a couple of times in two lines (dumb guesses), and I've gone bust only a handful of times.

I don't do the other puzzles. I have DL to catch up on, you know.

My Wordle win percentage is 92. I’m not sure where the bragging rights threshold is but I do feel good about it.

I have just subscribed to NYT games after playing Wordle, etc for a few years. I have always loved crosswords and had gotten away from them for a few years. My favorite is the Sunday crossword. With my subscription I now have access to years and years of Sunday crosswords. My current solve time is 22:34 which frankly means I am doing them too much as many of the clues are same/similar across games and I'm getting too familiar.

Were any of you around a few months ago when the NYT messed with the hints feature on Spelling Bee? People lost their absolute minds. I think there were over 2000 comments before noon that day. The NYT came on, claimed it was an accident (which sounds suspect), and turned off the comments.

I had never played any of them except Wordle, but now you bitches have gotten me into Spelling Bee. How do you use the darn hints?

My Spelling Bee hints:

If you have RAT, you can make RATATAT

COA = COCOA, CACAO and COCA

TENM = TENEMENT and MENTEE

TAR = TART and TARTAR

If there's an A in the grid, check to see if you can add it as a prefix to other words you've found (DRIFT, ADRIFT, etc.)

R19, the hints are twofold. There is a section when you click that will tell you things like how many words start with the first two letters, like at or whatever. The second is a community section where a regular player will post riddle or clue style hints. Happy spelling!

On-line Wordle and Connections daily, played and shared with my bestie by 6:30am. We were quite competitive with our results initially.

Say "pretty please," R19.

Bitches? On second thought, perhaps you're a tad too common for consideration here.

Another good combo of letters:

AFIR = AFAR, AFFAIR, FAIR, RAFFIA, RIFF, RIFFRAFF

Thanks for the help, bitches! I got 'em all (but I had to check the comments for hints, is that cheating?)

I can see this will be all-consuming, but at least it'll keep me off the streets.

Digits, of blessed memory, was my favorite. I enjoy the daily crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. Connections , I could take or leave. I often do Connections, but….meh.

God, I love that I'm not alone in my daily ritual with morning coffee! Wordle then Connections then Letterbox then the Crossword then Spelling Bee. I've started using Spelling Bee Buddy and love it. Sunday crossword is my favorite since it's themed. I also wish there was a weekly Cryptic Crossword, my ultimate favorite of all the games. (I get the Times print edition on Sundays and love when there's a Cryptic Crossword instead of that ubiquitous Accrostics!)

I'm too stupid for Cryptic Crosswords. If I figure out two clues I consider it a success.

Wordle every day. I start with ALIEN, then second with ROUST. After that, I often figure out the puzzle on the third try and usually by the fourth. I start the spelling bee, but, since I refuse to subscribe, I don't get to play that very long.

I used to start Wordle with DREAM, but then that was the word so since then I’ve been at sea.

Spelling Bee: I don’t know how to finish it. I put in all the words I can find, and then—what? How do I tell it I’ve done the best I could?

Wordle and then Connections. I don’t have the patience for the rest. My Wordle score is 99% so I live in fear of missing a word., Connections is more fun because there’s no record of past failures.

I start Wordle with Stare and then go with Doing. Very strong combo.

I agree with you R30 about Spelling Bee. I put in as many words as I can and then just..... leave. It feels very unfinished. I don't do it much for that reason.

I start Wordle with HORNY. Seriously. It’s worked well for me. If that’s a total bust, I go to SAUCE or BLEAK.

I also miss the math game. Why did they get rid of it?

R5 tell us about the time you got to Queen Bee. I’ve often gotten to Genius, but never to Queen. Are there fireworks?

So for Spelling Bee you have to set your own limits I think. Maybe try to go to the hints and figure out as many of those as you can once you have put in all the words you can find on your own, if you want a little more of a challenge. If not it’s still a good little brain exercise.

R27. Do you know how to access the NYTimes Cryptic Crossword on line? I can access the New Yorker Cryptic but can't find the NYTimes Cryptic on line. Thanks.,....

R36, no sorry I don't. If there is a way, I'd love to know it myself!

ElderLez (R34):

Like R5, I reached Queen Bee once but don't recall any recognition beyond posting bragging rights in the Hive that day.

I can usually get to Queen Bee if I use Spelling Bee Buddy, but I guess you could consider that cheating. Anyway, the recognition is exactly like reaching Genius, but it says Queen Bee instead. Also, there's a crown instead of a mortarboard on your past puzzle history.

I hate that game they play where they keep trying to destroy the country.

Thanks, R39. I missed noticing my crown (unless I've forgotten, which is likely).

Trust your ability, don't give in to Spelling Bee Buddy. If I don't achieve Genius, I leave that particular game open to continue the next day, surprising myself then with the new finds thanks to rested eyes.

Thanks R27 and R41

I submitted a comment on yesterday’s puzzle. It took them 24 hours to post it. Why bother? My comments used to go directly up. Now they “review” everything.

I still can't get to Genius on today's Spelling Bee and I refuse to use hints.

Humph.

Yesterday’s was brutal.

Connections isn't always doable for non-American English speakers. Lots of US sports terms, unusual slang terms, etc. Quite often after they've told me the answer I've still never heard that word used that way, yet I've always watched a ton of American TV. I'm not complaining, because it's a US paper and that's fair enough. Just sayin'. Wordle is quite doable: you just have to remember that the word might end in "or" instead of "our" and that there may be "z"s where you least expect them.

R44 - Instead of using the clues in Hints, go to the grid which will show you the number of words there are beginning with two specific letters, e.g. FA = 5, FR =8. Not cheating, really, as you still have to work at coming up with the words unlike with hints that define the words..

Also, rotating the puzzle chart helps, positioning each letter at the top to better focus.

OMG - Connections this morning

I just looked at Connections, ElderLez, and... what the 🦆??

I need more coffee...

Oh wait... never mind. It was actually easy once I adjusted. Got them in four.

So today’s Connections is a rebus?

Well no mistakes yet and I have the yellow line. I need a magnifying glass or stronger glasses.

Fine, got it.

I don't much like word games and puzzles, but like Spelling Bee is enjoyable. I arrived to Queen Bee status a few times early on, but now that I can do it quite quickly, I usually stop at Genius level or just until I enter all the words I already have in mind when it announces the status.

Crossword puzzles I almost like, though they are either too simple or too complicated (usually with some strange bias of the puzzler, like a show tunes sub-theme where I'm completely in the dark - the themes are almost always irksome.) I'm usually through with them before I am through with them, and don't mind missing an odd duck answer or two in the form of the initials of a popular 1950s TV game show host or some non-word answer.

I get to Queen Bee most days, but often I use the Buddy for the last few words—it gives you the first letter and word length.

Great to find fellow enthusiasts!

After I’ve read everything else that interests me, I do Wordl, Connections, Tiles, and Spelling Bee.

I always start on Wordl with a different word every day, totally on impulse. So far, I’ve maintained 96%. I’ve heard of hints on Spelling Bee, but have figured many of them out on my own. Connections can be maddeningly variable; you’re only allowed 4 mistakes, and some of those words are occasionally meaningless to me. Tiles I’ve found a welcome release, with its emphasis on the visual.

And, as you may have guessed, these are now a minor obsession. Fancy that….

I’m liking the new one, Strands, but it’s only challenging if you swear off the hints.

No love for Vertex? Anybody?

I just started “Connections.” It’s tricky, but if you get three groups, you get the fourth by default. Seems kind of lame.

R59, you’re right about getting that fourth row by default. But I still try to guess the connection before I click on submit.

Today's Spelling Bee has a ton of long words and I've found four pangrams so far. You need to score more than 300 to reach Genius, which is wild.

I finally got the fifth panagram, R61, with 63 points still to reach Genius; getting to be time to start playing four letter words.

Anyone playing Strands?

Strands disappeared from my app before I got a chance to play.

They keep tinkering with Strands; the early ones were too easy while the new ones are nearly impossible.

Connections is definitely my favorite - because I'm really good at it. There are some websites where you can play the whole archive at random endlessly.

I’m one word away from Queen Bee, but I’m giving up. 74 out of 75.

^got it!

I failed Wordle today.

^Thanks for the warning, I got it in 5.

The problem with Connections is that you only have to get three of the entries -- then you get the fourth, which is almost always the most difficult and the most interesting. They should find a way to make the puzzle require finding all 4 connections.

I got Wordle in two today!

[quote]The problem with Connections is that you only have to get three of the entries -- then you get the fourth, which is almost always the most difficult and the most interesting.

My mind is weird — I always find the blue and purple entries first (the most difficult ones) and then sweat over the last two.

The only way to fix the problem of not solving all four would be to put in ringers that don't match anything, but that might make the game way beyond challenging.

Today’s crossword is among the toughest I have done. The comments are almost universally negative, but I liked it.