Reviews for NYT Games: Wordle & Crossword

The games were fun, until they got removed or restricted one by one. The addition of ads and removal of access to more and more parts of the app for free version players is a clear money grab, and just flat out disappointing. I understand that the app is for profit, and I accept that. I was fine with the ads for this reason. But removing key parts of the app AND still having ads just means free version users are now getting an app that shows them commercials and does basically nothing else.

games were fun but recent update broke the app. ever since a few days after they added the Pips domino game, my NYT Games app refuses to open. it just sits on a yellow loading screen indefinitely. I have updated it through the play store at least twice since then and it still doesn't work. which sucks because I paid for a year's subscription & haven't been able to get my money's worth for about a month now. IT IS UPDATED TO LATEST VERSION, IT WON'T OPEN ENOUGH TO REPORT A BUG.

The puzzles themselves are fun, but the app simply will not open most of the time I try. I try restarting my device, clearing caches, none of it works for long. It's just straight back to the yellow screen of death. For a product put out by one of the largest news orgs in the states that they believe is worth charging a monthly subscription for, it's extremely embarrassing.

Ever since the latest game (Pips) was added, the app will not open reliably. Sometimes I can get it to work if I search for it in the play store and click to open it from there, but not always. Clicking the shortcut on my home screen no longer works at all -- the app hangs up and then I get a prompt to either close it or wait. It's very disappointing. Pips isn't even an enjoyable game. Please fix the app.

Pips games are not displaying completely when the puzzle is larger than normal or has more than 4 rows of dominoes. Changing the font on my phone to the smallest display possible did not change the puzzle. Today's hard level puzzle (9/29) had the 1st row of dominoes covering the bottom row conditions. Please review and fix!! I have a Samsung Galaxy phone.

Used to enjoy the app, but now it's paywalled. What's funny is that I used to pay for a subscription when it was a more "optional" thing. But now that you need to pay just to pay the crossword at all, and to pay more than 4-6 words in spelling bee, I'm uninstalling the app. The app may be "free with in-app purchases" but it is functionally a paid/subscription-only app now.

You need to fix the loading. There is no excuse for this. And if I get an automatic message telling me to update to the newest version, I will call or message until I get my year's worth of money back. I even uninstalled and paid for more because I love doing the puzzles with my elderly dad. It's ridiculous, and almost reprehensible, that you claim to be in the top 5 puzzle/word game apps but no one can play without restarting several times.

WAY too expensive. My initial impression was good, but noticed quickly that most everything was locked behind a paywall. I liked what I could access (not much) but was shocked to discover that NYT thinks this is worth $6 a month ($10/month next year? we all know prices always rise). Don't download this, save your time/money and look elsewhere. FYI - I would have considered maybe $1/month or a one time fee < $10.

I used to enjoy this app a lot more. But soon after they added Pips, they locked the mini crossword puzzle to free users. My wife and I would use it as a time to bond and keep our minds a bit sharper with it and the other games we played. But now, Tiles, a game my kids enjoyed playing is locked. So is letter boxed. So now all we can play enjoyable is Wordle, Strands, and Connections. If they keep locking games so that only subscribers can play, I will be leaving this app.

I enjoy the games, but they are slowly putting everything behind a paywall. The addition of the leaderboard for friends is great but they definitely didn't think it through completely. It only tracks 4 of the games, and one is now fully blocked by the subscription, and the other only allows you to partially play before requiring you to subscribe to finish.

New subscriber here! I really enjoy the Spelling Bee game, specifically, and it is the only game I play in the app. Unfortunately, I've only been subscribed for less than 24 hours, and I have already experienced corruption on my save for today's puzzle, and my work disappearing completely. Also, ANOTHER puzzle is just gone. I shared a screenshot of my work with another player, and they questioned the puzzles whereabouts, but now neither of us can locate it, but I have screenshot evidence? 0/10.

The puzzles are enjoyable but the problem is the timing of the mini crossword puzzle. All too often it is locked and showing it's for the next day even though we've not played the current day's puzzle. Initially we thought maybe it was tied to a specific time of day that it would update independent of the actual day, but that theory has been proven wrong as some days it stays on the current day's puzzle until late in the evening and other days it has already changed by noon.

This was a daily habit for me for a long time. Wake up, play wordle, the Mini crossword, and play Letter Boxed. As of this week both the Mini crossword and Letter Boxed are suddenly paywalled. This is a terrible move. The ads were reasonable, but I'm not paying a subscription for three games I play for five minutes total.

There were 9 daily games to play for free. The big crossword has always been locked and that's fine with me. Prior days' games were locked too. Also ok with me. But suddenly I can hardly play anything, even after they added ads. Maybe it's a glitch? I'll wait a few days to see if there's an update and then delete if it doesn't get resolved. Who has money these days to be throwing away on games?

The games are fun, however, it has been a slow decline as they've reduced how much you can play the Spelling Bee without paying (often times I can only get one or two words before being cut off), and now they've started removing the Mini crossword from free access for some users (my wife can play it but I cannot). The free features are slowly being removed with no communication, breaking the trust that I'll still be able to enjoy the other free games.

Paying to play ruins this. especially the price. $50 a year is insanity. I'd consider it if it was the introductory price always... but even then that's scummy. There are so many free options out there that paying for this isn't worth it. To make matters worse, my free games aren't always the same as my friend's free games for the day, so our leader boards dont always line up. The free games are fun, and I'd give this a 5 star easily if you didn't have to subscribe to access everything.

The games themselves I love. I'd felt like the daily play of most games that you got for free was decent, & there were no ads. That's all changing. Ads have been added (not bad, yet), & more games have been locked behind the paywall. Given that the paywall is not a one-time purchase but a subscription, that feels rotten. I would've liked to hear from them that the previous model wasn't sufficiently funding the app, as otherwise this feels like a cash grab, & I expect better from the NYT.

I don't get why the app doesn't work when you have wifi and poor cell reception. I started a crossword at home when I was on Wifi, but only completed half of it by the time I had to leave for work. then when on the commute waiting for a bus, I had no wifi and 0 bars of cell signal. when I opened the app, and tried to click on the crossword that was half done, it doesn't do anything, it doesn't open the puzzle not even gives an error message, it just sits there ignoring the click.

Gameplay is a solid 5-star. But the recent update, although it included a new game, moved 3 more games behind a pay wall. I really enjoyed Tiles and Letter Boxed. The subscription rate is deceptively low under the "sale" but jumps to $50/year or $6/month after that. I'm sorry, but that's just too much for the ability to play simple games. Putting more and more behind a paywall doesn't make me want to subscribe, it makes me want to uninstall and find something else to play.

The app often fails to launch, hanging on a yellow screen. I have to force quit repeatedly, sometimes for over 10 minutes, until it randomly decides to launch. I have uninstalled/reinstalled, cleared caches, logged in and out, and more. The difficulty menu for the new Pips game is likewise tiny and coincides roughly with when the problems started. The app just does not like to work at all. Would be ranked higher if I could actually use it consistently. Hard pass on paying for anything as-is.