Games Like the NYT Crossword for Full-Size Solvers

The NYT Crossword is a full grid, a scheduled difficulty curve from Monday to Saturday, and a Sunday puzzle that stretches to 21 by 21. If you finish it and still want something with real clues and real depth, the Mini won’t scratch it. This list is for solvers who want more than a quick puzzle.

Same publisher, different size

NYT Midi Crossword

The Midi is bigger than the Mini but small enough to finish over a coffee. The longer answers leave room for a theme, and it uses the same clue style as the full puzzle. It is the best companion to the main crossword on a day when you don’t have forty minutes. Midi crossword answers.

Cryptic crosswords

If you’ve solved the NYT crossword for years, cryptics are the real step up. A cryptic clue contains two things: a plain definition of the answer, usually at the start or end, and wordplay that builds the same answer in a less literal way. The skill is finding the seam between them.

Common wordplay types include anagrams, hidden words, reversals, homophones and double definitions, each flagged by an indicator word. A made-up example: in “Pots broken, halt (4)”, “broken” signals an anagram of POTS, and “halt” is the definition. The smooth surface reading of a clue is usually a distraction.

Minute Cryptic

Minute Cryptic gives you one cryptic clue a day, with hints you can take when stuck and a score based on how many you needed. For a first cryptic habit it is hard to beat, because one clue at a time is manageable. Minute Cryptic hints.

Full cryptic grids

Cryptic crosswords originated in the UK, and British newspapers are where most of them live. According to Wikipedia’s overview of cryptic crosswords, The Guardian is known for humor and frequent themes, while The Times comes closest to the strict fairness conventions. In the US they are rarer, though Harper’s Magazine runs a monthly cryptic.

What is free changes, so check each publication’s own site. We don’t cover them, so there are no hint pages here.

Clue puzzles with a twist

Bracket City

Bracket City hides one sentence of fact inside nested bracketed clues. You solve the innermost bracket first, it collapses into its answer, and the clue around it becomes readable. It feels like solving a crossword from the inside out, and it trains the same ability to get a word from a clue. Bracket City hints.

Kakuro

Kakuro is often described as a numerical crossword: the grid looks like one, with clues sitting in black cells. Instead of words you fill digits 1 to 9 so each run adds up to its clue, with no digit repeated inside a run. If you like crossings that confirm each other, this is the math version. The rules are on Wikipedia’s Kakuro article.

A quick way to choose

• You want more of the same, smaller: the Midi.
• You want a real challenge: a cryptic, starting with Minute Cryptic.
• You like the puzzle-inside-a-puzzle feeling: Bracket City.
• You want crossings without words: Kakuro.

Getting better at the NYT Crossword

The day of the week is the best hint you get. Monday clues are straight definitions, Thursday almost always breaks a rule with a gimmick, and Saturday is the hardest of the week despite having no theme. If you are stuck on Thursday, assume the rules are bent before you assume your answer is wrong.

Sweep the Acrosses and then the Downs, filling only what you are certain of. Anchor on the longest answers, which usually carry the theme. Read each clue exactly as written: tense, plurality and part of speech match the answer, a question mark means wordplay, and an abbreviation in the clue means an abbreviated answer.

When a corner won’t open, our crossword answers page gives hints before the answer, and the crossword solver fits letter patterns. If you want the quick version of this puzzle instead, see our guide to games like the NYT Mini Crossword.

Word Game Clues is an independent hint site and is not affiliated with The New York Times or any of the game publishers mentioned here.