The Crossword

The Crossword is The New York Times’ daily full-size crossword. You fill an interlocking grid with answers to Across and Down clues; the difficulty rises from Monday through Saturday, while the larger Sunday puzzle is around midweek difficulty. It is the longer, subscription-based crossword in the NYT Games lineup.

1. Open the daily puzzle and choose an Across or Down clue.
2. Enter letters into the white squares so each answer fits its clue and crosses consistently with the other answers.
3. Use the clue list, crossings and optional tools such as Check or Reveal; finish the full grid to complete the puzzle.

Choose The Crossword if you want a substantial daily word puzzle with escalating weekday difficulty, explicit tools for learning and a long-term streak and archive system. It rewards clue interpretation, checking crossings and gradually building a deeper solving habit.

A correct completion plays music and shows a congratulatory message. If every square is filled but no message appears, at least one square is wrong. The game can mark checked letters blue; it also records blue stars for completed puzzles that do not qualify for a streak and gold stars for qualifying consecutive solves.

Daily Crossword

A new full-size crossword is published daily, with difficulty increasing from Monday through Saturday and a larger Sunday puzzle.

Crossword Archive

Games and All Access subscribers can access, download and play past crossword puzzles from the archive.

Pen and pencil

A pencil control switches entries between the default black pen mode and gray pencil mode.

• Begin with Monday puzzles if you are learning: NYT identifies them as the week’s easiest puzzles.
• Start with clues you know immediately, then use the crossing entries to test uncertain answers.
• Use Check or Reveal deliberately: NYT notes that either tool resets the qualifying crossword streak.