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Article in App of the Week category.
NYT Crossword Is Popular for a Reason
The New York Times is a legendary institution — not just for news, but for its crossword puzzle. People take plenty of pride in tackling…
The New York Times is a legendary institution — not just for news, but for its crossword puzzle. People take plenty of pride in tackling the daily word and trivia riddle, testing their knowledge of obscure facts as well as their expansive lexicon. I’d have happily recommended the app any time in the past but it has gotten even better as of late with the addition of the ever-popular Wordle.
Wordle was an independently owned and operated puzzle that was available solely online. Part of the charm was that it wasn’t available, officially, on any App Store and was delightfully low tech. As the game’s popularity took off, The New York Times stepped in and took ownership, bringing it into the fold with its other daily puzzles such as the crossword, Spelling Bee, and The Mini.
The app is super easy to use with no ads, no news, and just simple, fun games. These games are well-designed for mobile and take advantage of the touch interface to make them feel at home, more so than the browser.
The New York Times has built in bonus features too, such as adding friends with an ongoing leaderboard to track your progress. You can see how long it to complete a puzzle, how many puzzles you solved overall, and more. There are themed puzzle packs to download if you need more games to tackle.
There are some, though not a ton, native features built into this app. You can use the systemwide dark or light mode. It can also sync your content via iCloud so any device you use, your progress will follow. Some mobile games seem like they’re designed with monetization first and their only goal is to see how long they can keep you playing — and paying — for their poorlyconceived game. The New York Times has a long history of elevating these common puzzles and focusing on that first, and generating income from them second. While there are in-app purchases, there is still plenty of free content to explore and I’m more than happy to use the app, versus their website.
But enough about other people's apps.
