It’s 9 p.m. and the competition begins. It could be a homework assignment or a test I am in the middle of preparing for, everything stops. I pull out my phone, open the NYT games app, and wait as the crossword for the day loads in. 29 seconds! And I dive back into whatever I was previously doing. I check my phone an hour later, thinking I have won the mini for the day, and then someone does it in 15 seconds. Despite not being my favorite NYT game, the mini is something I look forward to every day. Especially on Fridays at 9 p.m. when the Saturday’s mini loads in, and Saturday’s mini isn’t so mini, it’s a midi. Rating-wise, I think this game is a 10/10 as it is a great way to compete against friends while learning some interesting words. And that’s the last I open the app for the night.
I wake up, drink some water, and pull out NYT games again. This time, my challenges are the Wordle, Spelling Bee, and the Connections.
Starting with the Connections. The Connections is my favorite game as it requires creativity and most importantly confidence. The game rules are quite simple: there are 16 squares (each with a word), the task being to create groupings of 4, you are also allotted 4 mistakes. If you happen to select 3 of the boxes correct and one wrong, a message pops up, “One Away”. Each of the 4 groupings has a level of difficulty (Green, Yellow, Blue, and Purple, in order from least to most difficult). The groupings can be as simple as Unchanging (Even, Level, Stable, Steady), but can also be as obscure as Royal (Jelly, Family, Flush, We). My friends and I constantly compete with each other in Connections, usually ending with me winning, and my friend Jack losing.
Puzzle #146
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Next up: the Wordle. I would assume everyone has a rough idea of the game, if not, you get 6 words to guess the 5-letter word the game picks. If the word you guess has a green letter, the letter of the word you are trying to guess is exactly there. A yellow one means that the letter exists in the word, but not at the location you guess. I start off with one of two words: Adieu (covers most vowels), and Ocean (vowels and common letters). I usually get a good start, a green and a yellow, or just a yellow, and sometimes, nothing. Since I’ve been playing this game for a while, I average around 3-4 guesses per word. This average however can easily be offset by some luck or the lack of it. My personal best is 2 guesses, which I’ve gotten a couple of times. I’ve also however not been able to guess the word sometimes, “Mummy” for one. Wordle is another great way to compete with your friends while learning to think critically.
Wordle 869 3/6
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Finally; the Spelling Bee. You are given 6 regular letters and one yellow one. The yellow letter must be used in all words, while the other 6 can be used, but doesn’t have to be. Since I don’t subscribe to NYT games, the number of words I can create is limited. I start off by trying to find the pangram (using all given letters in a word). The longer the word is, the more points you earn, and combining the length with a pangram gives you the most points. While the spelling bee is fun, it can sometimes be time-consuming as my range of vocabulary is either limited or my brain takes time to process when puzzles are organized in such a way.
If I am still looking for a challenge sometime during the day, I start the Letter Boxed. This game is my least favorite one. It requires time and thinking extremely creatively. There is a square, with 3 letters on each side. Your goal is to find words that cover all the letters by the end. The challenge is to cover all letters in 5 or 6 words. While putting together a word, you cannot select two letters next to each other on the word from the same side. And each word you create, you must create your next word starting from the last letter of the previous. Each letter can be used any number of times. Worst game.
NYT games are great if you want to build some competition among your friends while also learning something new. Most of the games are also not too time-consuming. Have fun!
Hi Adi,
Although I was never much of an NYT games fan, I started to play Connections with Andy Tang during school and have seen how addicting the games really are. It’s also a plus that they are unblocked on our Chromebooks, allowing us to quickly open a new tab and do the Wordle once we’re done with our work. What I find cool the most about the word games is that they allow us to expand our vocabulary. There have been a few words where I see them on the wordle and look it up, just to notice it while reading later. I like how you use these games to have fun competitions, strengthening your friendships, and building competition. Also, from my perspective staring at the mini for a few minutes, 29 seconds is insane. I really enjoyed reading this post and am inspired to try to get better at the NYT Games and try new games to pass my time.
Hi Adi, this was an enjoyable read. How are you so good at crossword mini? When I do it I can usually come up with 1-2 words and then I am done and usually have to resort to searching things up. Do you think that it is just that to be good at the game, you have to have a deep vocab? Is this someone who beat the game in 15 seconds Jacob and how is he so good? I too am also pretty good at wordle I think and I sometimes get the connections as well. I do not play the spelling bee that much as coming up with random words does not seem that interesting to me but I tried out the square game that you were explaining. At first, when I read your blog it was confusing but when I played it it made sense. I feel like it is not that bad as I did it pretty fast in 5 words because you get to guess with the same letters and there is a vowel almost every time across from you.
Adi, this was a very relatable and enjoyable read as I am an avid New York Times games addict as well. I tell myself it’s an educational experience and I have to play it although I believe it may be becoming an issue because I am not sure the extent of its hold it has on me. The Connections and Wordle are by far my favorites because I find them easiest and in turn most fun. I tend to be very inconsistent with my success in the game because the categories either come straight to me or I just stare at a random jumble of words before spamming all guesses or closing the app. I am astonished you are so skilled at the mini because to be honest I have never scored anywhere near 19 seconds. Is there some sort of prize or recognition you get if one consistently gets first in that? Even if there is I sure will not be finding out for myself lol.