The Mini Crossword from The New York Times is no longer free to play as of late August 2025. This turn of events upset some longtime fans, who noted that The Mini Crossword was paywalled with no notice.
The Mini Crossword is an abridged version of the NYT Crossword puzzle. Edited by Joel Fagliano, it was originally launched on August 21, 2014, arriving alongside the NYT Crossword app. The Mini Crossword’s daily puzzles have always been free to play, with only its archive requiring a subscription.
NYT Paywalls The Mini Crossword
Mere days after celebrating its 11th anniversary, The Mini Crossword was paywalled in late August 2025, TheGamer reports. Users first noted the change on Monday, August 25, wondering if it was accidental. That theory was promptly dismissed by an update to The Mini Crossword’s FAQ page, which stated clearly that the popular puzzle game is now available only to The New York Times’ paying subscribers.
The move has unsettled longtime players who considered the bite-sized game part of their daily routine. While some expressed disappointment, others reacted with anger. A few existing New York Times subscribers even canceled their subscriptions in protest of the move and shared their decisions on social media. However, such cases appear limited, with this particular form of pushback thus not gaining significant traction (yet). Game Rant tested the web version of the Mini Crossword using a VPN connection, cycling through a dozen countries, and found that the newly introduced paywall applies globally.
The New York Times Will ‘Continue to Experiment’ With Game Paywalls
The New York Times confirmed the end of The Mini Crossword’s free-to-play period in a recent statement to The Hill. The publisher pointed to its wider portfolio of games, saying it includes ten titles in total, with most of them remaining free. However, a company spokesperson did not rule out the possibility of even more New York Times games ending up behind a paywall, saying the publisher will “continue to experiment with what works best” for both its subscribers and overall business strategy, which is fully focused on driving subscription growth.
Looking at the bigger picture, that strategy appears to have been working. The New York Times reported adding nearly 250,000 new subscribers in the second quarter 2025, and currently has 11.88 million paying members in total. 11.3 million of those are digital subscribers. The paywalling of The Mini Crossword thus underscores the company’s growing reliance on subscriptions, an increasingly common source of revenue across digital media. Yet many fans argue the puzzle’s appeal lay in its accessibility, serving as a free entry point into the Times’ broader offerings.
