The New York Times ended support for solving its crosswords in Across Lite on August 10, 2021, and stopped providing downloadable .puz files for that platform. The change closed a specific route for getting NYT puzzles into outside software; it did not mean the Times stopped publishing crosswords or that every third-party crossword app stopped working.
What changed on August 10, 2021?
In an announcement reported by 9to5Mac on August 2, 2021, NYT Games editor Everdeen Mason said that, starting August 10, the Times would no longer support crossword play in Across Lite and would no longer provide downloadable .puz files for use there. Mason pointed solvers instead to the Times’ Crossword app and desktop and mobile websites. The stated reason was to streamline editorial processes so editors could focus on editing submitted puzzles. 9to5Mac’s contemporaneous report reproduced the announcement.
What did this mean for third-party crossword apps?
Apps that depended on downloading the Times’ Across Lite files lost that import route. Stand Alone, Inc., the developer of Crosswords apps, says the Times also requested removal of authenticated access to its puzzles from the company’s apps and no longer offered the puzzles in a downloadable format. That account establishes an impact on those apps, not a blanket ruling about every third-party app or every possible puzzle format. Stand Alone’s Crosswords FAQ describes the change from the developer’s perspective.
The distinction matters: this was a change to how the Times distributed and authorized access to its puzzles. The evidence does not show that all third-party crossword software became unusable, or that other publishers’ puzzles disappeared from those apps.
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Where can you play NYT crosswords now?
The 2021 announcement named the Times’ Crossword app and desktop and mobile web as places to play. The current NYT Games subscription help page says many games can be played in a browser or the Games app, and lists The Crossword among games covered by a Games subscription. It also describes an archive of over 10,000 crosswords, including daily puzzles dating back to 1993 and Minis dating back to 2014; the page does not state when that archive figure was published.
For current subscription terms, supported devices, and access details, check the Times’ help page directly, since those details can change.
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What the change did not establish
- It did not mean the New York Times stopped offering crossword puzzles.
- It did not establish that every third-party puzzle app lost all access to NYT puzzles; the documented impact concerns Across Lite files and the specific Crosswords apps described by their developer.
- It did not identify a product or device that restores the discontinued NYT
.puzdistribution route.
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