Puzzazz Statement on
New York Times Crosswords

We know a lot of you rely on Puzzazz to solve the NYT crossword, and that you love how we faithfully present the newspaper version of the puzzle every day, something even the NYT's own app doesn't do.

Unfortunately, the New York Times has removed the ability for Puzzazz to download the puzzles in your subscription. While they have framed this as no longer supporting the Across Lite program, they have removed the ability for any app to download any .puz files, which affects all non-Times apps.

The Times has said they're doing this to save the editorial team the time necessary to create the .puz files for each day. We've reached out to the Times and made it clear that we don't need a .puz file, or an ipuz file. We can take (and are happy to take!) the puzzle in absolutely any format they already have available.

For years, we have been proud to support the NYT crossword in Puzzazz, as the only app on any platform to deliver the print edition of the puzzle, as it was produced by Will Shortz and the Times editorial team. The recent Sunday crossword from August 8th is a perfect example of this. It's a wonderful puzzle which isn't presented properly in the Times' own app, where the grid is misnumbered, there are extraneous clues, other clues look wrong, and highlighting is done in a way that will be confusing to solvers.

We have never received any revenue from doing this — in fact, it costs us money every year. The Times, not Puzzazz, made money from every subscriber who solved in Puzzazz. We did it because we knew years ago that solvers switching to digital was inevitable (and we were clearly right), we believe that the best crossword should be available in the best app, we felt that solvers deserved to get the puzzle as intended by the editors, and that "a rising tide floats all boats."

We'd love to continue supporting the NYT Crossword, but it's currently out of our hands.

If you would like to continue solving the NYT Crossword in the best app, we encourage you to contact the New York Times with your thoughts. It appears the appropriate email address is NYTCrossword@nytimes.com. We'd love it if you cc'd us at puzzazz@puzzazz.com on any emails (you can click here to email the NYT with a cc to us).

The general phone number for the Times is 800-591-9233; you may also find their general Contact Us page useful. On Facebook, you can post on their official Facebook page. On Twitter, appropriate accounts include @nytimes and @NYTimesGames; we recommend you use the hashtag #NYTXW.

Of course, whether you email or post (or snail mail!), please be respectful and don't spam them. We'd appreciate it if you tag @Puzzazz on Twitter or Facebook.

Thanks

Roy Leban and the Puzzazz Team

What NYT puzzles can we still solve?

You can still solve any puzzles that have already been automatically downloaded by the Puzzazz app (about two months worth). You can also solve any puzzle that you previously downloaded from the NYT Crossword Archives and saved somewhere. If you already opened the puzzle in Puzzazz, it will be available in the Puzzle Downloads book until you remove it. If you saved a puzzle elsewhere just open the .puz file in Puzzazz from wherever you saved it. For example, if you saved the file to your iCloud Drive, open it from Files on your iPad or iPhone. NYT puzzles published after January 1, 2013 have been processed so that Puzzazz will match the print edition of the puzzle. Puzzles published before then have not been processed, but features like cross-referenced clues will still work properly in Puzzazz.

What puzzles can I solve instead of the NYT Crossword?

We're putting together a list of other puzzles you can solve in Puzzazz to get your daily crossword fix in your favorite app.