The New York Times has created games that have captivated millions of people, and they have become part of their daily routines, but that’s all changing. They made the decision to make the mini crossword, letter boxed, and tiles only available for subscribers. Taking away these games has made them significantly less accessible and has angered their long-time users.
Specifically, the mini crossword, which has been offered for years as an unpaid bite-sized version of the normal New 
York Times crossword. But on August 26th, when daily users logged in to play the mini crossword, they were instead met with a paywall. They needed to now pay a subscription in order to play. For $6 a month or $50 dollar per year the game that has become a staple in their daily life can be played again. Let’s take a glimpse into what people are saying about this change.
In a USA Today article they found comments from the social media platforms that were quick to respond. In response to the new paywall comments on TikTok videos about the situation read, “Why must happiness require a fee,” @maeve.agn and “I’m actually in such a rage over this,” TikTok user @ssophieice said. “Screw New York Times, screw capitalism, I’m done.”
As a result, the New York Times issued a statement from Jorden Cohn explaining, “Our portfolio features a dynamic mix of free puzzles and subscriber-only offerings, creating opportunities for every kind of solver to engage with us, every day of the week,” Cohen said. He also explained that although the mini crossword, letter boxed, and tiles were now subscriber only games, including Wordle, Connections, Strands and Sudoku, are still “free to play for all.”
While that may be the case the switch of 3 games to subscriber only leaves the daily Wordle and Connections players wondering if their favorite game going to be switched to subscriber only next.
