|
April 5, 2026 
|
|
|
Today’s puzzle was constructed by Samuel A. Donaldson, his 41st for The New York Times. In his constructor notes, he wrote: “You know how some composers confess that their most popular songs were written in 10 minutes? That the words and melodies came to them so naturally it felt like divine inspiration? I’ve been lucky to have that happen a couple of times when constructing crosswords. When the puzzle’s theme just falls into place — a complete, tight set of interesting entries of symmetrical lengths — it feels like magic. This puzzle felt like the opposite of that experience.” Read more about how he made this puzzle in the Wordplay column.
Puzzles You May Have Missed
We had a few April Fools’ Day puzzles that featured special tricks. Here are three favorites and some other great puzzles from this past week.
Crossplay Tip
If the game is close and almost over, try leaving six or seven tiles in the bag: In most positions, the ability for either player to play a word containing one to five letters is doable, but six or seven is harder. Therefore, if you make sure to leave six or seven tiles in the bag, it is much more likely that you can be the person to empty the bag, netting an extra turn if you went first, or guaranteeing the same number of total turns if you went second.
Connections Quandary
Here’s the hardest category from Saturday, March 28. What connects these four things? See the answer in the P.S.
Strands
Last week’s hardest Strands puzzle was FOR A RAINY DAY, from Monday, March 30 — 82.62 percent of solvers were able to complete it.
Last week’s easiest Strands puzzle was JUST WRITE, from Saturday, March 28 — 91.94 percent of solvers were able to complete it.
Strands puzzles last week — from March 27 to April 2 — were much easier than those from the week before.
Wordle Weekly Recap
Hardest word: FIZZY, from Wednesday, April 1.
Average guesses: 4.88, with 7.91 percent of players solving in three or fewer.
Easiest word: CHUMP, from Sunday, March 29.
Average guesses: 3.97, with 27.77 percent of players solving in three or fewer.
The Wordle answers last week — from March 27 to April 2 — were slightly easier than those from the week before.
Spelling Bee Hive
Overall, the Spelling Bee hives last week — from March 27 to April 2 — were significantly easier than those from the week before. Of our subscribers who played last week, 37.89 percent hit Genius at least once.
Last week’s hardest puzzle: Sunday, March 29, had the hardest pangram, with only 25.11 percent of users finding it.
Sunday’s pangram: ANABOLIC
Letter set: B A C I L N O
Relax With Us
Here’s a $20 word for a completely free way to relax: ferroequinology, or, as most of us would call it, “watching the train.” After seven years of living in Chicago, a city renowned for its elevated railways, I’ve found there’s nothing more relaxing than finding a patio bar with a view of the tracks, ordering a beer and watching the trains roll by. Those who share this passion are more familiarly known as railfans in the U.S., trainspotters in Britain and, naturally, gunzels in Australia. But I like ferroequinologist. What other word contains the Latin roots for “iron horse”? That’s the coolest way to describe a train I can think of.
How are we doing?
We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to crosswordeditors@nytimes.com.
Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you like this newsletter, you can tell your friends to sign up here.
P.S. The answer to the Connections Quandary is that they are all words that come before “plant.”
|
If you received this newsletter from someone else, subscribe here. Need help? Review our |
