Mini Cross Word The New York Times will no longer be able to play freely from the end of August 2025. The transition to this incident has been upset with some old fans who mentioned that Mini Cross Word has been paid without notification.
Mini Cross Word is a summary version of NYT Cross Word Puzzle. The product, edited by Joel Fagliano, was originally released on August 21, 2014 and arrived with the NYT Crossword app. Mini Cross Word's daily puzzles were always available for free and only subscribed to archives.
NYT pays a mini crossword
Thegamer reported that Mini Cross Word was paid in late August 2025, a few days after the 11th anniversary. The user mentioned the change for the first time on Monday, August 25, and wondered if it was a coincidence. This theory was immediately dismissed by the update of the MINI Crossword's FAQ page, which clearly mentioned that the popular puzzle game can now be used only by payments for paying new York Times.
This movement has made long -term players considering the game of everyday life. Some expressed disappointment, but others responded to anger. Some of the existing New York Times subscribers protested this action to cancel the subscription and share their decisions on social media. However, in this case, it seems limited, and this specific type of push bag does not obtain great traction. Game Rant has tested the web version of the MINI Crossword using the VPN connection to circulate 12 countries and found that the newly introduced payWall is applied worldwide.
New York Times will continue to experiment with Game Pay Wall.
NEW York Times recently confirmed the end of the free play period of Mini Cross Word in a recent statement on hills. The publisher pointed out a wider game portfolio, including a total of 10 titles and most of them remain free. However, the company spokesman said that more new York Times games were not ruled out after Paywall, and the publisher said, “We will continue to experiment with both subscribers and overall business strategies.”
Looking at the larger picture, the strategy seems to be effective. The New York Times added nearly 250,000 new subscribers in the second quarter of 2025 and currently has a total of 118.8 million paid members. Of them, 11.3 million are digital subscribers. Therefore, the salary of the MINI Crossword is increasing the dependence on the company's subscription, which is increasingly common sources of revenue throughout digital media. However, many fans argue that the appeal of puzzles acts as a free entry point for the extensive product of the Times in accessibility.
