Free NYT Games Alternatives — All Eight, Playable Now
Also ours: AnyWordSolver, a word deduction game where clues tell you what is true and you work out the word.
The NYT Games bundle covers eight daily puzzles. Wordle is the famous one, but Connections, Strands, Spelling Bee, the Crossword, the Mini, Sudoku and Letter Boxed all sit behind the same subscription. This page goes through all eight, explains the actual rules of each, and lists a free version you can play right now.
Two things up front. First, we built most of the versions on this page, so treat our own entries with the suspicion they deserve. Every section has a “what you give up” line, and most of them admit the NYT original is better at something. A comparison that ranks the author first on every line is not a comparison, it is an advert.
Second, the NYT versions are not only paywalled. They are edited. A person chooses the word, checks the grid, and throws out clues that are unfair. That is the part a free clone cannot copy, and it is why some of these sections end with “play the original if you can”.
At a glance
| NYT game | Free version here | Also worth playing |
|---|---|---|
| Wordle | FiveGuess Unlimited | Absurdle |
| Connections | LinkFour Game | PuzzGrid |
| Strands | WordPath Game | — |
| Spelling Bee | LetterHive Game | — |
| The Crossword | Daily Crossword | — |
| The Mini | Mini Crossword | — |
| Sudoku | Sudoku | — |
| Letter Boxed | Letter Boxed Solver | — |
Why people look for alternatives
There are three honest reasons, and only one of them is about money.
The paywall. NYT Games is part of a subscription. Wordle itself is free on the NYT site, but the rest of the bundle is not, and the bundle is priced like a newspaper rather than like a game.
The daily gate. One puzzle a day is the point of the format, and it is also the reason people go looking for more. If you finish the crossword at breakfast, you cannot play another one at lunch.
The streak. Once a streak exists, missing a day feels like a loss, and the game stops being a game. Unlimited play removes that pressure entirely, which some people want and others find removes the point.
Wordle
five-letter word, six guesses
How the NYT version works
The NYT version gives you one hidden five-letter word and six guesses. Each guess is scored tile by tile: green means the letter is right and in the right place, yellow means the letter is in the word but in the wrong place, grey means the letter is not in the word at all. There is one puzzle a day, it rolls at midnight local time, and the same word is used for everybody.
The free version here
FiveGuess Unlimited. Same six-guess, five-letter scoring, but the board resets whenever you want instead of once a day. No login, no streak to protect, no reason to wait until tomorrow.
What you give up
You lose the shared daily word. Half the conversation around Wordle is that everyone is stuck on the same answer at the same time, and unlimited play does not reproduce that.
Other free versions worth trying
- Absurdle — The answer changes as you guess, deliberately steering away from your deductions. It usually takes eight or nine guesses and it will make you feel bad at the game.
- Squabble — Real-time Wordle against other players. You lose health on bad guesses and the last player standing wins. The only option here with an actual opponent.
- Duotrigordle — Thirty-two five-letter words at once with 37 guesses shared across every board. Absurd, and much harder than it sounds.
Connections
sixteen words, four groups
How the NYT version works
Sixteen words sit in a grid. You sort them into four groups of four, where each group shares something. Groups are colour-coded by difficulty, from straightforward to genuinely obscure. You get four mistakes before the puzzle ends.
The free version here
LinkFour Game. The same four-groups-of-four puzzle with unlimited boards, so a wrong guess does not end the run. The group categories are ours, not the NYT editor’s.
What you give up
The NYT categories are edited by a person whose job is to find the exact ambiguity that makes a group hard. Ours are generated, and generated categories are usually either too obvious or unfair.
Other free versions worth trying
- PuzzGrid — Thousands of user-submitted grids with a timer. Quality varies wildly, which is half the appeal: some are better than the NYT ones and some are nonsense.
Strands
letter grid plus a spangram
How the NYT version works
A six-by-eight grid of letters hides several themed words, each of which runs in a straight line. There is also one word that spans from one side of the board to the other, called the spangram, which tells you the theme. Finding non-theme words fills a hint meter.
The free version here
WordPath Game. Six-by-eight grid, theme words hidden in straight lines, and the spangram that spans the board. Free, and not locked to one board a day.
What you give up
NYT’s themes are hand-picked and the spangram is usually a satisfying reveal. Ours are generated from the same grid logic, so the theme can feel arbitrary.
We have not found a free alternative for this one that we would actually recommend. If you know of one that works, say so and we will look at it.
Spelling Bee
seven letters, one required
How the NYT version works
Seven letters sit in a honeycomb with one in the centre. Every word you submit must be at least four letters long and must contain the centre letter. Letters can be reused. A word that uses all seven is a pangram and scores extra. There is a rank ladder from Beginner up to Genius.
The free version here
LetterHive Game. Seven letters, centre letter required, four-letter minimum, letters reusable. Free play instead of one hive a day, with the same rank ladder.
What you give up
The NYT dictionary is curated to exclude obscure words that would make the puzzle unfair. Ours runs against a much larger word list, so the total word count per hive is far higher and the ranks are harder to reach.
We have not found a free alternative for this one that we would actually recommend. If you know of one that works, say so and we will look at it.
The Crossword
the daily American-style grid
How the NYT version works
A standard American-style crossword published every day. Difficulty climbs from Monday to Saturday, and the Sunday puzzle is larger with a theme. Clues range from literal to punning, and the whole thing is edited by a person with a reputation to protect.
The free version here
Daily Crossword. A free daily crossword you can play in the browser. Smaller than the NYT grid, and not edited by anyone famous, but it is free and it loads.
What you give up
Constructor quality. A good NYT grid has a theme that pays off, clues that are fair, and no filler. Ours is a smaller grid with simpler clues, and it is not trying to be the Sunday puzzle.
We have not found a free alternative for this one that we would actually recommend. If you know of one that works, say so and we will look at it.
The Mini
the small daily crossword
How the NYT version works
A five-by-five crossword published daily, designed to take under two minutes. Same clue style as the full crossword, far fewer squares, and usually a gentler theme.
The free version here
Mini Crossword. The quick five-by-five format, free and unlimited.
What you give up
The NYT Mini is edited to be solvable in a coffee break by almost anyone. Ours is close in size but the clue difficulty is less carefully tuned.
We have not found a free alternative for this one that we would actually recommend. If you know of one that works, say so and we will look at it.
Sudoku
the number grid
How the NYT version works
A nine-by-nine grid where every row, column and three-by-three box must contain the digits one to nine exactly once. NYT publishes easy, medium and hard grids daily.
The free version here
Sudoku. Standard nine-by-nine sudoku with difficulty levels, plus a solver if you want the next logical step rather than the finished grid.
What you give up
Nothing much. Sudoku is sudoku. The difference is the interface and whether the difficulty labels are honest.
We have not found a free alternative for this one that we would actually recommend. If you know of one that works, say so and we will look at it.
Letter Boxed
twelve letters, one chain
How the NYT version works
Twelve letters are arranged around the edge of a square. You build a chain of words where each word starts with the last letter of the previous one, and between them the words must use every letter on the board. Consecutive letters from the same side are not allowed.
The free version here
Letter Boxed Solver. We do not have a playable Letter Boxed, only a solver: give it the twelve letters and it returns chains that use all of them. Saying that plainly is better than pretending otherwise.
What you give up
Everything except the answer. If you want to play the format rather than solve a board you are stuck on, this is not it.
We have not found a free alternative for this one that we would actually recommend. If you know of one that works, say so and we will look at it.
What the subscription actually buys
The NYT bundle is not only the games. You get the edited daily puzzle, the archive, the stats and streaks, and the crossword constructor reputation that makes the Sunday grid worth the time. None of the free alternatives on this page replicate the archive or the editing.
What they do replace is the daily gate: you can play the format as many times as you like, today, without an account. If the reason you are here is “I want another Connections board right now”, a free version solves that. If the reason is “I want a better crossword”, it does not.
Which one should you start with
If you came for Wordle, start with FiveGuess Unlimited, then try Absurdle once the normal version stops being interesting. If you came for the crossword, ours is smaller and easier than the NYT grid, so treat it as a warm-up rather than a replacement. If you came for Connections, PuzzGrid has far more boards than we do, at wildly varying quality.
If you are here because you are stuck on today’s puzzle rather than looking for a new game, you want a hints page instead. The Wordle hints, Connections hints and Strands hints pages give a nudge without the answer, and the Wordle answer archive covers every past answer by date.
Also published on LinkedIn: the free NYT games alternatives post · the Wordle patterns and statistics post.
Questions people ask
Are these actually free?
Yes. Every version linked on this page plays in a browser with no account. Some show ads, including ours.
Do they have archives?
Ours do not keep a full archive of past puzzles. The Wordle answer archive covers past answers by date, which is a different thing from replaying old boards.
Is this affiliated with the New York Times?
No. AnyWordSolver is independent and not endorsed by or affiliated with The New York Times. Game names belong to their owners and are used here only to describe what each game is.
Why do some sections have no alternatives?
Because we could not find a free version we would actually play. Listing five broken clones to make the page look complete would waste your time.