New York Times Crossword Answers, Stats, Observations

Joe Krozel 

XWord Info contains data about NYT puzzles dating back to November, 1993, covering the entire time that Will Shortz has been Puzzle Editor. Have fun exploring and you'll start seeing crosswords in a whole new light. (FAQ)

The Thursday, May 17, 2012 crossword is by Joe Krozel: Across Lite, PDF, solution, blog.

Variety: the May 13 mixup puzzle is by Matt Ginsberg (Across Lite, Solution) or solve the May 6 acrostic online.

About the Database

Puzzles

• Solutions from a calendar
• Enter a date:
• Sunday puzzles by date or title
• Puzzles with circles or shaded squares
• Rebus puzzles (multiple letters or symbols in a single box)
• Puzzles with the fewest and most blocks
• Puzzles with Notepads or other special annotations
• Highest and lowest word count puzzles
• Puzzles with the longest avg. word length
• Unusual symmetry and asymmetry
• Pangrams and puzzles with the fewest letters used
• Scrabble scores: highest daily, lowest daily, highest Sunday, lowest Sunday
• Schrödinger puzzles aka quantum crosswords
• Most wide open grids
• Notable Fifteens and record stacks
• Grids with unchecked squares
• Grids with no short answers
• Grids with repeated answer words
• Non-square or other oddly shaped grids
• Freshness Factor™ Hall of Fame
• Most common grid patterns
• Will Shortz Picks His Favorites

Personal collections

• Grid Art — puzzles that caught my eye
• Puzzles with interesting visual elements
• Nonlinear puzzles

Variety (Second Sunday)

• Acrostics Solve online!
• Cryptic, Diagramless, PandA, etc.
• Variety puzzle FAQ

Other puzzle links

• Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker
• Mobile answers for your smart phone at xwordinfo.com/mobile
• or for older smart phones: xwordinfo.com/m
• Options for pop-up tooltips

Other NYT Crosswords

• Yesterday's Wednesday puzzle was by Kevin Adamick: solution, blog.
• For solvers in other papers: the syndicated Thursday puzzle is by Michael Shteyman: solution, blog.
• Patrick Berry's 2011 special six-part "Cross" word contest puzzles and solutions

Clue and Answer Finder

• The Finder page displays clues for any word, or words that match any pattern

Across Lite and PDF links

• Recent puzzles in Across Lite and PDF
• Across Lite files by constructor
• Across Lite files from a calendar

Words and Letters

• Most popular answer words
• Most popular words by length
• Missing words not found in any puzzles
• All Fifteen-letter words sorted alphabetically
• Even longer words sorted by length
• Random or Recent unique words
• Debut words by year
• Most answers of each length
• Record setting letter counts
• XWord Info Bar Game

Constructors

• Enter a name:
• Most prodigious authors
• Puzzle counts by day of week
• Puzzle counts by year
• Shortz Number and other info
• Highest lifetime Scrabble average
• Value
• 211 Constructor photos
• Debut words by constructor
• Youngest constructors
• Constructors: you can analyze your own puzzles here

Search both Wordplay & XWord Info: