If you're looking for something fun to stimulate your mind and expand your cultural knowledge, you can't do better than a crossword puzzle. When they first gained popularity during the 1920's, they were dismissed by many cultural critics as a passing fad. But unlike flagpole-sitting, dance marathons, flapper style, and the Charleston, the crossword puzzle has endured a consistent, daily presence in any respectable print newspaper still today. What's more, you'll find hundreds of crossword puzzles outside of the traditional newspapers in the form of digital and physical puzzle books, so you can always fulfill your need for more puzzles.
The shift to new media over the past 30 years has only broadened the crossword puzzle's appeal. It's neater, for one—no more crossouts or smudged erasing when you've made a mistake, and readers no longer have to wait a whole day to check their answers. Most online puzzles come with tools that check your work automatically or manually, depending on your preference. And, this customizable difficulty has created an access point by which new, young players can ease themselves into this fun, maddening hobby.
The gold standard, of course, is The New York Times. But unfortunately, the Times requires a subscription in order to play its daily crossword; (not to be confused with Wordle). If you want fresh, daily crosswords ongoing and are willing to pay, a Games subscription is $6 dollars a month and is a separate subscription from the rest of The New York Times. Or, if you're looking for several puzzles to complete at once from NYT, you can buy a book of The New York Times crossword puzzles on sites like Amazon, too. Fortunately, the Times doesn't have the only high-quality puzzle out there. There's lots of top-tier crossword puzzles that are free—that cost nothing but time, patience, and sanity.
Do you want to have some word-based fun but don't want to open your wallet? Here are the 10 best crosswords that you can solve for free online now.
The LA Times: Daily Crossword
The LA Times has a daily crossword you can enjoy for free, plus a backlog of the prior two weeks' puzzles, plus an option to share and play with a friend. The current editor, Patti Varol, is a little under two years into her tenure, and also serves as the Executive Editor for Puzzle Nation.
Tea Time Crossword
The publications under the Tribune Publishing umbrella, such as the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, carry the Tea Time Crossword, which retains a full year-and-a-half backlog of prior puzzles. Several British publications, such as the Daily Express and the Mirror, publish Tea Time too.
Merriam-Webster: Missing Letter Crossword
Of course the dictionary website has a crossword Created by Matt Gaffney. The "Missing Letter" crossword runs every Monday and has a really cool gimmick: You get 25 clues, many of them taken directly from Merriam-Webster's dictionary, but there's a catch—each of the words begins with a different letter of the alphabet. The one letter that isn't used is the "the missing letter." This new format just started in July 2023, and all 15 puzzles are currently available to solve.
The Atlantic: Daily Crossword
Always fair and always accurate, The Atlantic's daily puzzle is ordered by difficulty. The easiest puzzle publishes on Monday, and the most difficult puzzle publishes on Sunday, always at midnight. The backlog stretches about a week-and-a-half. The current editor, Caleb Madison, is in the sixth year of his tenure, and previously worked as a puzzle constructor for the New York Times.
Vox Crossword
Edited by Elizabeth Crane since 2022, the Vox Crossword is pop-culture driven, and it runs every day of the week except Sunday. Its archive goes all the way back to 2019 when Vox first started publishing puzzles, so you have plenty to catch up on.
AARP: The Daily Crossword
The AARP crossword is a low-stress, 'what you see is what you get' sort of deal. No theatrical cleverness or puns—just large, expansive puzzles of average to medium difficulty. The archive goes back for a month from the current date.
Sheffer Crossword
Eugene Sheffer was a legendary crossword maker who taught French at Columbia University and served as director of the Maison Française. He passed away in 1981, but the King Feature Syndicate crossword still bears his name. You can find this crossword on The Washington Post in its Games section.
The New York Crossword (Weekly Crossword)
New York Magazine's weekly crossword emphasizes current events and trends, and has a deep backlog to keep the most devoted puzzle solver occupied. New York's online news vertical, Vulture, also offers a Daily Crossword Puzzle called Vulture 10x10, available Monday through Friday. Hence the name, this crossword gives you a fun 10x10 mini-crossword to whet your appetite. And then on Sunday, you can get a full-sized puzzle as a main course.
Note: Vulture 10x10 crosswords have an article reading limit for non-subscribers, so keep this in mind. If you end up getting hooked on this specific crossword, New York does offer a digital monthly subscription for $1 for the first 6 weeks, in which you can cancel at anytime.
Morning Brew
A business news site that covers finance and tech, Morning Brew employs one person, Mary Tobler, as its puzzle creator. And you can tell—her layouts have a sort of idiosyncratic charm, and she publishes not only 15x15 crosswords, but also themed minis on a weekly basis.
Honorable Mention:
Bewilderingly
This is the personal website/blog for Will Nediger, a well-known puzzle constructor who's had his work published in the New York Times (47 puzzles total as of this past May), the LA Times, and the New Yorker. He infrequently posts freelance puzzles on his personal Blogger site; up to a few times a month, so it's not a reliable fix. But he's consistently clever, thoughtful, and on point whenever he creates something new.
If you're wanting more crosswords in your life and you're willing to pay a little, there are of course several books and subscriptions out there. However, even if you enjoy old-school newspaper crosswords and crossword puzzle books now, or you've gone digital and swear by your favorite paid magazine or newspaper subscription with its own daily crossword, we hope this list still helped you find something new to try, and for free.
Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in games, LEGO and emerging tech. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.
