After deleting several attempts at a casual introduction to this newsletter, I had no choice but to unearth the lead. So here it is: As of today, I’m taking over as the main writer of Gameplay. New York Times Games enthusiasts need not fret. The newsletter will continue chugging along with its Brain Ticklers, behind-the-scenes data about our games and links to features from our desk and around The Times. The only real difference is that you have to deal with me every week. And who am I? Believe me, I ask myself the same thing every day. But for the purposes at hand, allow me to introduce myself: My name is Sam Corbin, and I’m a columnist on the Games desk. In addition to writing Wordplay — The Times’s daily crossword column — alongside Deb Amlen and Caitlin Lovinger, I cover language and (lowercase) wordplay. If you are wondering how linguists manage to pick a “word of the year” based on vibes, or why American Sign Language is actually better at punning than English, you can count on me to find out. You can expect forthcoming Gameplay newsletters to contain weekly musings about language trends and the joy of our games, as well as meandering impressions about whatever I happen to be thinking about at the moment. I’m excited! Would you call this a Sam-antic shift? I wasn’t going to, but you can if you like. I’m also looking forward to hearing from all of you. Please don’t hesitate to write to me with your own fascinations about language and wordplay, English or otherwise. I love hearing about them! However, I must ask you not to send me emails only consisting of puns; that’s what my parents are for. (Happy birthday, Mom!)
Connections QuandarySolve today’s Connections puzzle.Here’s the hardest category from Monday, July 1. What connects these four things? See the answer in the P.S.
Wordle Weekly RecapSolve today’s Wordle.Hardest word: BUDDY, from Sunday, June 30 Average guesses: 4.38, with 14.84 percent of players solving in three tries or fewer Easiest word: THIGH, from Wednesday, July 3 Average guesses: 3.89, with 31.22 percent of players solving in three tries or fewer The Wordle answers last week — June 28 to July 4 — were harder than those from the week before. See a full review of last week’s answers in the Wordle Review from last Monday. Brain Tickler 🤔Fill in the blanks to create four English phrases, where all of the words in the blanks are anagrams of one another. See the answer in the P.S.
Today’s HiveSolve today’s Spelling Bee.Overall, the Spelling Bee hives last week — June 28 to July 4 — were harder than those from the week before. Of our subscribers who played last week, 40.18 percent hit Genius at least once. Last week’s hardest puzzle: Wednesday’s pangram was the hardest of the week, with only 38.12 percent of users finding it. Wednesday’s pangram: WARLOCK Letter set: C A K L O R W You can also join us in today’s forum to get hints and talk with other players about Spelling Bee.
Puzzle of the WeekEach week we highlight a special puzzle that we recently published. This week, we’re looking at Ginny Too’s Crossword puzzle from Sunday, June 30. Ms. Too was a member of our most recent fellowship class, and we’re so excited to publish her grid. Sunday puzzles have a larger grid than every other day of the week (21x21 squares as opposed to 15x15), but the average difficulty of them is closer to that of a midweek puzzle. I highly recommend giving this one a shot if you’ve never tried a Sunday before! — Isaac Aronow Save 50 percent on Games. Sale ends soon.Subscribe today for 50 percent off your first year. Enjoy full access to New York Times Games, including all of our word and logic games, plus Wordle, Spelling Bee and Crossword past puzzles.
How are we doing? Thanks for playing! Subscribe to New York Times Games. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up to receive it regularly here. P.S. The answer to the Connections Quandary is that they are all first words in the names of Canadian provinces. The answers to the Brain Tickler are TIED UP, COPY EDIT, TIDE POOL and BALANCED DIET.
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