Lots of fans of The New York Times‘iconic crosswords will soon have to find a new way to play, as the Announced paper it will cease to support the popular Across Lite File format that third parties use to import the daily puzzles into their apps. Crossword puzzle fans are a passionate group, and many of them are a five letter word that starts with U and means not happy.
Upset. That is the word. Crossword puzzle fans are upset that the daily puzzles are so popular their own subscription option for $ 40 a year, will no longer be available in your preferred third-party applications starting August 10th. After years of supporting the import-friendly Across Lite .puz format, which is used by apps like. is used Red sweater Black ink 2, the newspaper switches to its own in-house tools to create new puzzles. The crossword puzzles are still playable on the New York Times Site, the official NOW crossword puzzles App and physically in the newspaper or via a downloaded PDF file, but third-party app players will be out of luck. Not only will there no longer be any new crossword puzzles available, but the extensive archive of older puzzles in .puz format will also be taken offline.
While this may seem like many remaining places to play, fans are used to finding their solution in their own way. The .puz format has been used since the 90s and is what many fans are used to. It’s a sudden change in what has been a comforting routine for .puz followers that they’ve clung to for years. So yeah, # NYTXW solvers are rightly pissed off.
For some, it’s a matter of accessibility. On Twitter in response to Call from app developer Red Sweater for users of his app to let The New York Times know what they think of the change, a solver says they are visually impaired and have trouble getting the official app to work with voice over. Others like Crossword puzzle champion Dan Feyer, believe the move is some kind of money robbery that squeezes out a little more revenue by forcing players to use it NOW Resources.
In response to Feyer’s concerns, Everdeen Mason, The times‘ Recently appointed editor of games, has taken responsibility for the change and issued a declaration via Twitter.
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“Hello. I’m the one who made that call, and I did it for editorial reasons. I’m trying to build something where the editors can actually edit and create games instead of tweaking things for tools we don’t control It takes a lot of time and I am confident that this is the best step for my team. “
Keeping tools up-to-date and under control is an understandable reason to ditch old technology in favor of new things that may not initially be as convenient for all users. At some point, this change could very well lead to a new age of smart and up-to-date games from the world’s most popular crossword puzzler. Or it could all go south and alienate thousands of daily solvers around the world. Stay tuned.
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