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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

NYT Games vs Crossword Jam

NYT Games 4.8★ · Free to download 75
Winner NYT Games
Crossword Jam 4.9★ · Free + IAP 50

NYT Games is the better choice for those seeking a premium, ad-free puzzle experience, despite its higher cost and recent technical issues, while Crossword Jam is a free alternative plagued by excessive ads and stability problems.

Full reviews: NYT Games · Crossword Jam

NYT Games offers a variety of popular puzzles like Wordle and Crossword, though recent updates have introduced bugs and usability issues for some users. Crossword Jam provides a similar word puzzle experience but is heavily criticized for its overwhelming number of ads and frequent glitches.

Head to head

Features and Content edge: NYT GamesR8R20R23R26
NYT Games NYT Games offers a range of popular puzzles including Crossword, Wordle, Connections, and Spelling Bee, with users appreciating the daily challenge and new additions R8R20R23R32. Some users desire archives for Spelling Bee and more variety in purchased crossword packs R26.
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam focuses on a word search/crossword hybrid game, which many find engaging and good for memory and vocabulary . It also offers offline play, which is a significant advantage for some users .
Ease of Use and Interface tieR10R11R34R40
NYT Games Users have reported recent interface issues, such as dark blue backgrounds making clues unreadable, and changes to clue highlighting R10R11R34. There are also complaints about new confirmation prompts for checking puzzles or revealing letters R40.
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam's interface is generally found to be straightforward for gameplay, but some users find the background pictures confusing, making it hard to see where letters belong .
Reliability and Performance tieR4R13R19R24
NYT Games Recent updates have led to significant reliability issues for NYT Games, including frequent app crashes R24, excessive battery drain R13R19, and puzzles not registering as completed or disappearing R4. Some users also experienced slow performance and lagging R37.
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam users frequently report glitches, including the game shutting down and restarting, forcing them to repeat puzzles . The game also experiences freezing, lagging, and high battery consumption, especially at higher levels .
Price and Value edge: NYT GamesR12R37R53R61
NYT Games NYT Games is free to download but requires a subscription for full access, which some users find expensive for the content offered R12R53. There are also complaints about games being paywalled R37.
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam is free to download and play, but this comes at the cost of an overwhelming number of ads that significantly detract from the user experience R61R64R67R70.
Support and Updates tieR6R9R22R24
NYT Games NYT Games has received mixed feedback on updates and support. While some users report quick fixes for crashing bugs R53, others complain about a lack of support response and updates introducing new problems rather than fixing old ones R9R22R24. The app also no longer supports older devices or OS versions R6.
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam's support is inconsistent; some users praise excellent service and issue resolution , while others report no customer service response and losing game progress after crashes .
Pick NYT Games if

You prioritize a variety of high-quality, ad-free puzzles and are willing to pay for a subscription, even if it means dealing with occasional bugs and interface changes R8R20R32.

Pick Crossword Jam if

You prefer a free word puzzle game and are tolerant of frequent and intrusive advertisements, as well as occasional game glitches and progress loss .

Evidence note: The evidence for Crossword Jam is heavily skewed towards negative feedback regarding ads and technical issues, which is common for free-to-play apps that rely on advertising revenue.

Frequently asked

Are there many ads in Crossword Jam?
Crossword Jam is heavily criticized for its excessive and intrusive advertisements, with users reporting ads appearing after every game, in the middle of puzzles, and even with loud audio despite settings being off R61R64R67R70.
Does NYT Games have a free tier?
NYT Games is free to download, but a subscription is required to access the full range of puzzles and features, with some users finding the subscription price high R12R37R53.
What kind of puzzles are in NYT Games?
NYT Games offers a variety of popular puzzles including the daily Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, and Acrostic puzzles R3R23R26R32.
Are there technical issues with NYT Games?
Recent updates to NYT Games have led to frequent app crashes, excessive battery drain, puzzles not registering as completed, and interface problems like unreadable clues due to poor color contrast R4R10R11R13.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R8] NYT Games 5/5 · US Simply The Best: Daily fun and challenge all in one
  2. [R20] NYT Games 5/5 · US Great: Appreciate that they keep adding new puzzles. It's a morning ritual
  3. [R23] NYT Games 5/5 · US Games: I enjoy the Connections, the Crossword and Wordle with my morning coffee. A great way to start my day
  4. [R26] NYT Games 5/5 · US Spelling Bee archive please: I love you but I need more Spelling Bee
  5. [R10] NYT Games 1/5 · US Unreadable clues: The new dark blue background for the crossword clues on the iPad version makes them extremely hard to read. There’s simply not enough contrast. Please go back to a lighter blue so we can actually read the clues.
  6. [R11] NYT Games 4/5 · US Fix the highlight color, please!: I love the puzzles but recently, the color of the clue highlight has changed to a darker shade of blue that makes it difficult for this vision-impaired player to read. Please change it back to the light blue.
  7. [R34] NYT Games 2/5 · US Poor interface: It seems to work OK, but the clues for the mini and midi are highlighted with in such a way to have black text on a dark blue background. That part of the app is basically unusable.
  8. [R40] NYT Games 1/5 · US Stop asking me if I’m feeling stuck when I select check puzzle during the crossword.: Give me the ability to not have it ask if I’m feeling stuck and just have it check.
  9. [R4] NYT Games 2/5 · US GIANT BUG in Purchased packs: When you reset a crossword puzzle that you’ve already played it no longer shows that that puzzle is unfinished. This makes it significantly harder to tell which puzzles you have not already played. Since I purchased those puzzles, I should have the right to replay them as many times as I want and it should not be difficult to do so. What the heck New York Times?? PLE
  10. [R13] NYT Games 1/5 · US Battery drain: Current version of the app is terrible. It completely drains my year-old iPad mini battery within an hour of use. Never had this problem before. It affects both my older pad running ios18 and the newer one on ios26. Please fix this!
  11. [R19] NYT Games 1/5 · US Very high battery usage: This app has always used a lot of battery on my iPhone 13, but with the latest update, it has become an absolute hog. Spending a 30 minutes in a puzzle drains 20% of my battery and it makes my phone get HOT! There must be a lot of background activity or the app is poorly optimized, because my battery health is still decent. A crossword puzzle is simple, low refresh rate, n
  12. [R24] NYT Games 3/5 · US Updates are awful: What have they done to the app? It crashes regularly, you can’t ‘x’ out a crossword, it forces you to quit the app, and the last update that I hoped would fix all of the introduced bugs deleted your average crossword times. I understand wanting to force people to play more crosswords, but you’ve made it unusable in the process.
  13. [R12] NYT Games 3/5 · US Love it but $$$: I love these games and would pay a buck or two a month for the rest. That subscription price is beyond insane for what amounts to a pile of flash games from the 2000s.
  14. [R37] NYT Games 2/5 · US shame: App runs slower than my grandma. NYT keeps paywalling games so only half are available.
  15. [R53] NYT Games 4/5 · US Really good app: The previously reported crashing bug has been fixed. This is a really good app for folks who love puzzles. Subscription fee is a bit high, but otherwise no complaints.
  16. [R61] Crossword Jam 2/5 · US Fun but now ads ruin it: I have always enjoyed this game but recently I spend more times with ads than actually playing the game. Understand developer needs revenue but unfortunately this is too much for me.
  17. [R6] NYT Games 3/5 · US Very annoying that App is no longer supported on older devices: NYT should not be forcing paying customers to buy new devices and render older devices that are otherwise perfectly ok obsolete to the point of becoming landfill
  18. [R9] NYT Games 3/5 · US Lost high score and streak: Because there was an issue with crossword, but they made me reinstall before posting a fix. I lost my wordle streak and higher score. Thanks for taking care of subscribers.
  19. [R22] NYT Games 2/5 · US New version broken/fixed/broken again: The crosswords are gone! I spent half an hour with the chat AI, tried uninstall, etc, nothing works. AI says it will escalate to an agent, but I wait….. When I reinstall, the crosswords are there with all games but when I log in, they are gone. Update, an hour later: After shutting the iPad down for the third time, the crosswords are back. I never did get an
  20. [R64] Crossword Jam 1/5 · US Too many advertising: Can’t play game, too many advertising
  21. [R67] Crossword Jam 2/5 · US ADS ADS ADS: I can’t take it anymore. I’m in the middle of a puzzle and an ad just pops up. Really fun game and I have many coins I hate to lose but I am deleting this app.
  22. [R70] Crossword Jam 2/5 · US So Many Ads!!: Fun game but there are too many ads for it to be enjoyable. A lot of the ads open a browser window and put trackers on your phone. (Candy Crush & Monopoly Go ads are the worst!)
  23. [R3] NYT Games 3/5 · US The Acrostic puzzle needs to be online again: We miss it!
  24. [R32] NYT Games 5/5 · US One of the best parts of my day: My favorite app. From Wordle to Connections to the Crossword- I rarely miss a day. Keeps my brain sharp and a great antidote to mindless scrolling

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store