Charlotte Shields-Rossi | a&e editor

For those who don’t have a subscription to The New York Times and its full-sized daily crossword, the Mini crossword was a bite-sized offering of the time-honored tradition so many filled out while sipping their morning coffee. But now, it too, has a paywall.

Now if you want to play the Mini you have to pay either $6 per month or $50 annually for a games subscription.

Jordan Cohen, spokesperson for The New York Times, spoke with USA Today about the change.

“We’re at an exciting place where we can continue to experiment with what works best for our subscribers and explore how Games can contribute even more meaningfully to The Times’s essential subscription strategy,” Cohen said.

The New York Times games and puzzles were played more than 8 billion times according to Axios data from 2023. The company’s subscription revenue increased 10% in the third quarter of 2023, and digital products earnings rose 16%.

The New York Times is seemingly trying to appeal to those with a subscription, making their content worth paying for. With more paying customers, the organization will have more money to make the premium games even better and compensate the designers appropriately.

Though it’s frustrating to pay for something that was free for so long, nothing is ever really free. To enjoy the creation of programs like The New York Times games, we have to be willing to pay for the cost of labor, of creation, of the service these developers are providing to us every morning when we play our Mini.

Last month, the company told investors that it had gained 230,000 subscribers during the second quarter of 2025 and with the new development expected to bring their total number from 12 million to 15 million by the end of 2027, according to The Hill.

In that statement, he also reminded those that games such as Wordle, Connections, Strands and Sudoku were all still free.

“Our portfolio features a dynamic mix of free puzzles and subscriber-only offerings, creating opportunities for every kind of solver to engage with us, every day of the week,” Cohen said.

Still this decision sparked outrage among its devoted fans.

“Finding out the nyt Mini crossword is now behind a paywall has done irreparable damage to my spirit,” lolnobutreally wrote on social media platform X.

“I hope whoever decided to put the NYT Mini Crossword behind a paywall has warm pillows for the rest of their life” TylerJRoney wrote on social media platform X.

The decision to put up a paywall comes nine months after The New York Times Tech Guild strike, giving a little more insight into the Aug. 28 decision.

On Nov. 4, The New York Times Tech Guild workers — those who work in NYT technology — went on strike, during election week.

The guild went on strike after being fed up with delayed meetings and what they claimed were unfair labor practices. The union demanded pay equity, job security and anti-discrimination policies.

Strikers even created “strike friendly” versions of popular games such as Wordle and Connections, named “Strike” and “Connections: Strike Edition” respectively. It was only eight days later that the strike ended — before a resolution could be reached.

In a time where news publications are struggling, The New York Times found a way to remain profitable, but they have to adhere to some of their most valued employees and their union rights. By putting a paywall on the Mini they are trying to capitalize on the love people have for the game, while monetizing the work of the developers.

It also gives those already subscribed more of a reason to be satisfied with their purchase, and even justify keep it for longer to keep playing the Mini.

The anger toward the paywall isn’t unfounded, but with the recent strike and decreases in print revenue we can hope the The New York Times will put any increase in revenue toward paying their games employees.

The game developers are now some of the highest paid members of The New York Times, because the games are so profitable, but The New York Times isn’t made of money.

In fact, the company has been heavily relying on games and puzzles recently due to print subscriber losses as well as difficulty with the digital advertising market, according to The Hill.

The new paywall on the Mini can very well be attributed back to The New York Times righting their wrongs regarding the complaints of the guild during the strike.

Their developers should receive a salary they deserve for their games’ popularity and the traffic they bring to the site.

In a time where people are moving away from traditional news sources, The New York Times has been able to stay afloat because of people’s love for their games. The only question is if the anger will subside and the paywall will pay off in the long run.

Charlotte Shields-Rossi can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu