The 12 best crossword apps to play in 2026, ranked by an editor with too much time

I have spent, by my own moderately depressing count, 412 days of the last 14 months opening crossword apps for this website. I have installed 47 of them. I have uninstalled 35 of them. The remaining 12 are below, in order, with the honest reasoning behind each ranking.

A note on methodology: I judged these on three things. First, the puzzle itself — quality of clues, freshness of themes, fairness of difficulty. Second, the app — phone UI, ad load, paywall structure. Third, what I’ll call the morning test: when my alarm goes off and I reach for my phone half-asleep, do I open this app or do I scroll Instagram? An app that fails the morning test, no matter how good its puzzles are, is not, functionally, a crossword app I play.

The list:

1. NYT Games (the gold standard, with caveats)

The pitch: the daily crossword, the Mini, Spelling Bee, Strands, Connections, Wordle, and Tiles, all in one app, with the most polished UI in the category and the deepest archive of any digital puzzle.

What’s great: the puzzle quality is unmatched. The Mini is a 90-second daily ritual that beats coffee for waking your brain up. The full crossword is the gold standard for a reason. The themes on Thursdays and Sundays are reliably brilliant.

What’s not: $50/year if you want full archive access, and the free tier is genuinely stingy. You can play today’s puzzles. You cannot easily go back and play yesterday’s. Our full review covers the paywall politics in more detail.

Stuck on a clue? Our NYT Crossword answers site has every daily puzzle’s solution, verified.

2. CodyCross (the friendliest themed crossword on a phone)

The pitch: a themed crossword from Brazilian developer Fanatee, structured into 200+ themed packs (Egypt, Plant World, Behind the Curtain, etc.), with hidden vertical password words and a hint economy that’s genuinely fair.

What’s great: CodyCross plays better on a phone than the NYT does. The grids are sized for portrait. The clue UI works. The themes are charming. The 2026 update doubled the rate at which you earn hints, which removed the only real friction I had with the app. Our full review here.

What’s not: the clue voice still slips occasionally into translated-from-Portuguese awkwardness. The reward animations are too long.

Stuck on a pack? codycrossanswers.com has every clue in every pack, verified by our editorial team.

3. 7 Little Words (the puzzle that respects your time)

The pitch: seven themed clues, seven words to assemble from letter tiles, four minutes a day. From Blue Ox Family Games, on the App Store since 2011.

What’s great: 7 Little Words is the rarest thing in mobile gaming — a daily app that does not try to keep you. You play it, you finish it, you put your phone down. There are no streaks to anxiety-induce, no leaderboards to compare yourself against, no nag screens. It is, in this respect, almost meditative.

What’s not: the clue difficulty is uneven. Some days are 90 seconds, some days require dictionary work. There’s no easy difficulty filter.

Stuck on the daily? 7little.com covers every daily puzzle.

4. NYT Mini (the best puzzle on your phone, full stop)

Technically inside the NYT Games app, but it deserves its own slot. The Mini is a 5×5 grid that takes 90 seconds on a good day and 4 minutes on a bad one. The clues are small but never lazy. It is the platonic ideal of a daily puzzle.

If you are skeptical of the entire “daily puzzle” phenomenon and want to test your skepticism in 60 seconds, install the NYT Games app and play today’s Mini. If you don’t come back tomorrow, the format wasn’t for you. If you do, welcome.

5. Connections (the puzzle that turned “I guessed too early” into a national pastime)

NYT’s second-most-played puzzle. Sixteen words, four hidden categories, four guesses, no clues. Full review here. The brilliance of Connections is that it punishes the wrong kind of confidence — the obvious-yellow trap that beginners always fall into.

6. Spelling Bee (the puzzle that will eat your weekend)

Seven letters. One required. Find as many words as you can. Get to “Genius” to feel good about yourself. Get to “Queen Bee” to feel slightly unhinged. Spelling Bee is unique in this list because it is the only puzzle here that does not end. There is always one more word. Our strategy guide here.

7. Strands (the word search that finally got the genre right)

The newest NYT Games puzzle, and a genuinely original take on the word search format. A themed grid, a hidden “spangram,” and a meaningful structure that prevents the word-search-of-your-childhood randomness. Our full review.

8. Wallstreet Journal Crossword (the dark horse)

The WSJ daily crossword has, for years, been the puzzle that crossword obsessives quietly rank above the NYT. Larger grid, slightly harder average difficulty, themes that lean clever rather than tricky. The app is mediocre but the puzzle is excellent.

Stuck on the WSJ? wsjcrosswordanswers.com covers every daily puzzle.

9. LA Times Crossword (the consistent quiet excellence)

The LA Times daily is the puzzle people don’t talk about because it doesn’t need defending. Reliable difficulty curve. Friendly Mondays, fair Saturdays, themes that never embarrass themselves. If the NYT Crossword is too intimidating to start with, the LA Times is the warmer on-ramp. latimescrosswordanswers.com for verified daily solutions.

10. Daily Themed Crossword (the friendliest themed daily)

From PlaySimple, this is a free daily themed crossword that fills a specific niche between CodyCross’ packs and the NYT Mini. Each puzzle has a daily theme tied to a category (food, movies, sports). The clues are easier than NYT but harder than CodyCross. dailythemedcrossword.solutions for any clue you’re stuck on.

11. Thomas Joseph Crossword (the underrated daily classic)

King Features’ Thomas Joseph Crossword is a small daily puzzle that runs in newspapers across the U.S. and online via several syndications. Smaller grid than the NYT, gentler difficulty than the WSJ, and themes that have been quietly excellent for decades. thomasjosephcrossword.net covers it daily.

12. Anagram Solver (the cheating tool that’s also strategy)

Cheating? Sometimes. Strategy? Often. anagramsolver.org is the cleanest, fastest anagram solver on the open web — useful when you’re stuck on a 7 Little Words tile group, a Spelling Bee letter set, or any cryptic that’s clearly an anagram and you’re missing one letter.

I include it on the list because part of getting better at puzzles is knowing when to look something up and let your brain learn from the answer. The shame is in not playing tomorrow’s puzzle. There is no shame in unsticking today’s.

The honest summary

If you can only install one of these: NYT Games. The Mini alone is worth the price of admission, and the broader ecosystem (Connections, Spelling Bee, Strands, Wordle, the full Crossword) gives you six puzzles for one subscription.

If you want one phone-first themed crossword: CodyCross, no contest. The free version is generous and the 2026 update is the strongest the app has been in years.

If you want the lowest-friction daily that you’ll actually finish: 7 Little Words. Four minutes, no streak guilt, a quietly perfect product.

If you want a quiet weekend ritual: a Sunday NYT Cryptic with a coffee. Our beginner’s field guide here if you’ve never tried one.

And keep the answer sites bookmarked. We did not build them out of judgment. We built them because, sometimes, the puzzle in front of you needs a hand.