Customer Reviews

New York Times Crosswords

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It doesn't get much better than this. Not only do you get over 1000 New York Times crosswords, you also get a great interface and a variety of play modes.

For those who haven't tried Times crosswords before, there's a reason they're renowned-- fresh vocabulary and interesting clues. And don't be intimidated by their reputation. The difficulty varies depending on the day of the week and there are plenty of easier Monday and Tuesday puzzles for beginners as they work up to the later days of the week.

Besides a massive set of some of the best crosswords available, you get a great user interface too. The puzzles can be panned and zoomed, allowing you to fit either the entire grid or a small portion of it on the bottom screen. On the top screen, in large print, is the current clue and corresponding letter boxes. There are a number of ways to navigate around the puzzle using touch or button controls, making it easy to hop around. And best of all there's a small box on the touch screen for handwriting recognition (a pop-up keyboard is available too), allowing you to write in your answers with the stylus. The hand-writing recognition could be a little bit quicker, but other than that it functions beautifully.

There are plenty of play options too. You can pick out a crossword from any date among the several year span of puzzles in the game (roughly March 2004 to November 2006), you can play a Monday to Sunday week of randomly selected puzzles, and there are several wireless (not WFC internet) multiplayer options to play head-to-head or cooperatively with friends.

All in all this is a brilliantly executed and deep package of some of the best crossword puzzles on Earth. I consider it a must-have for any crossword fan.

The design of this game is perfect. It has the best handwriting recognition I have ever used. It is rare that I do not have a single recommendation on how to improve a game, but this is one such instance. I never thought doing a crossword electronically could be so intuitive. Even if you have only a passing interest in crosswords, this game is a must buy.

What a perfect translation of the gold standard of Crossword Puzzles.
The New York Times Crossword puzzles are by far the best in the world and this game has over a thousand of them!
I've already taken it on a flight to Japan and it is a wonderful time killer.

The NY Times Crosswords are not easy, but if you are up to a challenge this game is just terrific.

It's a very stylized looking game and the use of the stylus for handwriting works perfectly.
There is also a keyboard for those with handwriting issues that would also come in handy.

I am recommending this game to all my friends and colleagues.

GREAT GAME!

This is a great addition to the DS collection of any crossword lover. True, if you don't enjoy crossword puzzles in the newspaper, you won't like them here either. And the New York Times crossword puzzles are quite a bit harder than what can be found in most newspapers, so be prepared for a challenge. That said, the simple, intuitive interface and easy navigation make this the best electronic crossword puzzle I've come across. Unfortunately, the lack of WiFi is fairly disappointing; it would be nice to work cooperatively with friends around the world in the same way you can work with friend in the same room. And while some people complain that there are only 1000 puzzles, I can't imagine finishing them all any time soon. 4/5 stars (would be 5/5 if it was WiFi capable).

I began playing crossword puzzles when I was interested in a girl at work. Mind you, I didn't play them because I liked them, but rather because she did. Well, as things of this nature go, she walked off with another guy while I was left standing with the puzzles.

Hooray???

It wasn't a total loss as I began to appreciate the complexities and the knowledge one has to possess to complete these crosswords.

In comes The New York Times Crosswords for the DS. This is a great representation of a traditional game that we all know and love. While to some this might seem like overkill of a pretty generic game, the DS handles this in a very bare bones manner--and this is just fine and welcomed in my opinion.

Lets face it, this is a crossword puzzle in digital form. We don't need flashy graphics. While this isn't a powerhouse game, the interface is very classy and easy to navigate; you wont confuse anyone with the menus or in-game controls, which is good because the target audience is probably in the older scale.

As far as controlling the game itself, it is as easy as jotting down a letter on the touch-pad. You can also use a virtual keyboard to fill in your answers, but overall, the easiest way is the touch-pad.

The game isn't for everyone and it isn't totally exciting, but what it lacks in action you gain in knowledge. What I like about crosswords, especially the tougher ones, is the drive to finishing them and in the process learning a few things here and there.

And while the in-game navigation and control are great, I wish they had place more emphasis on the save system. While you can save three different puzzles, you can't save three different ones in any one of the modes of play. While you might stick to one puzzle at a time, for those who like to multitask, this is a bit limiting. It doesn't break the game, but it just ruffles the feathers around an otherwise solid game.

If you are a crossword puzzle fan, this is a great title to stick in your DS.

The DS touch screen is put to great use in NYTIMES Crossword Puzzles, there aren't any really bad points to this game, other than the timing mode can be unforgiving and sometimes you can accidentaly hit the hint button because of its placement other than that though this game delivers on its promise, as others have said the handwriting recognition software adapts to your writing and improves as you play. Terrific skill level adaptability and the need to never erase or scratch out a pen mark make this a must own, I just wish I was faster at these puzzles!

If you're good at crosswords, this is for you. It's difficult (for me) because I'm not very good at crosswords, but I still enjoy it. There are several levels of difficulty and thousands of puzzles to keep you busy for months.

I was really surprised how well this title is put together. It has great presentation, excellent writing recognition, multiple profiles, over 1000 puzzles, and great music. I would recommend this title for any DS Lite owner who is a crosswords lover or is simply interested in getting familiar with them.

The reknowned New York Times is known for it's challenging crossword puzzles, hence Majesco's attempt at bringing the same kind of experience to the dual screens of the DS. Surprisingly, it works very well, with nothing of the challenge being lost in translation from paper to the digital world. New York Times Crosswords features over a thousand crossword puzzles to come straight from the New York Times, and thankfully, Majesco has made a near flawless video game adaptation. Taking advantage of the DS' touch screen and stylus, New York Times Crosswords lets you use either a keyboard to type the letters or the stylus to draw, and surprisingly, the recognition of the touch screen is spot on. Being able to save a puzzle in progress, as well as the game saving your stats for the puzzles you've completed, is a great big plus as well. The only real downside for New York Times Crosswords is the fact that if you don't like crossword puzzles in real life, or keep up with current events, you won't get the maximum kind of enjoyment out of this as one can. Not to mention that once you get through the thousand puzzles contained here, there's no way to download any new puzzles (yet) and there's no Wi-Fi capability either. All that aside, New York Times Crosswords for the DS works surprisingly well, and for DS owners that consider themselves crossword puzzle buffs, this game is definitely worth picking up.

The New York Times Crosswords for the Nintendo DS is a great game for those who like to do crossword puzzles. The difficulty goes from fairly easy to fairly difficuly (at least for those who are only casual crossword puzzle doers). You can choose your difficulty with Monday puzzles being the easiest and Sunday puzzles being the most difficult. The puzzles get progressively harder each day of the week. It's a great game for picking up and playing for just a few minutes and it's also good for longer sessions to complete puzzles. There's a built in hint so if you really get stuck you can ask for a hint and it gives you a letter. Puzzles can be timed or not timed. If your puzzles are timed, you can get a letter grade after you completed the puzzle which is based on the time used to complete the puzzle and the number of hints used. This game is geared more for the older crowd and not really for kids. I've found that it's fun to play the easier puzzles with my daughter sitting next to me and she can help fill in some of the words she may know. Overall, a fun crossword puzzle game with lots of puzzles to complete.