11.2 billion puzzle plays in one year
NYT Games puzzles were played 11.2 billion times in a single year, illustrating the staggering scale of the Times' gaming audience.
Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
675. Has the New York Times Become a Games Company?
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May 15, 2026
Where this was said
The NYT's Unlikely History With Games: From 'Sinful Waste' to 11.2 Billion Plays
At 30:30 · chapter starts 29:55
The Times' anti-game past is one of the episode's richest ironies. While rival paper the New York World published the first modern crossword in 1913, the Grey Lady published an editorial in 1924 calling crossword mania a 'sinful waste' akin to mahjong set overpricing. Dubner reads the passage aloud with evident pleasure. Then, 18 years later, the paper reversed course entirely: 11 days after the Pearl Harbor attack, Sunday editor Lester Markle wrote to publisher Arthur Sulzberger arguing that the country needed a puzzle to occupy the 'bleak blackout hours.' The NYT crossword launched in February 1942. Hardiman links that founding logic — using games to keep minds engaged during crisis — directly to the present moment, noting the parallel between wartime anxiety and today's geopolitical turbulence. Last year, the Times' puzzles were played 11.2 billion times.
NYT 1924 editorial condemned crossword as 'sinful waste'
In 1924, the New York Times published an editorial calling crossword puzzle mania a 'sinful waste,' a stark contrast to the 11.2 billion plays its puzzles now receive annually.
NYT crossword launched Feb 1942, post-Pearl Harbor
The NYT launched its crossword puzzle in February 1942, 11 days after Pearl Harbor, explicitly to give the public mental engagement during wartime anxiety.
The NYT Crossword Was Born 11 Days After Pearl Harbor
Eleven days after Pearl Harbor, the NYT's Sunday editor wrote a memo arguing for a crossword puzzle to give the public mental engagement during bleak blackout hours. The same logic applies today.
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