The NYT Crossword gets harder from Monday to Saturday. Monday is the easiest and Saturday is the hardest, and the larger Sunday puzzle is meant to feel like a Wednesday or Thursday. The table further down adds numbers we counted ourselves from 376 daily puzzles on our clue pages.
Difficulty by day of the week
Monday
Monday puzzles are the easiest of the week, so the clue is likely a plain definition.
Tuesday
Tuesday puzzles are a step up from Monday but still mostly straightforward.
Wednesday
Wednesday sits mid-week in difficulty, with more wordplay than Monday or Tuesday.
Thursday
Thursday puzzles often have a trick, such as a rebus (several letters in one square) or answers that bend the rules.
Friday
Friday puzzles are themeless and hard, with clues that are vague on purpose.
Saturday
Saturday puzzles are the hardest of the week and themeless, so clues are often deliberately misleading.
Sunday
Sunday puzzles are large (21 by 21) and themed, about as hard as a Wednesday or Thursday.
The weekday pattern follows Wikipedia's article on the NYT crossword: puzzles are designed to get harder through the week, Friday and Saturday are usually themeless, and Sunday is typically a Wednesday or Thursday in difficulty. What we say about Thursday tricks is what solvers commonly report, not an official rule.
What our data shows
| Day | Puzzles counted | Grid (most common) | Clues per puzzle | Average answer length | Answers of 4 letters or fewer | Answers of 8+ letters | Clues ending in ? | Abbreviation clues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 54 | 15 by 15 | 77 | 4.86 | 55.6% | 9.3% | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| Tuesday | 53 | 15 by 15 | 76 | 4.96 | 53.4% | 9.7% | 2.3% | 1.8% |
| Wednesday | 53 | 15 by 15 | 77 | 4.94 | 54% | 10% | 4.4% | 2.2% |
| Thursday | 54 | 15 by 15 | 76 | 4.96 | 52% | 10.1% | 5.1% | 1.7% |
| Friday | 54 | 15 by 15 | 70 | 5.55 | 45.4% | 19.1% | 7.1% | 1.7% |
| Saturday | 54 | 15 by 15 | 68 | 5.73 | 39.8% | 21.4% | 6.7% | 1.8% |
| Sunday | 54 | 21 by 21 | 139 | 5.27 | 46.2% | 11.8% | 5.2% | 1.8% |
Counted from the NYT Crossword puzzles on our clue pages. "Abbreviation clues" are marked "Abbr.", "for short" or "briefly." A question mark flags wordplay, and Friday puzzles have the highest share of them at 7.1%. The longest answers on average are in Saturday puzzles (5.73 letters), and the shortest are in Monday puzzles (4.86). These are counts of clue wording and answer length, not a measure of how long a puzzle takes. We have no solve-time data.
How to use this
- On a Monday or Tuesday, expect plain definitions. Fill in what you are sure of and use it as crossings.
- From Wednesday on, expect more wordplay. How to read tricky crossword clues covers the signals.
- On Friday and Saturday, expect vague clues and no theme to lean on. Start with fill-in-the-blank clues and short answers.
- On Sunday, the grid is larger, so allow more time even though the clues sit around midweek level.
Stuck on one clue? Look it up and take the answer one step at a time. See which answers repeat most in the most common NYT crossword answers, or read how to get better at the NYT Crossword. For today, go to today's NYT Crossword answers.