App has crashed seven times tonight. Been crashing like once per day the past week. I deleted and re=installed. Anyone?
@Geoff Offermann 17 times in 17 minutes.
@Geoff Offermann Glad to know it’s not just me
Ditto. On my iPad, Are there problems on other platforms?
@Geoff Offermann Same. Shoulda looked at the comments before writing my own. Weird. Wonder if they updated and “improved” it? 😬
@Geoff Offermann it started yesterday 6/29 for me. Right after app update. I’m on iOS.
@Geoff Offermann ditto. Email the customer support, hopefully they will have a fix soon if there are enough emails. Ironically, it crashed again as I was typing this email.
Our constructor writes: "... I especially love that it packs five theme entries plus a revealer into the grid." And well you should, John. Fine debut! (These are not EMPTY WORDS.)
The clue for POWER NAP made me wonder about the unit of the “wink”. Is a person capable of 3 winks/min a better power napper than a slacker bumbling along at 1.2 winks/min? If you increase your sleep velocity, are you then able to get your daily quota of winks in a shorter time? Is there a terminal velocity, beyond which you are sleeping so fast that you actually wake up more tired? So many questions.
@Cat Lady Margaret I believe your wink count is influenced by your Z-score, so if your sleep contains more 💤 , you may not achieve the full forty winks. Perhaps as a Cat Lady you might be able to weigh in on the important question of the difference between a power nap and a cat nap? I believe a power nap is 10 or 15 minutes— 20 at the absolute max. And it is designed for results. A cat nap feels a little more leisurely, perhaps 20-30? Is this right? Which one gets you to the land of nod, and which one leads you into the arms of Morpheus?
@Cat Lady Margaret People believe that sleep velocity is the relevant statistic, but studies have shown that sleep momentum is what truly counts in determining your NQR (Nap Quality Ratio). Of course, there are those new narcometric specialists who try to argue that we shouldn't be talking about SQR at all, but examine ECH (Eyes Closed Horizontality): the number of hours one spends in a horizontal state times the number of hours one spends with one's eyes closed, but I think they're way out in left field in terms of this analysis. They don't even consider the bed vs. couch question.
@Cat Lady Margaret Oh god, now it’s competitive napping! I’m sure that’s already a thing.
Happy to give a big pat on the back to a debut constructor from my home state of Wisconsin and the wonderful city of Madison where I went to medical school. John, this is a superb Tuesday for anyone, not just for a debut. Five themers crossed and a revealer, plus a lot of decent additional fills (HOGCALLS, OUTSMART, POWERNAP), and very little glue is a (M)ajor (T)riumph on any day of the week for any constructor. I did figure the theme out early which was great to help suss out the long clues without crosses. My only hiccup today was the rather green-painty ALEGLASS (is there such a thing? I’ve heard of beer glasses?) but readily forgivable in an otherwise pretty impeccable grid. Great job, John, looking forward to more from you soon. Say hi to Lincoln’s statue for me when you pass by and let me know if he stands up.
@SP, I never heard of ale glasses before, but apparently they are a thing: <a href="https://www.crateandbarrel.com/ideas-and-advice/types-of-beer-glasses" target="_blank">https://www.crateandbarrel.com/ideas-and-advice/types-of-beer-glasses</a>
@SP - I raise an ale glass to my fellow Wisconsinites at the Memorial Union! (On UW campus for non-Badgers.)
@SP and jennie, I don't drink them dirty, but I'll raise my martini glass, as well! (Even if I am a Gopher now!) I did see that Gov Evers declared June 30 as WI Kringle Day, so though I love my transplant home, that is the thing that might lure me back down there.... har! My fam and friends who are still there aren't impressed that it would take Kringle to make me come back. 😏
I keep getting kicked out of the app — Pad 9 iOS 26.5
@PB same happened to me tonight (iPhone 14). I updated the NYT Games app just before it started happening. Noticed the phone was getting hot as well (related?)
@PB me too. Like four times. Updated the app and it’s still happening. 😡
@PB Same. Both Games app as well as NYT News app. It’s awful and seems to be getting worse daily. Games app -22x in 13 minutes.
@PB Just by luck, I was solving on my desktop--no app involved--for the first time in two and a half weeks. No issues.
@PB me too! Glad to know it’s not just me. Haven’t discovered a cure yet though.
Does anyone else’s iOS app now have Wordle at the top and crossword really far down the list? If you’re going to do this, make it customizable. Otherwise I absolutely hate this update and am going to be really annoyed by it every single day.
@Robert C. Android, but mine is like that too. I really wish we could customize the order of the games. I only do the main crossword, wordle, and connections. Scrolling through all the others to get to this one is annoying.
My NYT games app started shutting down unexpectedly last night. I can’t seem to get through a puzzle without being knocked out. I’m using the iOS version. I rebooted, did hard shut down, updated the iOS software, and reinstalled the app. Nothing works. Can you help?
@Lori Petrie I appears that a lot of people are having similar problems. I would imagine the NYT is aware of it, but you could also write to NYT at <a href="mailto:NYTGames@nytimes.com">NYTGames@nytimes.com</a>. Good luck.
My game keeps on crashing please fix this bug
BTW, the crossword has been quitting on me randomly recently. More or less once or twice per game. Anyone else experiencing this?
@Judith nelson Yes it just started happening yesterday. Not sure how to resolve.
@Judith nelson Yes, I had the puzzle suddenly cutting out today on my iPhone too.
@Judith nelson Yep. Minimally twice, yesterday and today, on ipad in the app (which is just easier on my eyes).
I’m trying to do the NYT crossword and the app keeps closing! It’s been doing this for two days. What is the problem. And yes I updated the app!!!
@Amy ; in the Games app go to report a bug and report the bug! That was happening to me too. And I also updated it, but then it kept happening.
@Am So I’m not the only one experiencing this! Thought I was going senile with misplaced digital touches 🙄. Thanks for the tip, fellow worders .
Fun puzzle without A DOUT! And having four intersections of theme material is incredible. Like many here I've never heard MADS used that way, but it doesn't SADDs me.
Ah, there you are. Page Not Found has been found at last. This took twice as long as yesterday’s offering. Could it be that Saturday will take most of the day? Hope not. There seemed to be a lot of acronyms here that felt a tad clunky, but the theme was amusing. ALE GLASSES. Never, in my umpteen years of bar work have I used that term. Pint, jug, sleeve, straight, pilsner, yep. They are indeed all glasses intended to hold ale. But, ‘a pint of your best in an ALE GLASS’ has never been uttered in my hearing.
@Helen Wright, ahh thought it was me. The app keeps quitting, too.
@Helen Wright Yep, I have pint glasses for my ale, although beer is mostly sold in 12 oz bottles and cans over here.
@Helen Wright Same, including the long term bar work. Reminds me of ALE TAP from a few months? years? ago
Can someone explain “adout”, 38A?
@Dorothy Tennis-ese. ADOUT = "advantage out" = advantage to the player not serving
@Dorothy I had to google it after I got the happy music. I'm not sure it belongs in a Tuesday puzzle.
From a cluing perspective, shouldn’t 38A include an indication that the answer is an abbreviation? ADOUT is the abbreviated form of “Advantage out” but nothing in the clue indicates we are looking for an abbreviation. I had ABORT in there for some time before the downs cleared it up,
@RL Here at a reasonable hour, for the first time in ages. Yay! I got ADOUT entirely via crossings, and a good thing too. Tennis terms are like Urdu to me. That said, I'd say the question mark at clue's end is a sufficient warning that Something was Up in 38A!
@RL The umpire or announcer would say “ADOUT” as a warning or notice, not “Advantage Out” even though that’s what it’s short for.
I hope the NYT continues to *not* bother to specify "abbreviation" or "informal", etc., when an answer is the main way that people refer to something. As a tennis player (before aging out) and spectator, I have heard AD OUT far, far more often than the long version.
@RL No. ADOUT, while it is an abbreviation, is the preferred conversational term. Like "movie" instead of "moving picture" and "flu" for "influenza." At some point the shortened forms become the common parlance and anyone using the original form will be looked at kinda sideways. So, no "for short" or "in brief" required.
After several "Page Not Found" messages and a trip on the merry-go-round, I'm here to congratulate the new constructor...but regretfully report that I found this Mighty Tedious, although I put the blame on the fact that it's Merely Tuesday... The weather-folk here are bemoaning what seems to us just normal Mississippi Tropical weather--in other words, Hell. Temp of 96, high humidity, for a total "feels-like" of 102. Another batch of local politicos is off to the slammer.....for various crimes filed under Money Talks. Bye for now...More Tomorrow!
@Mean Old Lady Why is Dear Hubby against GM vehicles?
Masterful Tuesday. I was even thinking I might blue star this puzzle, which is in effect a compliment to the constructor! Congratulations on a fine debut, Mr. Liber, and thank you for a wonderful ride.
Crossword Puzzle keeps shutting down and reverting to home game page while I’m playing. Bug?
@Fzgx Thank you! I thought it was my phone so I ran a diagnostic. Now, all the puzzles are in a different order.
@Fzgx Same here. I thought it was the heat. But then again, I realised, no other app was closing.
Starting yesterday, the NYT Games app began crashing every couple of minutes on my IOS device. I usually play on wi fi, but I'm on mobile data for a couple of days while travelling.
@BC same here, on my iPhone as well as iPad. On WiFi.
@BC If you have t already, please submit a bug report. Long Reddit thread on this happening even after restart, app update (both ipad and phone).
@BC Driving me crazy. Surprised not more are complaining????
My husband and mine doing the same thing. We both have iPhones. Annoying. 😡
TIL - ADOUT (AD-OUT). Need to brush up on my tennis terms.
The other one was just here: ADIN Fri Jun 12, 2026 54A Deuce follower
@Gary Scheele THANK YOU, was staring at that one for a while (long enough for the app to crash out twice 😂)
@Gary Scheele. Me too! Never heard of that.
Boo to moving the crosswords down to the bottom of the games app display
It's always good to see a reference to Wind in the Willows. It reminds me of my earlier life messin' about in boats. MISTER TOAD was a bit of a TOAD, though. I rather preferred rat.
@Captain Quahog I'm also a big fan of Wind in the Willows and read it to all of my daughters. It was fun to see Mister Toad of Toad Hall in a puzzle.
Thought it was a tricky Tuesday for a minute. Then sussed out that I had used the oft-confused alternate spelling of PHONE. PnONE. I call natick.
CCNY, I don't think your call to Natick will go through using a PnONE.
MANYTHANKS for the fine debut.
Perfect puzzle. MEALTICKET. ORDERIN. POWERNAP. What else do you need? Leave the MACHINETOOLS in the garage. One and done. No lookups. Three-day streak. Yea! The Wordplay was delayed. I was thinking maybe the writer got caught in MassTransit on the MTa or needed an eMT. Maybe there was a MajorTrauma. Maybe the writer would have communicated with us by MentalTelepathy. But no. It's just a puzzle that is MightyTempting. Better than a MechanicalToy. And MuchoTerrific. Even MaybeToo much. Well, ManyThanks. And here's a MusicalTreat. Somehow I feel that everyone must know these amazing songs from yore, but probably not. This one is also in my DNA. 19A [*Knack for success] From The Platters You've got the magic touch It makes me glow so much It casts a spell, it rings a bell The magic touch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHiW7AUUO-I" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHiW7AUUO-I</a>
The link on the Games page is still broken 90 minutes after 10:00 pm ET.
@Dan It just got fixed here at 6:00 am PT.
This puzzle had me scratching my head, trying to think of real language examples: "Buck excelled not only in nag calls like "Whoa, Nellie!", but also in hog calls." "The bartender told the barback to put the ale glasses on the top shelf, and the lager glasses on the shelf below." Is there a difference? Apparently so: <a href="https://www.kegworks.com/blog/beer-glassware-guide-beer-glass-types-uses" target="_blank">https://www.kegworks.com/blog/beer-glassware-guide-beer-glass-types-uses</a>* Also, back when one was so bullocksy as to use "mad" as a verb, you were usually making someone insane, or amazed, not angry: "Thei leueden hym, for long tyme he hadde maddid hem with his witche craftis."--Acts 8:11, Wycliffe--"he" being, apparently, Simon Magus. Usage dropped off pretty quick after that, but people still madded one another in seaside England until the early 19th c. (George Crabbe, "The Borough"), and in pulp westerns until the 1920's: "O' course, it ain't that any of them's afraid to mad that crazy gunman, Tait." (Grateful thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary, and to Ctrl-V.) And I thought that the Hatter, whom mercury poisoning had madded long since, perhaps collected TICKETs ("This STILE 10/6"), not TEA SETs. Or maybe weird, anthropomorphic friends. (I guess one, singular tea set constitutes a collection. *<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdJeaNnNG4c" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdJeaNnNG4c</a>
@Bill Thomas Hardy -- Far From the Madding Crowd
Great debut, John! Congratulations.
You seldom see long theme answers occurring in both the Acrosses and Downs -- so even though I don't make grids, I know it's a lot harder to accomplish. There's really nice density of theme here, and two of the choices, MAGIC TOUCH and MEAL TICKET, are colorful answers. And although it's a familiar category of early week theme types, the fact that it's phonetic rather than literal makes it more interesting than it would otherwise be. At 38A: the best clue for AD OUT I've ever seen. Re 35D: Is the reason that I'm not a powerful person who has held positions of real power in either industry or government because I lack the ability to POWERNAP? I had never even heard the term, much less ever accomplished it. But I can picture all the powerful people I've ever met taking a POWERNAP. And then I can picture them springing up from their POWERNAP completely refreshed and ready to accumulate more power. I, OTOH, wake up from the rare naps I manage to accomplish groggy and grumpy and ready to go back to sleep. Re FRAIL for "easily broken" -- I wrote "FRAIL -- HANDLE WITH CARE!" on a shipment of fine handblown glassware, and they sent the package to the hospital. I think maybe you meant "fragile", John? A nicely executed puzzle with no junky fill.
@Nancy Your "Re FRAIL" paragraph is hilarious! Perfection! I'm with you on FRAIL vs fragile. I really had to stretch my logic on that one, imagining that a FRAIL person would be prone to falling and breaking bones. Or maybe emotionally FRAIL and "easily broken"? A stretch, for sure.
@Nancy Folks, here's a story 'bout Minnie the Moocher She was a red hot hoochie-coocher She was the roughest toughest FRAIL But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale
So many opposite reactions to this debut! (More than usual? Maybe not...) For me, it was a fun puzzle. Easier for me than yesterday, possibly because I had the time to sit and do it all at once. Yesterday, I had to do it in dribs and drabs, due to work and other unnecessary bothers. When there is a word I'm unfamiliar with, I work the opposite direction, and the other words in the area, until I can close in to just a few letters empty. I don't get bent out of shape because it's unfamiliar to me. The creator does not know what each of us knows. I file the new word in my mental crossword filing cabinet. I've never heard the term ADOUT before, but it's no longer new to me. Like Nancy, a POWERNAP leaves me groggy, but the older I get, the more I need one. I have a lounge chair in my study that I'd like to replace with one of those recliners that helps you stand. Meanwhile my husband calls it the "sleep study" because if he sits in that chair, yes, you guessed it, he falls asleep.
@Marlene DHubby is one of those folks who can go to sleep "on demand"--so a POWER NAP of 20-30 minutes works for him. I, however, must get my special pillow just so, and do relaxation routine, and maybe read a bit, and so on, so it's just never gonna work! It's very annoying to hear, "I'm going to sleep now," followed by instant gentle cPap whooshing as he instantly falls asleep. I fantasize about cotton balls filling the hose..... Just Kidding! honest!
@Marlene I was surprised too, I thought this was a pretty by the numbers Tuesday. MADS is a little clunky but it seems like most everything else people are complaining about is standard fodder—ADOUT, heavens, even if you aren’t into tennis seems like we get ADOUT/ADIN about once every month or two. Still everyone has their own bugaboos.
@Marlene There seems to be at least one special solver who likes to complain about any given puzzle. I won't name the one I'm thinking of in particular, but I don't think I've ever seen that solver post a comment that isn't negative. I keep wondering why this person bothers to do the puzzles at all if they are all so annoying.
The crossword, Midi Crossword and the Mini Crossword time out in 2 minutes 30 seconds. I have rebooted my iPad and logged out of the NYT and re logged in.
Not my brain skipping straight to Medieval history for "Normandy" and wondering what William the Conqueror had to do with D-Day...
This page;s URL should be: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2026-06-30.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2026-06-30.html</a>
Yay me! I did this one using only the Across clues (without peeking at the Downs) in 21:33. I do this not to torture myself but just to add a bit of extra challenge and to eke a bit more fun out of the puzzles that are a bit easier early in the week. This was lovely puzzle, with no funny business and no nonsense. Once i figured out the “MT” WORDS, i got a huge boost — suddenly some inaccessible down clues opened up their secrets. I got lucky with interpolating guesses for M__HIN_T___S and M_V__T_E_TER and the rest was a joy! Thank you John Liber, great debut!
@Petrol I'm amazed by this. Not only can I not recall instantly without hint words I need for the puzzle, I also can't imagine there wouldn't be one across--a proper name, a river, a clue that makes no sense--that would be the end of the game.
@Petrol, My hat is off to you and others who attempt this (and sometimes succeed!) I tried doing this on a super easy puzzle (not NYT) yesterday (thanks to you). I still got stumped when one of the across clues was simply, “see 22D”. Interesting, I was able to get the down word by letter pattern, but the across stymied me, and it was that lone word that tripped me up. I do think I will attempt this next week on the early week puzzles. Builds a skill (recognizing letter patterns) that is helpful for solving any crossword.
Bit of a Tuesday workout for me, but managed to work it all out with some crosses. And was almost done before I finally had the trick dawn on me. Clever theme and a nice puzzle. And... puzzle find today - A Sunday from November 29, 1987 by Bert H. Kruse with the title "Not So Fast!" Some theme answers: AMBLEOFTHEMILL MTMOSEYMORE POKYPUDDING OTORTOISETOWER SAUNTERCODE STBERNARDBUS Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/29/1987&h=13d" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/29/1987&h=13d</a> ....
I was assured yesterday that I could comment on bad clues here and not be accosted. I trust the same will be true of my issues with some answers, even thought my experience says otherwise. Some REALLY awkward answers here. ASKTO, SADD crossing IONIA, OSS, MADS — all extremely clunky. The theme too, as usual, was pretty inane and useless. Not a bad debut but could have used some tweaking.
@D I agree that some of the fill was a little weird, but entries like ASK TO are pretty common early-week fill--would you prefer [Mauryan dynasty emperor (var.)]? And Ionia is not only a place in Greece, but a city in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, and *two* distinct hamlets in New York. And, all snark aside, any teen who has lost a classmate in a fatal car crash, may take offense to your dismissal of SADD. MADS is a little iffier, but I was really looking forward to all the hullabaloo it is going to cause:-) Does this constitute accosting?
@D <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_Against_Destructive_Decisions" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_Against_Destructive_Decisions</a> (Formerly Students Against Drunk Driving, after Mothers Against Drunk Driving.) Do they also have Mothers and Students Against Texting, etc., While Driving?
@D “ The theme too, as usual, was pretty inane and useless.” When is a theme ever useful? I’m convinced this is a professional troll job.
If I spent 10 minutes to solve, but 7 minutes after the solve staring at the theme entries to finally understand the theme. [headslap] What is my solve time? Asking for a friend…
@Weak The mantra is: It's your puzzle. Do whatever you want. So go ahead and *subtract* 7 from 10 and call it a 3 minute solve. And increment your streak by 30, since that's today's date.
@Weak My solution to that conundrum has been no longer paying any attention to solve times. Works great :-)
Dunno why you reordered the games in the app, but was willing to roll with it. But the crossword crashed out the whole game app several times, so I’ll mention that. Shoddy work. Not sure why anything is above the Crosswords, but I could understand Wordle being up there. But Connections? Does that have more players than the Crosswords? I would guess not. Spelling Bee has a lot more players based on the forums. Connections isn’t even a NYT original or big purchase. It’s a rip of a British game show.
@LeCheffre Dunno who you think you are talking to but nobody here is responsible for ordering or reordering games. This is a forum for players like you. You should probably write directly to the editors if your desire is to effect change.
Congratulations on a terrific debut, John Liber. It was indeed a very enjoyable solve, with just the right amount of crunch for me. Can't wait to see your next offering. Like Sam, I had never heard or seen MADS used as a verb, so that was about my last fill. I'll try to remember that usage. If it's really "old-style" I suppose I should have known it, as I am quite old. So I might have trouble remembering it. :-)
WOW! Outstanding debut, Mr. Liber!! Very clever construction that made me work for my Tuesday solve while chuckling along the way at several of your entries. Well done!😊
Hope somebody opens the front door...
@Barry Ancona 7:36 am and still not open.
@Barry Ancona No link on the Crossword page at 7:50 am EDT, and when I went to yesterday's Wordplay and changed the date, I got a "Page Not Found" message. Finally found my way here with Google.
A nicely Toughened Up Tuesday, I thought. Caught onto the theme about midway, which helped complete some of the themers. And any puzzle that reminds me of ANSEL's magnicent works is OKay by me.
The unusual pattern of the thematic entries made this Tuesday puzzle feel a bit different, in a good way. The theme was clever enough, and there were some interesting non-thematic entries: MILADY, HOGCALLS, GODARK, POWERNAP. WIIU looked very strange, and MADS clued as a verb was new to me. Would "Scandanavian boy name" have been worse? Liked this puzzle, and solved it much faster than yesterday's---though using both the horizontal and vertical clues really felt like cheating. ;-)
@Xword Junkie I would have preferred a reference to MADS Mikkelson (the baddie in "Casino Royale") to the clue as given.
IONE Skye yesterday, IONIA today. All we need is IONA University tomorrow.
poem made from words in today’s puzzle <br> a/ the wreckless wind rolled in a tailgating party breaking the broken tree raising the river d/ suddenly soooey! piggy! piggy! piggy! piggy! piggy! p i g g y ! ! here cease all a/ to all to all all in all out to empty
Solved the whole puzzle, with enjoyment, and then stared blankly at the revealer and starred clues,,,and I do mean blankly. I hope it’s the heat and not senescence!
@Judith nelson M T words - MISTERTOAD MEALTICKET MAGICTOUCH, etc. ...
A question for the columnist: I know next to nothing about wrestling, but isn't a Technical Knockout (TKO) from boxing? I've never encountered that term in relation to wrestling (but I have heard of a body SLAM). But maybe Sam knows more about wrestling than she realizes?
@Jon you're correct. TKO is boxing, SLAM is wrestling move.
I solved the puzzle but had to come to the column to understand the theme.