‘The Pyrotechnics of Puzzles:’ How NYT Games Are Made

2025-10-11

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In a special, subscriber-only episode of “The Daily,” a team of editors from The New York Times’s Games department takes us behind the scenes.Wyna Liu, Joel Fagliano and Sam Ezersky discuss what goes into making games such as the Mini Crossword, Connections, the Spelling Bee and more.Guests:Wyna Liu, who writes the daily Connections puzzle and is an editor of the New York Times Crossword.Joel Fagliano, who created the Mini.Sam Ezersky, who edits the Spelling Bee and Letterboxed.For more ...

In a special, subscriber-only episode of “The Daily,” a team of editors from The New York Times’s Games department takes us behind the scenes.

Wyna Liu, Joel Fagliano and Sam Ezersky discuss what goes into making games such as the Mini Crossword, Connections, the Spelling Bee and more.

Guests:

Wyna Liu, who writes the daily Connections puzzle and is an editor of the New York Times Crossword.
Joel Fagliano, who created the Mini.
Sam Ezersky, who edits the Spelling Bee and Letterboxed.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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