Accessories

It's hard, but that's the fun of it.
I love crossword puzzles, and if they're too easy that's just not fun. These puzzles are challenging, and then they automatically tell you if you went wrong so you can fix it. Works for me!

Fun puzzles easy and difficult
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.

Shrinking the Times
This is probably the best attempt at I have seen at a crossword using the touchscreen and stylus. The input system is simple, writing the letters in the box is easy. However, this game is not for novices who have never done NY Times styled crosswords or know that the puzzles get harder as the week progresses. It does offer hints, just press the X button continuously and the answer is there!

I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.
Vocabulary is not my forte, but I love games, so I wasn't sure if I would like this game or not. I ended up really enjoying it - it has different levels, so it was good for the vocabulary-challenged, like myself. Helps me to learn new words, too.

I also have fun playing with my son, who has his own DS - we can play two players with two different DS's.

i wish there were lists of clues...
I love doing crosswords so of course for my new DS Lite I got The New York Times Crosswords, the end all be all in the puzzle world. I can normally do a monday puzzle in fifteen minutes but it took nearly an hour with this game. And it didn't seem any harder except that there is no list of clues to scan as in the printed format of puzzles. You get one clue at a time in the upper screen. I also found it very frustrating when a puzzle clue referred to other answers in the puzzle it being nearly impossible to view the entire puzzle with the numbers showing. I would seriously consider how you do puzzles before you buy this game. Do you scan the clues until one jumps out or do you methodically go through in numerical order? I think this game could have used a little bit more input by people who do daily crosswords then they might have had a list of clues. Also I would have preferred a vertical orientation of the ds lite it seem it would be easier to hold and write. Get a subscription to the times or any other daily paper that carries their puzzles or do The Onion's online. This just isn't the easiest way to enjoy a good puzzle. Do not buy this game if you think fifteen minutes to do a monday is a long time...you know who you are. I still love you Will Shortz.