It was a dark day on the internet when The New York Times Games decided to put the Mini Crossword, Tiles and Letter Boxed behind a paywall. For many of us brain-rotted mini games players, they had become an indisputable part of our daily rituals. And suddenly, without warning, there's now a mini puzzle shaped hole in our routines.

But fear not. The internet is vast and ready to jump on a gap in the market quicker than you can say PANGRAM. And so, without further ado (and with much personal testing from myself, a former NYT Mini Crossword aficionado who refuses to pay her single $1 per week out of spite), here is our curated pick of internet mini word games and puzzles – that are entirely free – to fill the void.

1. The Atlantic daily crossword

I appreciate The Atlantic’s crossword because it hits that sweet spot between challenging and sophisticated. The clues are clever but not too obscure, and the grid feels like it’s written with a modern sensibility – current references, clean construction, and just enough challenge to feel rewarding without dragging on.

2. LinkedIn Zip game

If you didn't know, LinkedIn has a bunch of puzzle and word games.

Zip is one of them and the premise is simple but brilliant: you start at 1 and snake your way consecutively through the grid until every square is filled. It feels part maze, part logic puzzle, and there’s something deeply satisfying about watching the path unfold as you close in on the last numbers.

3. Minute Cyrptic

The Minute Cryptic distills the essence of a cryptic crossword into just one clue. It’s quick, but it demands you switch gears and think laterally about wordplay, hidden meanings, and clever constructions. It’s amazing how much wit and misdirection can be packed into a single line.

4. Contexto

Contexto is all about semantic proximity. You start guessing words, and each attempt is ranked based on how close it is in meaning to the secret target. It’s less about letters and spelling, more about intuition and navigating webs of association. The thrill comes from narrowing down a wide field of language into one perfect fit.

5. Framed

Framed is a personal favourite – especially if you consider yourself a cinephile. It challenges you to identify a movie from a single still image. If you miss, it reveals another frame, and so on, up to six tries (similar structurally to Wordle). Sometimes it’s instantly recognisable; other times, the images are so artfully cropped or obscure that it feels like detective work.

6. Heardle

Another Wordle offspring, Heardle is music trivia distilled into its purest form. It starts with just one second of a track, and if that’s not enough, you unlock progressively longer snippets. The fun lies in how instantly recognisable (or maddeningly elusive) a song can be.

7. The Guardian crosswords

The Guardian publishes a wide range of crosswords, from breezy quick puzzles to famously knotty cryptics. Each setter has their own voice, so the puzzles feel distinct depending on who authored them. I enjoy the variety here – it means some days are about wordplay acrobatics, while others are about cruising through a more straightforward solve.

8. Merriam-Webster's Quordle game

Quordle takes the simple mechanics of Wordle and multiplies them by four. You make a guess, and it populates across four separate grids simultaneously, meaning every letter choice is strategic. It’s chaotic at first, but as the boards start to fall into place, there’s a rush of momentum as the answers click into view one after another.

If you're really looking to up the ante, they also have Ocortdle to try your hand at...

9. L.A. Times Mini Crossword

The L.A. Times mini crossword is short and sharp, often solvable in just a couple of minutes. What I like is that even in a tiny grid, the constructors manage to sneak in playful clues, cultural nods, and satisfying wordplay. It’s proof that even bite-sized puzzles can deliver a full crossword experience.

10. Crossherd

Crossherd takes the traditionally solitary act of crossword solving and makes it communal. Multiple people work on the same grid at the same time, watching each other’s answers appear in real time. I like this one because it's a little more cooperative and social, but also great for those with a competitive streak, as you try to be the one who nails a tricky clue first.

11. Polygonle

Polygonle gives Wordle a twist by showing you the puzzle as a string of coloured polygons instead of letters. Each unique shape corresponds to a specific letter, so the challenge is decoding the pattern as much as it is guessing words. It feels like a hybrid of cryptography and wordplay, and solving it carries a double reward: cracking the code and finding the word.

12. Numbword

Numbword mashes together math and word puzzles. Instead of letters, you’re given numbers, each one tied to a letter’s position in the alphabet. The task is to translate the sequence into a valid word. It’s equal parts arithmetic and deduction, and there’s a neat “aha!” moment when the jumble of digits suddenly resolves into something meaningful.

13. Letroso

This one's both a fun linguistic workout and a reminder of how puzzle mechanics adapt to different languages. Letroso is a Spanish-language cousin of Wordle, but with its own rhythm and quirks. Because the language is so vowel-rich, strategies shift compared to English word games – testing common verb endings, swapping consonants, and leaning on accent marks.