【】

Try Mashable's free version now
If there was a five-letter Wordle solution to properly encapsulate my conversation with Jonathan Knight, head of games at The New York Times, it would be D-E-L-T-A.
On Jan. 5, Delta announced its collaboration with the New York Timesto provide all the Timespuzzles — including Wordle, Spelling Bee, and The Crossword — to Delta SkyMiles Members with free Wi-Fi while you're in the air.
"We just think it's an awesome way for a whole new audience to be introduced to New York Timesgames," Knight told Mashable at CES 2023. "And we hope, obviously, that they go on to have a deeper relationship with us after the flight."
The games aren't going to go directly on the back of a seat, like where you might find movies or other entertainment during a flight. Instead, you log into the Delta portal on your phone, use your Sky Miles account, or make a free one, and you'll have access to the games.

In an interview with Mashable, Knight talked about the partnership with Delta, his starting words on Wordle, the competitive nature of the Mini Crossword, keeping the games safe for everyone, and more.
SEE ALSO:Delta Airlines to offer free WiFi on most domestic flights by FebruaryMashable: Is Delta going to offer all the games from the Times or just Wordle and The Crossword?
It should be our full offering. Basically, you're gonna go to nytimes.com/games. Because you're logged in, through Sky Miles, you'll have free access to all of our games. Currently, some of our games are free; some require subscriptions. We're going to start with Spelling Bee and roll that out. But you'll get full access to the full Spelling Bee instead of being gated on subscriptions.
Are you familiar with how many people battle with the Mini Crossword?
How many people battle with it? Like compare their leaderboard scores you mean? Yes.
I play it with my partner every single morning and lately he's been beating me. I was wondering if you could fix that.
I'll see what I can do, I'll see what I can do.
The Minis are a really popular game and it's our only game that has a leaderboard. We recently made a couple small updates in the app to better surface the leaderboard. So now when you finish the Mini, there's a button right there that says go check it out. We're going to be bringing more visibility to that feature.
Do you compare your score with anyone?
I compare my score every morning to our executive producer Zoe Bell, who is very competitive, and comes from the games industry. And today we were literally tied, I think at one minute, 12 each.
How about the Wordle? Do you always play?
I always do the Wordle. In fact, I broke my 48-day streak on New Year's Eve, which was really annoying. So I'm starting all over with a new streak. I'll usually do 30, 40, 50 days in a row and then I'll miss for some reason.
Have you sold any movie rights to Wordle?
We have not sold the movie rights to Wordle, but I will get right on that.
Related Stories
- The Wordle archive is gone, but you can still find past Wordle answers here
- What is 'Wordle'? Here's everything you need to know.
- My one consistent source of joy is the jingle at the end of the New York Times crossword
- The best Wordle alternatives to keep you guessing
- Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL.
Is Wordle dead?
We're still really happy with the level of engagement on Wordle. A lot of people ask: Is it over? And of course, the audience came down a bit from its height. But we still have a very large audience that's dedicated, plays the game every day, like you, sharing with their friends. We're really pleased with how well the audience has held up, and really pleased with the acquisition overall because we've introduced this whole new audience to our other products.
What's your starting word?
I rotate through a small subset of words. I like [starting with the word] stare: S-T-A-R-E. I'll sometimes do variations on that like spare or scare if I'm feeling particularly adventurous.
Does an editor actively choose the word every day?
That's a bit of a complicated answer there. When we acquired the game from Josh Wardle, a programmer based out of New York who made the game, … he had to come up with a bunch of words and he basically programmed in about three or four years worth of solutions. How he picked those words, we haven't really talked about publicly, but it wasn't random, it wasn't a computer. He had a methodology, he wanted them to be common words that we would all know, and he baked those in.
[The New York Times] is largely still using Josh's original word set. It's not like we went crazy and changed everything. We want the game to be true to its original success. But [the Wordle editor will]l go in there and fine-tune. We had a little bit of fun at Thanksgiving with the word feast, which generated a lot of conversation. So that was kind of our first editorial hand on the game. And we also watch out for anything that might be offensive. We want the game to be fun for everybody and not do any harm or hurt anybody's feelings. So that's a big part of what [the Wordle editor] does.
Speaking of doing no harm, there was recent controversy with the crossword puzzle [in the shape of a swastika]. How do you deal with sort of the backlash to that?
Obviously, our games are intended to bring joy to people, be it diversion from the news, be it diversion from any kind of controversy. And the goal is for people to have a good time. The rules of crossword grid layout is that they have radial symmetry, both vertical and horizontal symmetry. It's required in the grid. That's been how New York Timescrossword puzzles are built since 1942 when Margaret Farrar was the first editor and she set down that rule. So any resemblance to any kind of, you know, it's obviously not intentional. It was unfortunate that it was perceived that way.
TopicsCESGamingWordle
相关文章
- When Honda revealed its stunning and grandparent-scaring Civic Hatchback Prototype earlier this year2025-04-30
- 包菜絲怎麽炒好吃?素炒包菜這樣炒才好吃,做法步驟:1.把包菜的葉子剝下來,放到清水中投洗幹淨,瀝淨水分,再把包菜切成絲。2.西紅柿切去果蒂,再把西紅柿切成三角塊,尖椒去蒂 。包心菜切絲怎麽炒好吃-九州醉2025-04-30
- 前言:巴西著名的狂歡節是在每年的幾月舉行??巴西狂歡節在複活節前47天 ,而複活節是春分月圓後的第一個星期日 ,故巴西狂歡節日期不確定。巴西狂歡節被稱為世界上最大的狂歡節 ,有“地球上最偉大的表演”之稱 。在2025-04-30
- 牛皮涼席能用多少年-業百科牛皮涼席正常使用,可用10年或20年以上 。牛皮涼席是指采用頭層水牛皮作為原料,采用對人身體無毒害作用的鞣質原料,結合先進的鞣質工藝製作的水牛皮涼 。牛皮涼席可以用多久?牛皮涼席2025-04-30
Australian football makes history with first LGBT Pride Game
The rainbow flag took over Melbourne's Etihad Stadium Saturday night in a powerful statement of acce2025-04-30- 前言 :林丹奧運會林丹 ,奧運冠軍,被稱“超級丹”。中國男子羽毛球隊單打運動員。5歲練習羽毛球,9歲進福建體校 ,12歲進入福州八一體工隊,教練是何國權,18歲進入國家隊,教練是伍佰強 、湯仙虎、鍾波 、李誌峰2025-04-30
最新评论