Find answers to the latest online sudoku and crossword puzzles that were published in USA TODAY Network's local newspapers.

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with WUNC listener Josh McIntyre of Raleigh, N.C., and Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.

Wordle and other New York Times Games like Connections reached new popularity in 2025. Zoe Bell, executive producer of games at The New York Times, joins TODAY to break down the hardest puzzles of the year and exclusively reveals a new game coming in 2026 called Crossplay!

Find answers to the latest online sudoku and crossword puzzles that were published in USA TODAY Network's local newspapers.

In the 2025 competition, Tortoise Protocol was runner-up for the Puzzlers’ Award, which is determined by attendees who vote for their favorite. The year before, another of Mr. Yananose’s creature puzzles, Hugo the Hippo, won Puzzle of the Year — it took both the Puzzlers’ Award and the Jury Grand Prize, which is selected by a judging committee.

Crossword puzzles took off in the United States over a century ago, before the pastime soon spread to England.

The latest freebie in the 2025 Epic Games Holiday Giveaway is confirmed to be Trine Classic Collection, which is a compilation of four games.