The New York Times Crosswords

The New York Times Crosswords is surprisingly easy to play on the DS, contrary to what you might think with such a text-heavy puzzle that normally requires a large playing area. The game is made easy by handy zoom functions that allow you to see the entire puzzle at once or zoom in to individual clues. Once you solve a clue, placing the letters is also easy since you can input letters by writing them with the stylus or by typing them on an on-screen keyboard. Handwriting recognition is very good. Figuring out what words to play is tough, of course, but there’s a hint feature when you’re stuck that will give you a boost.

Tackle the weekly puzzles (simple puzzles that begin on Monday and become progressively difficult over the course of the week) and gang up with four friends and compete or cooperate wirelessly.