A Week of Tricks & Treats - Inside The NYT’s Halloween Puzzles

Halloween week at The New York Times wasn’t about costumes or candy, it was about clues. From Dracula’s fangs to a witch’s flight, and even a sneaky “BOO!” hiding at the bottom of the Mini, the Times’ puzzles quietly transformed into a haunted house of wordplay. Each game found its own clever way to nod to the spooky season without ever saying “Happy Halloween.”
Each of the Times’ games joined in with its own Halloween twist: the Crosswords leaned into classic monsters and witches, the Mini slipped in a visual “BOO!,” and Strands and Connections played with magic, bones, and clever misdirection.

The NYT Daily Crossword

Oct 29, Dracula Rises 🧛 

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2025/10/29
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/nyt-crossword-answers-hints/2025-10-29

Wednesday’s puzzle by John Donegan sank its fangs into the Halloween mood with a clever Dracula theme that ran straight through the grid. Each long entry was a sly pun on vampire lore: RIGHT OFF THE BAT, LIGHT ON HIS FEET, UPON REFLECTION, and RAISE THE STAKES all reimagined familiar idioms through the lens of the Count. The humor landed cleanly, no explicit “Dracula” revealer needed. A smaller clue - “Jupiter and Mars” for PAGAN GODS added a subtle nod to the supernatural.

Oct 30, Defying Gravity 🧙

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2025/10/30
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/nyt-crossword-answers-hints/2025-10-30

Thursday’s puzzle by Howard Neuthaler took a theatrical turn with a “Wicked”-inspired theme. Seven starred Down entries floated above their usual positions, creating a visual gimmick that literally had letters rising, while the circled letters spelled out ELPHABA, the green-skinned witch herself. The puzzle’s two-part revealer, DEFYING GRAVITY, tied directly to both the floating letters and the song from the musical. Despite the complex structure, the fill remained smooth, making this a clever, playful puzzle that combined visual design with seasonal, Halloween-adjacent magic.

NYT The Mini

Oct 31, A Quick “BOO!” 🎃

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/mini/2025/10/31
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/nyt-mini-answers-hints/2025-10-31

The October 31 Mini, edited by Sam Ezersky, delivered a perfect Halloween treat in just a few squares. A black square at the center of the bottom row transformed to turn CA⬛SE into CABOOSE and BUGA⬛ into BUGABOO. A visual “BOO,” a clever trick hidden in plain sight. It was short, sharp, and playful, a tiny puzzle with a big holiday punch.

Connections

Oct 29, A Pre-Halloween Trick 🎃

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/2025-10-29
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/connections-hint-answer/2025-10-29

The October 29 Connections puzzle played a perfect Halloween prank. With words like SEANCE, SPIRIT, MEDIUM, and OUIJA BOARD in the mix, it seemed obvious that a spooky category was hiding there, but that was the trap. None of those belonged together. Instead, the actual groups were FORTITUDE, CHANNEL, WORDS STARTING WITH THE “SAY” SOUND, and THINGS FEATURING LETTERS A THROUGH Z. It was a smart bit of misdirection that fit the season, tempting solvers with ghosts, then grounding them in pure wordplay.

Oct 31, Pac-Man Outsmarts Halloween 🕹️

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/2025-10-31
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/connections-hint-answer/2025-10-31

On Halloween day, the Connections puzzle looked ready for a fright, featuring words like GHOST and PUMPKIN, but, once again, it was a trick. Those two weren’t linked at all. Instead, the real categories were GOLDILOCKS, CINDERELLA, POPEYE, and MS. PAC-MAN, a set celebrating the 45th anniversary of Pac-Man rather than Halloween itself. It was a fitting finale to the week’s theme of playful misdirection, a puzzle that teased ghosts and pumpkins, only to reveal retro arcade nostalgia hiding underneath.

Strands

Oct 25,  Shapeshifters Set the Stage 🩸

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands/2025-10-25
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/strands-hint-answers-spangram/2025-10-25

The October 25 Strands puzzle, themed “Quite a transformation!”, opened Halloween week with classic creatures of change. The spangram SHAPE SHIFTERS tied together words like CHANGELING, SKINWALKER, VAMPIRE, and WEREWOLF, turning the grid into a roll call of beings that blur the line between human and monster. It was a smart, eerie warm-up, more folklore than fright, but perfectly timed to ease solvers into a week of Halloween wordplay.

Oct 27, A Spell of Wizardry 🪄

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands/2025-10-27
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/strands-hint-answers-spangram/2025-10-27

The October 27 Strands puzzle, titled “Witch way?”, leaned fully into magic. The spangram WIZARDRY connected words like AMULET, CAULDRON, CHARM, INCANTATION, POTION, and WAND, a tidy collection of spellcraft essentials. It was a straightforward but satisfying theme that kept the Halloween spirit alive, swapping scares for a dose of classic witchcraft.

Oct 31, Good Bones for Halloween 💀

See it on NYT (requires subscription):
https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands/2025-10-31
See it on Lady Puzzle Pro:
https://ladypuzzle.pro/strands-hint-answers-spangram/2025-10-31

On October 31, the Strands puzzle went full Halloween with the theme “Good bones.” The spangram SKELETON tied together FEMUR, FIBULA, HUMERUS, RADIUS, SKULL, STERNUM, and ULNA. A clean, anatomical set that gave the day’s puzzle a spooky edge. It was a simple idea done well, wrapping up the week with a clever nod to what lies beneath the surface.

Closing the Spellbook 🔮

Halloween week showed just how much range the Times puzzles can have. Donegan’s Dracula puzzle and Neuthaler’s Elphaba grid turned classic Halloween icons into sharp, clever wordplay, while Strands kept the season alive day after day with transformations, spells, and skeletons. Across formats, the editors found fresh ways to be festive without spelling it out. After such an inventive week it’s hard not to wonder: what seasonal surprises will sneak into the grids next?