Striking NYT tech workers made a custom Connections so you don’t cross the picket line

Striking New York Times tech workers have created a custom Connections puzzle so fans can get their daily fix without crossing the digital picket line.

The "Strike Edition" puzzle was made on a website that lets people create their own Connections. The workers, part of the New York Times Tech Guild, specifically asked NYT readers not to play NYT games when the strike began on Monday, so the custom puzzle offers a way to play while still respecting the Guild's wishes.

"We have seen a groundswell of support from subscribers who have been proudly tweeting about purposely breaking their game streaks to support our strikers," says Jen Sheehan, spokesperson for the NewsGuild of New York.

The Guild didn't make the website themselves; the site was made by Anthony Salazar, a freelance web developer who operates a creative studio named Swellgarfo. Salazar tells The Verge that he made the app after Connections launched last summer. "My friends couldn't get enough and began making their own grids, jankly texting group chats with 4x4 word squares," he says. Programming the site took about two hours. He didn't expect anyone besides his friends to use it, but the creator tool has now been used 7 million times.

"I wasn't aware that the Tech Guild was using my app, but I'm honored," Salazar says.

There are aspects of the website that it's easy to imagine The New York Times could take issue with, though. In addition to custom puzzles, the site also has a recreation of the NYT Connections archive that's available to play for free - offering a way to get around NYT's own Connections archive that it just launched as a feature for paid subscribers.

The New York Times targeted Wordle clones by filing copyright takedown notices earlier this year, including against at least one shared on GitHub that was strikingly similar to the NYT's version of the game. It's not out of the realm of possibility that the publication would do something similar for this Connections site.

Salazar says he would "happily take down the archive" if asked. He also says that the site uses the NYT's publicly available API to create the archive, so "there would be many easy ways to completely dismantle that part of my app without even talking to me." However, Salazar says that he wouldn't take down the puzzle creator because "there is no NYT intellectual property contained there."

The Guild, whose members help build these games, ultimately sees it as a form of support. "What we posted today and will post throughout our strike are fun ways people can support us," says Sheehan, the NewsGuild spokesperson. "Generally speaking, we hope that The Times is more focused on getting back to the bargaining table than coming for our games."

The New York Times didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.