Gameplay: Your Sunday Solve

August 2, 2026

Solve the Sunday Crossword

In his print introduction for today’s puzzle, Will Shortz writes: “Ralph Sharaga, of Belmont, Mass., is ‘a mostly retired comedy writer.’ New York Jets fans may know his name from the Jets podcast he and a couple of friends have been doing for 20 years. (He says that’s ‘more frustrating than filling a tough grid.’) This is Ralph’s first crossword for The Times, which he made in collaboration Times Crossword veteran Doug Peterson, of Pasadena, Calif. Weirdly enough, Ralph is making his crossword debut in The Los Angeles Times today, too.” For more on this puzzle, read the Wordplay column.

Puzzles You May Have Missed

Crossplay Tip

By Morris Greenberg

Consider your opponent’s endgame possibilities: The endgame is the one turn in the game where you have perfect information about your opponent’s letters. If you are going first in the endgame, don’t look for the play that maximizes only points, but the play that maximizes net points, that is, the play that optimizes the differential between your play’s score and the highest-scoring possible response from your opponent.

Play Crossplay.

Connections Quandary

Here’s the hardest category from Monday, July 27. What connects these four things? See the answer in the P.S.

Four tiles: Bell, cart, magnifying glass, heart

Solve today’s Connections puzzle.

Strands

Last week’s hardest Strands puzzle was FROCKS AND SMOCKS, from Saturday, July 25 — 79.91 percent of solvers were able to complete it.

Last week’s easiest Strands puzzle was LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN, from Monday, July 27 — 92.44 percent of solvers were able to complete it.

Strands puzzles last week — from July 24 to 30 — were roughly equal in difficulty compared with those from the week before.

Solve today’s Strands puzzle.

Wordle Weekly Recap

Hardest word: VALVE, from Wednesday, July 29.

Average guesses: 4.69, with 10.97 percent of players solving in three or fewer.

Easiest word: SONAR, from Tuesday, July 28.

Average guesses: 3.85, with 38.81 percent of players solving in three or fewer.

The Wordle answers last week — from July 24 to 30 — were roughly equal in difficulty compared with those from the week before.

Solve today’s Wordle.

Spelling Bee Hive

Overall, the Spelling Bee hives last week — from July 24 to 30 — were a bit easier than those from the week before. Of our subscribers who played last week, 41.55 percent hit Genius at least once.

Last week’s hardest puzzle: Sunday, July 26, had the hardest pangram, with only 35.72 percent of users finding it.

Sunday’s pangram: CATHOLIC

Letter set: O A C H I L T

Solve today’s Spelling Bee.

Relax With Us

By Eleanor Kagan

Were you a “Greek Myths” kid? Did you have the big orange book, too?

I’m talking, of course, about “D’Aulaires Book of Greek Myths,” an illustrated collection of ancient stories geared toward middle schoolers that was published in 1962. I borrowed it from the library so many times that my parents eventually bought me a copy, and its many vivid illustrations have stuck with me for years: Hades pulling Persephone into the underworld, Athena emerging from Zeus’s skull, Argus covered in 100 eyes.

There has been no shortage of pop-cultural opportunities that reconnect me with this childhood obsession. I’ve experienced the heartbreak of Orpheus and Eurydice again and again through the musical “Hadestown.” I’ve devoured Madeline Miller’s “Circe” and “The Song of Achilles.” I’ve come to adore the lesser-known figures of Zagreus and Melinoë through the video games Hades and Hades II. I also heard a new movie just came out that touches on some of this stuff?

I jest. I’ve seen it! But this weekend I plan to sit with another childhood favorite — “Clash of the Titans,” from 1981, and its unforgettable stop-motion by Ray Harryhausen. You think Bill Irwin’s Cyclops is scary? Try being 6 and seeing Medusa move like that!