NYT Crossword Shortcuts

About

Add configurable keyboard shortcuts for Pencil & Rebus and customize pencil-letter color in the NYT Crossword web game(s).

If you solve crosswords from the keyboard, reaching for the mouse to toggle Pencil or Rebus breaks your rhythm. NYT Crossword Shortcuts keeps those controls under your fingers, so you can mark uncertain answers, enter rebuses, and move through the puzzle without leaving your solving flow.

The extension starts with fast defaults: tap Option/Alt once for Pencil mode, or tap Option/Alt twice for Rebus. If those shortcuts conflict with your keyboard, browser, operating system, or accessibility setup, you can change them from the popup. You can also choose a custom color for penciled letters, making tentative entries easier to spot at a glance.

Features include:
- Toggle Pencil mode from the keyboard.
- Toggle Rebus mode from the keyboard.
- Customize Pencil and Rebus shortcuts.
- Use modifier-tap shortcuts such as Option/Alt tap and Option/Alt double tap.
- Change the color used for penciled answer letters.
- Disable the extension from the popup without uninstalling it.
- Reset all settings to defaults.

NYT Crossword Shortcuts runs only on NYT Crossword game pages matching https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game*. It does not read crossword answers, clues, account information, browsing history, or gameplay state, and it does not make network requests.