Behind the New York Times Crossword

Explore the inner workings of The New York Times Crossword in this 39-minute conference talk from Strange Loop. Discover how the NYT Games Team operates as a startup within the company, serving over 500,000 subscribers and generating significant revenue to support quality journalism. Delve into the technological challenges and innovations behind the scenes, including the complete platform rewrite in Go and migration to a serverless ecosystem. Learn about the journey of a puzzle from constructor to solver, and the cutting-edge tools and infrastructure used to handle immense traffic spikes, enable fearless testing and production changes, and rapidly launch new games. Gain insights from Darren McCleary, a Senior Software Engineer and member of the Times' Architecture Review Board, as he shares his experience in guiding technology decisions and practices for the entire company.