I'm a fan of the New York Times Mini Crossword -- a sporty, streamlined companion to the newspaper's legendary regular daily crossword. Typically, the Mini Crossword ( we publish the answers daily ) has roughly a dozen clues to work through -- six across-clues and six down-clues -- and you can complete it in less than a minute if all goes well.

It makes me feel smart, unlike the big crossword, which sometimes makes me throw things.

But in late August, some Mini Crossword players suddenly ran into a paywall. From that point on, anyone who doesn't pay for a Times subscription with a Games package has been required to subscribe if they want to continue solving the Mini Crossword.

Naturally, players were... well, what's a five-letter word for bummed out? UPSET?

"Each day that passes, a b

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