Everdeen Mason

Editorial Director, Games @The New York Times

Editorial director of NYT Games, a New York Times subscription product with millions of weekly active users. Oversees crossword puzzles, Wordle, and all other games in the section as well as any related articles, newsletters, social media and events. Runs a team of 10 puzzle editors, columnists, community managers and more than three dozen freelance writers, constructors and visual artists. Part of the senior leadership group that creates and makes business/product decisions for the Games product, including serving on a committee that decides what puzzles to prototype and beta test- Launched three new games, which involved advising game designers and engineers on the game mechanics and user experience, creating editorial standards and an editing pipeline, development of a CMS and a daily community forum- Wordle (February 2022)- Connections (June 2023)- Strands (June 2024)- Created a community-oriented audience strategy that includes: two newsletters (5.5 million sends per week), a growing TikTok account (35K subscribers) and a large WhatsApp community (more than one million followers)- Streamlined and digitized submissions and editing processes, which included building and formalizing a robust puzzle testing process for existing puzzles, including the daily crossword, mini crossword, print-only variety puzzles and Spelling Bee- Developed a fellowship to mentor crossword constructors from underrepresented backgrounds. Since 2022, 15 fellows have published crosswords for the first time through the program. Developed a content stream: Commissioned and assigned daily companion articles for the Crossword, Spelling Bee, Wordle and Connections, articles on language and culture, and coverage of popular board games. This new content drives more than three million page views every day to the New York Times.