Marylanders Cheat At This Popular Game The Most

MARYLAND — A new analysis has settled the debate on which states cheat the most at popular games, including Wordle, Sudoku and the infamous New York Times crossword puzzle — and Maryland is on that list.

To identify which game attracts the most cheaters and which state cheats the most, online betting website BetUS used keywordtool.io to identify the search volume in each U.S. state for people looking up various New York Times puzzle answers and hints. Researchers then calculated the volume per 10,000 people to identify which state cheats the most.

Using Glimpse, researchers also looked at the last 12 months to determine the highest trending month for people searching for answers for each game.

"For many, it takes serious effort to solve these puzzles without a little nudge," BetUS researchers said. "Still, a good chunk of Americans skip the struggle altogether, turning to Google for a quick win and the satisfaction of crossing a tough task off their list."

Maryland was among the top 25 states that cheat most, according to the analysis. Coming in at No. 23, Marylanders searched for answers and hints 148,430 times in the last year.

Maryland's game of choice for cheating? Strands.

Claiming the No. 1 spot for cheating in New York Times games was Massachusetts. With over 273,000 answer searches in the past year — 51.6 percent higher than the national average —Massachusetts seems to have mastered the art of the shortcut.

Here's a look at the top 10 states for cheating and their games of choice:

1. Massachusetts (Wordle)
2. New Hampshire (Wordle)
3. Vermont (Letter Boxed)
4. Maine (Wordle)
5. Minnesota (Wordle)
6. Connecticut (NYT Crossword)
7. Rhode Island (Mini Crossword)
8. New Jersey (NYT Crossword)
9. Colorado (NYT Crossword)
10. Delaware (Sudoku)

States where players cheated least were Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Alabama.

See the full analysis online.