{"id":13447,"date":"2025-12-23T14:28:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T19:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/?p=13447"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:50:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:50:50","slug":"new-york-times-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2025\/12\/23\/new-york-times-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times Colors"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content\"><!--introduction-->\r\n<p>I admire the color scheme in the New York Times Games section and occasionally make it my <tt>colororder<\/tt>.<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/nytgames.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/games<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<!--\/introduction-->\r\n<h3>Contents<\/h3>\r\n<div>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#b775e0cc-120e-443e-bfd3-b52055913abf\">Colormaps<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#4e281139-12a5-4b45-ab8b-4bfb541d60a8\">Palettes<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#d0394ce0-f6ca-4fe6-ba61-8fa91a5ec3bb\">Color Order<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#2162adb6-93bd-452b-966c-5a55d0f03577\">New York Times Games<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#10ebe126-c13a-4339-9b8e-8756acb5fb71\">NYT Color Order<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#76fc404c-4679-445e-97a1-06dc44e4130f\">Tangrams<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#8b2a0c9f-2665-4c02-bf8b-9aadc3783225\">NYT Qube<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#37f1ab87-cabe-44a9-bf78-64b50ecb933d\">Gallery<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<a href=\"#5e5bb717-8b3b-44ec-9916-a9db99920b34\"><tt>fftmatrix<\/tt><\/a>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h4>Colormaps<a name=\"b775e0cc-120e-443e-bfd3-b52055913abf\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>It is important to distinguish between \"color map\" and \"color order\". A <tt>colormap<\/tt> defines the colors used by surface, image, and patch objects. MATLAB provides 22 color maps. <tt>parula<\/tt> is the default.<\/p>\r\n<pre class=\"codeinput\">    disp(colormaps)\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<pre class=\"codeoutput\">    \"parula\"\r\n    \"turbo\"\r\n    \"hsv\"\r\n    \"hot\"\r\n    \"cool\"\r\n    \"spring\"\r\n    \"summer\"\r\n    \"autumn\"\r\n    \"winter\"\r\n    \"gray\"\r\n    \"bone\"\r\n    \"copper\"\r\n    \"pink\"\r\n    \"sky\"\r\n    \"abyss\"\r\n    \"nebula\"\r\n    \"jet\"\r\n    \"lines\"\r\n    \"colorcube\"\r\n    \"prism\"\r\n    \"flag\"\r\n    \"white\"\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/colormaps.gif\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<h4>Palettes<a name=\"4e281139-12a5-4b45-ab8b-4bfb541d60a8\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>The <tt>colormap<\/tt> defines the <tt>palette<\/tt> of colors used by the <tt>plot<\/tt> function for multiple lines. MATLAB provides 10 palettes. <tt>gem<\/tt> is the default.<\/p>\r\n<pre class=\"codeinput\">    disp(palettes')\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<pre class=\"codeoutput\">    \"gem\"\r\n    \"gem12\"\r\n    \"glow\"\r\n    \"glow12\"\r\n    \"sail\"\r\n    \"reef\"\r\n    \"meadow\"\r\n    \"dye\"\r\n    \"earth\"\r\n    \"default\"\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/palettes.gif\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<h4>Color Order<a name=\"d0394ce0-f6ca-4fe6-ba61-8fa91a5ec3bb\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>The colors used by MATLAB for plotting multiple lines need to be well separated. These colors are given by the <tt>colororder<\/tt> property of the current axes. By default, MATLAB cycles through the seven colors in the <tt>gem<\/tt> palette.<\/p>\r\n<pre class=\"codeinput\">    gcaco=get(gca,<span class=\"string\">\"ColorOrder\"<\/span>);\r\n    show_rgb(gcaco)\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/nytcolors_blog_01.png\" alt=\"\"> <pre class=\"codeinput\">    close<span class=\"string\"> all<\/span>\r\n    clear\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<h4>New York Times Games<a name=\"2162adb6-93bd-452b-966c-5a55d0f03577\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>The New York Times Games originated with the newspaper's crossword puzzle in 1942. NYT Games was established in 2014, with the addition of the Mini Crossword. Wordle was added in 2022 and I have been playing Wordle almost daily since its launch.<\/p>\r\n<p>NYT Games now has over 10 million daily players. According to one member of staff, \"the half joke that is repeated internally is that The New York Times is now a gaming company that also happens to offer news.\"<\/p>\r\n<h4>NYT Color Order<a name=\"10ebe126-c13a-4339-9b8e-8756acb5fb71\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>I like the color scheme that the Times uses in the Games section. It provides a subtler color order than the default <tt>gem<\/tt>.<\/p>\r\n<pre class=\"codeinput\">    nyt_palette\r\n    \r\n<\/pre>\r\n<pre class=\"codeoutput\">ans =\r\n   184   228    68\r\n   248   211     0\r\n   121   160   238\r\n   184   113   198\r\n   160    82    45\r\n   235   235   200\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<pre class=\"codeinput\">    nytco = nyt_palette\/256\r\n    ribbon(6)\r\n    set(gcf,<span class=\"string\">'position'<\/span>,[200 200 440 300])\r\n    set(gca,<span class=\"string\">'colororder'<\/span>,nytco)\r\n    drawnow\r\n   \r\n<\/pre>\r\n<pre class=\"codeoutput\">nytco =\r\n    0.7188    0.8906    0.2656\r\n    0.9688    0.8242         0\r\n    0.4727    0.6250    0.9297\r\n    0.7188    0.4414    0.7734\r\n    0.6250    0.3203    0.1758\r\n    0.9180    0.9180    0.7812\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/nytcolors_blog_02.png\" alt=\"\"> <pre class=\"codeinput\">    show_rgb(nytco)\r\n    drawnow\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/nytcolors_blog_03.png\" alt=\"\"> <h4>Tangrams<a name=\"76fc404c-4679-445e-97a1-06dc44e4130f\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>In October, I used NYT colors for the kitty in my blog post about <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2025\/10\/23\/tangram-puzzles\">Tangrams<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/kitty-1.gif\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<h4>NYT Qube<a name=\"8b2a0c9f-2665-4c02-bf8b-9aadc3783225\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>The NYT colors give the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2022\/05\/04\/qube-the-movie\/\">Rubiks Cube<\/a> a new look.<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/nyt_cube.gif\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<h4>Gallery<a name=\"37f1ab87-cabe-44a9-bf78-64b50ecb933d\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2023\/06\/28\/minigallery-sampler-of-matlab-test-matrices\/\">MiniGallery<\/a> with NYT colors.<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/nyt_minigallery.png\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<h4>\r\n<tt>fftmatrix<\/tt><a name=\"5e5bb717-8b3b-44ec-9916-a9db99920b34\"><\/a>\r\n<\/h4>\r\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2014\/09\/29\/finite-fourier-transform-matrix\">Fast Finite Fourier Matrix<\/a> with the NYT colors.<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" vspace=\"5\" hspace=\"5\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/fftmat_17_2.gif\" alt=\"\"> <\/p>\r\n<script language=\"JavaScript\"> <!-- \r\n    function grabCode_4f2b9a66df304463b8c4fa2d059695c0() {\r\n        \/\/ Remember the title so we can use it in the new page\r\n        title = document.title;\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Break up these strings so that their presence\r\n        \/\/ in the Javascript doesn't mess up the search for\r\n        \/\/ the MATLAB code.\r\n        t1='4f2b9a66df304463b8c4fa2d059695c0 ' + '##### ' + 'SOURCE BEGIN' + ' #####';\r\n        t2='##### ' + 'SOURCE END' + ' #####' + ' 4f2b9a66df304463b8c4fa2d059695c0';\r\n    \r\n        b=document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];\r\n        i1=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t1)+t1.length;\r\n        i2=b.innerHTML.indexOf(t2);\r\n \r\n        code_string = b.innerHTML.substring(i1, i2);\r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/REPLACE_WITH_DASH_DASH\/g,'--');\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Use \/x3C\/g instead of the less-than character to avoid errors \r\n        \/\/ in the XML parser.\r\n        \/\/ Use '\\x26#60;' instead of '<' so that the XML parser\r\n        \/\/ doesn't go ahead and substitute the less-than character. \r\n        code_string = code_string.replace(\/\\x3C\/g, '\\x26#60;');\r\n\r\n        copyright = 'Copyright 2025 The MathWorks, Inc.';\r\n\r\n        w = window.open();\r\n        d = w.document;\r\n        d.write('<pre>\\n');\r\n        d.write(code_string);\r\n\r\n        \/\/ Add copyright line at the bottom if specified.\r\n        if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n            d.writeln('');\r\n            d.writeln('%%');\r\n            if (copyright.length > 0) {\r\n                d.writeln('% _' + copyright + '_');\r\n            }\r\n        }\r\n\r\n        d.write('<\/pre>\\n');\r\n\r\n        d.title = title + ' (MATLAB code)';\r\n        d.close();\r\n    }   \r\n     --> <\/script>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right; font-size: xx-small; font-weight:lighter;   font-style: italic; color: gray\">\r\n<br>\r\n<a href=\"javascript:grabCode_4f2b9a66df304463b8c4fa2d059695c0()\"><span style=\"font-size: x-small;        font-style: italic;\">Get \r\n      the MATLAB code <noscript>(requires JavaScript)<\/noscript>\r\n<\/span><\/a>\r\n<br>\r\n<br>\r\n      Published with MATLAB&reg; R2025a<br>\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<!--\r\n4f2b9a66df304463b8c4fa2d059695c0 ##### SOURCE BEGIN #####\r\n%% New York Times Colors\r\n% I admire the color scheme in the New York Times\r\n% Games section and occasionally make it my |colororder|.\r\n%\r\n% <<nytgames.png>>\r\n%\r\n% <https:\/\/www.nytco.com\/games>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Colormaps\r\n% It is important to distinguish between \"color map\" \r\n% and \"color order\".\r\n% A |colormap| defines the colors used by \r\n% surface, image, and patch objects.  MATLAB provides 22 color maps.\r\n% |parula| is the default.\r\n\r\n    disp(colormaps)\r\n\r\n%%\r\n%\r\n% <<colormaps.gif>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Palettes\r\n% The |colormap| defines the |palette| of colors used by the |plot|\r\n% function for multiple lines.  MATLAB  provides 10 palettes.\r\n% |gem| is the default.\r\n\r\n     disp(palettes')\r\n\r\n%%\r\n%\r\n% <<palettes.gif>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Color Order\r\n% The colors used by MATLAB for plotting multiple lines\r\n% need to be well separated. \r\n% These colors are given by the |colororder| property of\r\n% the current axes.\r\n% By default, MATLAB cycles through the seven colors\r\n% in the |gem| palette.\r\n\r\n    gcaco = get(gca,\"ColorOrder\");\r\n    show_rgb(gcaco) \r\n\r\n%%\r\n\r\n    close all\r\n    clear\r\n\r\n%% New York Times Games\r\n% The New York Times Games originated with the newspaper's crossword puzzle\r\n% in 1942.  NYT Games was established in 2014, with the addition of\r\n% the Mini Crossword.  Wordle was added in 2022 and\r\n% I have been playing Wordle almost daily since its launch.\r\n% \r\n% NYT Games now has over 10 million daily players. According to one\r\n% member of staff, \"the half joke that is repeated internally is that\r\n% The New York Times is now a gaming company that also happens to\r\n% offer news.\"\r\n\r\n%% NYT Color Order\r\n% I like the color scheme that the Times uses in the\r\n% Games section.\r\n% It provides a subtler color order than the default |gem|.\r\n\r\n    nyt_palette\r\n\r\n%%\r\n\r\n    nytco = nyt_palette\/256\r\n    ribbon(6)\r\n    set(gcf,'position',[200 200 440 300])\r\n    set(gca,'colororder',nytco)\r\n    drawnow\r\n\r\n%2%\r\n\r\n    show_rgb(nytco)\r\n    drawnow\r\n\r\n%% Tangrams\r\n%\r\n% In October, I used NYT colors for the kitty in my blog post about\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2025\/10\/23\/tangram-puzzles\r\n% Tangrams>.\r\n%\r\n% <<kitty-1.gif>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% NYT Qube\r\n% The NYT colors give the\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2022\/05\/04\/qube-the-movie\/\r\n% Rubiks Cube> a new look.\r\n%\r\n% <<nyt_cube.gif>>\r\n%\r\n\r\n%% Gallery\r\n% The\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2023\/06\/28\/minigallery-sampler-of-matlab-test-matrices\/\r\n% MiniGallery> with NYT colors.\r\n%\r\n% <<nyt_minigallery.png>>\r\n%\r\n%\r\n%% |fftmatrix|\r\n% The\r\n% <https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2014\/09\/29\/finite-fourier-transform-matrix\r\n% Fast Finite Fourier Matrix> with the NYT colors.\r\n%\r\n% <<fftmat_17_.2.gif>>\r\n%\r\n##### SOURCE END ##### 4f2b9a66df304463b8c4fa2d059695c0\r\n-->\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overview-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/files\/fftmat_17_3.png\" class=\"img-responsive attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/div><!--introduction-->\r\n<p>I admire the color scheme in the New York Times Games section and occasionally make it my <tt>colororder<\/tt>.... <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/2025\/12\/23\/new-york-times-colors\/\">read more >><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":13509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,5,23,37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13447"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13510,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13447\/revisions\/13510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/cleve\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}