Six guesses, five letters, infinite boasting rights. Since the word puzzle Wordle first released publicly online in October 2021, it has become a blockbuster hit. The principle of the game is simple: each player has six chances to guess one five-letter word. After each guess, the letters change color: green for right letter, right location; yellow for right letter, wrong location; and gray for wrong …
If you’re a parent who’s worried about your kids getting enough learning time right now, you aren’t alone. The pandemic has impacted kids in a major way, and most moms and dads are struggling to find ways to keep their kids engaged with distance learning and off of Nintendo Switch or Netflix for most of the day. One easy solution? Make learning fun by investing …
What does it take to win a game of Scrabble? Intelligence, mastery of the English language, and a little luck certainly can’t hurt. There are, however, some little-known rules of the game that might give you an even stronger leg up when it comes to laying down those tiles and laying out all your opponents. Here are eight Scrabble rules most people don’t know that …
If you don’t play Words With Friends, you may be missing out. Not just on the hours of stimulating fun its throngs of devoted followers say it provides, but on some great friendships, romance, and other opportunities as well. What is Words with Friends? Brief primer for those not familiar with WWF: The word game lets players challenge each other to build words, much like …
There are plenty of crossword puzzles in publications across the country, but when we think of the pinnacle of puzzledom (Not officially a word, but, perhaps, it should be?), the purveyors of the most preeminent puzzles, we bow to The New York Times (NYT). For more than 75 years, the NYT crossword puzzle has been stumping readers with its clever clues and then sending them …
How much do we love the New York Times crossword puzzle? Let us count the ways … never mind, we can’t count that high. We can, however, count on it to continually challenge us with its sagacious clues and delight us when we discover the astute answers that fit just right. While each puzzle offers something unique, with aha moments aplenty, some of their clues …
You can tell a lot about a person by their daily habits. Do they make their bed every day? Do they eat the same lunch special? Maybe they’re a bit of a rebel and take each experience as it comes. How about something a little more puzzling. What does your crossword puzzle solving style say about you? Believe it or not, crossword solvers are a …
Are you a cruciverbalist? A lover of crosswords? If you can immediately recite a long list of obscure words with an excessive amount of vowels, you’re probably an avid crossword solver. And, this set of vocabulary that is full of words more likely to fill in your morning crossword puzzle rather than your everyday conversation is commonly known as crosswordese. Crosswordese words are used by …
What do good parties and crossword puzzles have in common? Besides being fun, most of them have themes. The difference, however, is that while a party’s theme is usually announced via the invitation, a crossword’s themes are up to you to figure out on your own. There are two types of themes when it comes to crossword puzzles—overarching themes that are unique to each puzzle …
You’re plodding along, filling in the squares in your crossword puzzle like a champ, when you see something a bit foreign … literally. It could be a clue containing a non-English phrase or, perhaps, the answer requires knowledge about a far and distant land. In any case, it doesn’t seem to be in your vocabulary. Unless you’re a polyglot or frequent globetrotter, such clues …
Arthur Wynne is usually credited with inventing the crossword. His first puzzle, called a word-cross, was published in December 1913 in the New York World. But there may have been other predecessors to the crossword: in England in the 19th century and an Italian version called per passare il tempo, which means “to pass the time.”Word crosses eventually became known as crosswords, and their creators became …