Word Search
Find every hidden word in the grid. Words run horizontally, vertically and diagonally, sometimes backwards, so look carefully before you decide a word is missing.
Words to find
Drag across a word, or tap its first and last letter.
How to play
Each puzzle hides a themed list of words inside the grid. Drag from the first letter of a word to its last, or on a touch screen tap the first letter and then the last one. If you are right, the word locks in place and is struck through in the list. If you are wrong, the selection simply clears and you can try again.
Words can run in eight directions: left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, and along both diagonals in either direction. That means a word you can see going one way may also be hiding in reverse. The Found counter shows how many words remain, and the timer starts as soon as you make your first selection. When every word is found, the puzzle is complete.
Tips and strategy
Work through the list in order of length rather than alphabetically. Longer words are far easier to spot because there are fewer places they can hide, and finding one removes letters from the grid that were distracting you. Scan for the first letter of each remaining word and check whether any of its neighbours continue in a plausible direction.
Look along the diagonals deliberately. Most people scan rows and columns naturally and miss diagonal placements, which is exactly where puzzle makers hide the trickier words. If a word seems impossible to find, try reading it backwards before you give up — roughly a third of the words in a typical grid are reversed. The Hint button highlights the first letter of an unfound word when you are truly stuck.