Circuits

Circuits is Puzzmo's daily word puzzle, by Matthew Stock and edited by Madeline Kaplan, with the date and the two names shown at the top of the screen. The board is a diagram: on the left are boxes each containing a word, on the right are numbered squares connected by arrows. Each square expects a word that forms a compound term with all the boxes connected to it. You don't fill a grid; you close one circuit and then the next.

1. First deal with the Puzzmo Cookies Choices window, which opens on top of the board.
2. Read the numbered square and identify all the boxes that point to it: the sought word must work with each of them.
3. Type the word that forms a compound term with those boxes, then confirm with Submit. A Clear button is next to it.
4. Proceed square by square until the diagram is complete, which the Instructions panel calls Complete the puzzle.
5. The Instructions panel adds an objective called Double Circuit: build a circuit using one of your previous answers.

Most compound-word games give you one word and expect its partner. Circuits asks for one that satisfies several partners at once. The arrowed diagram makes those dependencies visible at a glance, and the Double Circuit rewards those who spot that one of their already-placed words can be reused elsewhere. It's construction, not filling.

Circuits does not display a score but a list of objectives in the right-hand column: solve a circuit, achieve a Double Circuit, then complete the entire grid. A timer and a Pause button appear at the top of the screen, and a row of lightning bolts is placed to the left of the label Use Bolt!, near the Submit button.

Core play

Single default puzzle: the day's board is a diagram with boxes of words on the left and numbered squares on the right connected by arrows. For each numbered square you type a word that forms a compound term with every box that points to it, then confirm with Submit; proceed square by square until the diagram is complete. The Instructions list three objectives (solve a circuit, Double Circuit, reuse one of your previous answers, and Complete the puzzle). The interface shows a timer and Pause button, Clear and Submit controls, and a Use Bolt! indicator.

• The number of arrows entering a square tells you how many constraints the word must satisfy at once. Read all the boxes connected before proposing to avoid words that only work with some of them.
• The Cookies Choices banner opens on top of the board on arrival: handle it first, otherwise your initial clicks get lost on it.
• A Pause button sits right next to the timer at the top of the screen.
• The right column keeps a View Full Instructions link and a Credits panel: when the three-line summary isn't enough, the full rules are one click away.