4 x 3

4 x 3 is a daily word-grouping puzzle built on a deliberate overlap: nine tiles hide four categories of three words, and one word - the hub - belongs to all four of them at once. Every correct group is therefore two category words plus that same shared word, so the board can never be cut into four clean sets. Three mistakes end the day's run.

1. Tap three tiles and press Submit. A group only counts if it is two category words plus the shared word.
2. Clear all four categories before the third mistake. Shuffle re-scatters the tiles still in play; Deselect drops the current pick.

Unlike an ordinary grouping puzzle it stays awkward down to the final tile, because the shared word means nine words never resolve into four tidy sets of three. It rewards people who already clear Connections-style boards quickly and want a structural constraint on top, and people who will keep replaying after they can win reliably just to collect the named runs - Hub First, Reverse Rainbow, the gold plaque for a perfect game under 90 seconds. It is a poor fit if you want a puzzle that leaves you alone: the board is only nine tiles, the third mistake ends the day, and the scoring layer is elaborate enough to be a second game - if you want a green tick and your morning back, the scoring sheet will read as homework.

Every mistake spends one of the three dots in the Mistakes row under the board. Correct groups take a category colour - blue, green, yellow or purple - with the category name beside them. The scoring sheet does the rest of the talking: every win starts at 100 points, a mistake costs 15 and 30 once only two groups are left, and the bonuses run from Blue First at +5 through Hub First at +20 to Reverse Rainbow and Sub-90s at +30, plus a point for every day of your current streak.

Daily puzzle

The scheduled board of the day, one per calendar date, the only one that feeds your streak. Past dates stay playable from the Archive link.

Community puzzles

Boards built by other players, reached from the community puzzles link.

• Lead every guess with the tile you believe is the hub. Putting it first in all four guesses is worth +20, and the mirror image - burying it last every single time - triggers RULE BREAKER, which wipes every point you earned, streak bonus included, and leaves you on -100.
• Mistakes are not priced flat: a miss costs 15 points while three or four groups are open, but 30 once only two remain. The cheap moment to test a shaky idea is the first guess, not the last.
• Because every group runs through the hub, any trio that shares no word with your first solved group is mathematically impossible.
• Finishing under 90 seconds pays +30, as much as any other single bonus on the sheet. If the hub is obvious on sight, submitting fast is worth more than double-checking the last pair.