Squaredle

Squaredle sets a grid of letters and asks for every word buried in it. Words are traced by swiping through adjacent tiles in any direction, or typed and submitted with Enter, and the panel on the left keeps a live count by length. Each board is rated for difficulty out of five stars, and a separately tracked Bonus Word of the Day sits beside the main list.

1. Read the difficulty stars and the word counts before starting. They tell you how long the board will take.
2. Trace a word by swiping through adjacent letters in any direction, or type it and press Enter; Backspace deletes and Esc cancels.
3. Watch the per-length counters rather than the total: they show which sizes still hide words.
4. Spend the reveal sparingly and chase the Bonus Word last, since it is tracked separately from the main list.

Because the counter changes the psychology entirely. Most word games end when you find the answer; this one tells you there are ten six-letter words left and lets you sit with that. The grid stays open, the missing tallies do not move until you earn them, and the last handful, the sevens and eights, are where a puzzle that looked finished suddenly is not. It is a completionist's daily rather than a two-minute one, and the difficulty rating on each board tells you in advance what you are signing up for.

The word list is the feedback. Every length has its own heading with a running "+N words left" beneath it, so progress reads as a set of shrinking counters rather than a single score, and the header keeps the total, words found out of words on the board. A limited reveal budget sits above the list, and each length offers a Reveal a random word link that spends it. The Bonus Word appears masked, with a share action that trades a post for a hint.

Today

The day's board, rated for difficulty, with its full word list and reveal budget.

Yesterday

A tab beside Today that reopens the previous day's grid.

Bonus Word of the Day

A separate masked word, hinted through a share action, tracked apart from the main count.

• Work the long words first. The fours arrive on their own while you hunt sevens and eights, but the reverse is not true, and the longest words are what turn a finished-looking board into an unfinished one.
• Adjacency is generous (swipes run in any direction, diagonals included), so a letter cluster that looks stranded in a corner usually is not.
• The hint panel unlocks on its own schedule, at 3pm US Pacific or once you have cleared enough of the board, so a board you cannot finish now may be finishable later the same day.