WordAxle

WordAxle stacks three horizontal words of increasing lengths (four, five, then six letters), and runs a vertical axle down the middle that crosses all of them. You guess the words top to bottom as in a classic color grid, except that each solved word also yields its crossing letter to the axle. The axle itself can be attempted at any time, in a single shot.

1. Look at the central column: several axle letters are already placed at the start, those that fall between two horizontal words and therefore cross nothing.
2. Solve the four-letter word, then the five-letter, then the six-letter, typing on the virtual keyboard and confirming with SUBMIT.
3. Collect the axle letter freed by each solved horizontal word.
4. Attempt GUESS THE AXLE WORD when you feel ready: the rules panel announces a single attempt, not penalized if it fails.
5. Watch the counter at the top of the board, since the day's score is the total number of guesses.

The whole point is the geometry: three words of different lengths stitched together by an axle, so two sources of information feed each other. Solving above helps below, guessing the axle helps everywhere. The wager on the axle is the game's real decision, since it costs nothing on failure but can only be attempted once: it's the only moment you choose between waiting and forcing, and that choice is what separates two scores.

Two streams of information run in parallel. For the current word, the rules panel gives the usual triptych: correct letter in the right place, correct letter in the wrong place, letter absent. On the axle, feedback is structural rather than color-based: it already starts partially written and fills in by itself with each solved horizontal word. The rules state that a successful axle attempt reveals all its letters and opens a bonus: choose up to three letters and learn which of them belong to the horizontal word currently being solved.

Daily grid

A grid dated by day, saved locally in the browser under a key that includes the date.

• The axle letters visible at startup are those that don't cross any horizontal word: they aren't earned, they're given. Count them before you start.
• The axle attempt isn't penalized if it fails according to the rules, but it's unique: playing it too early wastes it, playing it too late means you've already paid in guesses for what it would have offered.
• The score is the total number of guesses: a try launched just to "see" counts in the final tally; there is no free move on the horizontal words.