Broken Words

About Broken Words

Broken Words sits between an unscramble game and a crossword. Most variants tell you what an answer means, and the grid tells you what it is made of, but not as single letters: each answer has been cut into short chunks, and the chunks from every answer in the set are jumbled together. The cuts are not syllables. Chutzpah arrives as CH, UTZ and PAH, and troubleshoot as TRO, UBL, ESH and OOT, so you have to read the pool as raw letters rather than sounds.

You tap the chunks of an answer from left to right. There is no submit button and no penalty for a wrong try: when your selection matches, it locks in and its chunks grey out. Every solved answer takes pieces out of play, so the last few answers often fall out of whatever is still lit. Shuffle rearranges the grid when your eye gets stuck, and Clear starts the current answer again.

Each daily pack has six variants that give different amounts of help. Mix, the default, gives a clue for every answer plus its first letters and word lengths. Clues and Two Clues give a letter count instead, Two Clues packing an either-or hint into one phrase. Thematic keeps the clues but hides the length, One Clue gives the whole set a single subject, and Cryptic gives neither until the first answer reveals the theme. Answers range from everyday words to place names, brands and phrases.

The game is free with no account; yesterday's pack stays playable for one more day, and Puzzleship hosts the same game with an archive for its premium members.

How to play Broken Words

1. Open brokenwords.com and pick a variant tab; Mix is the gentlest start.
2. Read the clue for an answer and look at what the slot shows: a letter count, first letters, or a question mark.
3. Find that answer's chunks in the shared pool and tap them in order from left to right.
4. A correct answer locks in by itself and its chunks grey out.
5. Use Shuffle or Clear when stuck, and work on through every answer in the variant.

Tips

• Do not sound the chunks out; they are cut mid-syllable on purpose, so read them as letters.
• Solve the easy answers first: every solved one removes chunks and narrows the pool.
• In Clues and Two Clues, the letter count tells you exactly how many letters of the pool an answer uses.
• Save Cryptic for when you have time; its first answer gives you the theme for the rest.

Questions