ClueDay

Rate it

Six letters, five clues: name the day's mystery word as early as you can.

Play ClueDay

on clueday.com

ClueDay's board for 7 October 2026: the first of five clues, Interjects without rest, beside an empty six-letter, five-row guess grid and an on-screen keyboard

ClueDay is a free daily word puzzle with a detective theme. The mystery word has six letters and you have five tries. Each wrong guess shows which letters are right, misplaced or absent, and unlocks the next clue, from cryptic hints to plainer ones; the fewer clues you need, the better your place on the day's leaderboard.

About ClueDay

ClueDay casts you as a detective with one case a day: a six-letter mystery word. The first clue is meant to be hard, and each extra clue makes the answer a little clearer, with five in all. Clues are short phrases that mix definitions, wordplay and pop culture, along the lines of Beach builder's masterpiece or Interlocking picture pieces.

You guess on a six-letter grid with five rows. A guess that misses is coloured letter by letter, green for a right letter in the right place, orange for one in the word but elsewhere and grey for one not in it, and it unlocks the next clue, so the clues and the letters narrow the word down together. The result screen records how many clues you needed, building a distribution in your stats over time. Solve it on the first clue and you have beaten Holmes, who, the game jokes, knew by clue two.

Each day's results feed a leaderboard under a detective name, with no account or payment needed; progress and stats are saved in your browser. Players can also write their own six-letter, five-clue puzzles for others to solve, with the advice to save the obvious clue for last. A feedback form is there for suggestions.

ClueDay suits crossword fans who enjoy a single, well-made clue chain rather than a full grid.

How to play ClueDay

Open clueday.com and press Play Now to see the first clue to the day's six-letter word.
Type a six-letter guess on the keyboard and press Enter.
Read the colours: green is the right letter in the right place, orange is in the word elsewhere, grey is not in it.
A wrong guess reveals the next clue; use it with the letters you have.
Find the word within five guesses, then check your place on the leaderboard and share your result.

Screenshots

ClueDay's practice round: the guess SINGER coloured letter by letter (R green, I and G orange, the rest grey) and a second clue, Held close to the body, revealed

ClueDay start screen for Case #5: New Case Available, a mystery word to guess from as few clues as possible, with Check First Clue and Past Case Words buttons

Tips

Read the first clue for wordplay as well as meaning; the early clues are the trickiest.
Count letters: the answer is always six, which rules out many tempting guesses.
Do not guess wildly; a lucky early solve is worth more, but a repeated guess helps no one.
Try writing your own clue set to learn how the setters think.