Couples

About Couples

Couples is a daily word chain game made by Xiomara and Osebo. Each puzzle gives you the first and last words of a chain, and the words in between are blank. Every missing word has to make a common phrase with the word before it and another with the word after it. The game's own example runs go, down, fall, back, stage, name: go down, down fall, fall back, back stage and stage name.

You type your guesses for the missing words and get three tries to complete the chain. After each try the letters are marked: green for a letter that is right, orange for one that is wrong, so a near miss still tells you where to look. The puzzle is numbered and the same for every player, and a new one goes up each day at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern. You can play the day's chain once; earlier chains sit in an archive and can be played there without affecting your streak.

It suits people who like compound words and stock phrases more than spelling puzzles: the trick is thinking of what a word commonly goes with on both sides.

How to play Couples

1. Read the first and last words of the day's chain.
2. Think of a word that makes a common phrase with the word before it and another with the word after it.
3. Fill in every missing word and submit.
4. Green letters are right and orange ones wrong; use them to fix your next try.
5. Complete the chain within three tries, then share your score.
6. Open the archive to play earlier chains.

Tips

• Work from both ends: a word that fits the last word narrows the middle fast.
• Try both orders in your head; the phrase is always the earlier word first, as in down fall, not fall down.
• Compound words count as phrases, so think of backstage as back plus stage.

Questions