Focail in English (Irish Independent)

About Focail in English (Irish Independent)

Focail in English is a word game from the Irish Independent, published on the puzzles section of independent.ie. Focail is the Irish word for words, and the game has an Irish-language sister, Focail as Gaeilge, built on the same board.

The game follows the Wordle pattern. A grid of six rows of five tiles sits above an on-screen keyboard; you type a five-letter word and press Enter, and each tile turns to show whether the letter is right and in the right place, in the word but somewhere else, or not in the word. Words that are not in the game's list are refused with a Not in word list message, so a guess never costs you a row.

Each puzzle carries a number, and everyone gets the same word on the same day. A statistics page counts games played, win percentage, your current and longest win streak, average turns and a guess distribution, and the Share button copies your score and a grid of coloured squares. After you finish, a Replay button lets you play the day's word again without changing your statistics.

How to play Focail in English (Irish Independent)

1. Open Focail in English on independent.ie and press Play on the How to Play card.
2. Type a five-letter English word with the on-screen or physical keyboard and press Enter.
3. Read the tiles: one colour marks the correct letter in the correct place, another a letter that is in the word but elsewhere, and grey a letter that is not in the word.
4. Use what the tiles told you to make your next guess, and find the word within six tries.
5. Open the statistics page to see your streak and press Share to copy your result.

Tips

• Start with a word that uses several common vowels and consonants to rule letters in or out quickly.
• The keyboard keeps the colours of letters you have tried, so check it before each guess.
• A guess that is not in the word list is refused without using up a row, so you can try a spelling safely.

Questions