Letterlicious

About Letterlicious

Letterlicious is an original word puzzle by Jeff Widderich and Andrew Stuart, the makers of Str8ts, on letterlicious.com. It is billed as the crossword that grows right before your eyes: each day brings a numbered puzzle, the same for every player, and the aim is the highest score and best arrangement of words.

The letter tray holds seven rows of nine letters. You build your first word from letters in the top row; every letter you use uncovers the letter below it, and those exposed letters, at most nine at a time, feed your next word. New words must connect to earlier ones and are checked as you go, turning green when valid and red when not, and Submit locks them in and releases the next letters. As letters leave the tray, its space becomes part of the board, so the grid grows as you play.

Completing a row or column scores the points printed beside it, and longer words earn bonus points: one for a four-letter word, two for five letters and so on. There is no timer on your solving. With a free account you can save your game, compare it with everyone else's and see the top ten solutions, which are published the next day, along with an all-time high score table and a monthly champion.

The site also runs German (Letterbissen) and Dutch (Letterlistig) versions. It suits Scrabble and crossword players who like to plan, rather than race.

How to play Letterlicious

1. Open the day's puzzle and look at the top row of the letter tray.
2. Place a word on the board using letters from the top row.
3. Press Submit once your words are valid to lock them and uncover the letters below the ones you used.
4. Build each new word from the exposed letters, joining it to the words already on the board.
5. Complete rows and columns and make long words for points, then save your game to enter the day's rankings.

Tips

• Use letters that uncover useful letters underneath; what you take from the top row decides what you get next.
• Long words pay bonus points, so hold out for a five or six letter word when you can.
• Plan for completed rows and columns, which add their printed values to your score.
• Check the top solutions the next day to see how others used the same letters.

Questions