Word Search (Metro)

About Word Search (Metro)

Word Search is one of the free puzzles on the website of Metro, the UK newspaper, alongside its quick and cryptic crosswords, Word Wheel, Hangman and sudoku. The page describes it as a daily puzzle to play on your phone, tablet or computer, and it runs in the browser with no account.

Each puzzle has a theme word shown above the list of words to find. On the day we looked the theme was "green", and the 21 words were ones that pair with it: back, bean, bowling, curry, dragon, heritage, house, island, jungle, light, lime and so on. They are hidden in a 13 by 13 grid of capital letters, and Metro notes that a word can read forwards or backwards. A counter shows how many you have found, and a timer, which you can pause, keeps track of how long it takes.

The theme makes it a little more than a plain search: once you see what links the words, you can guess what to look for before you reach the list. A Hint button helps when one word will not show itself, and a Rules button explains the play. When the grid is done Metro shows your time and offers a link to share the puzzle with friends.

It suits anyone who wants a short, calm word puzzle with their daily news, and it sits well with Metro's other free puzzles on the same pages. The page carries newspaper adverts.

How to play Word Search (Metro)

1. Open the Word Search page on Metro.co.uk; the day's grid loads with the timer running.
2. Read the theme word above the list on the right: every word to find goes with it.
3. Look for a word from the list in the grid, reading forwards or backwards along a row, column or diagonal.
4. Select the letters of the word in the grid to mark it as found; the Words found counter goes up by one.
5. Use Hint if a word will not show itself, and keep going until every word on the list is found and your time is shown.

Tips

• Scan for rare letters in the word you want, such as a J, K or W, rather than for its first letter.
• Remember that words can run backwards, so check both ways along a line once you spot a likely letter pair.
• Work the long words first: they cross many rows and are easier to spot, and they clear letters out of the way.
• Pause the timer if you need to step away, so your time stays fair.

Questions