Word Wheel (Metro)

About Word Wheel (Metro)

Word Wheel is one of the free puzzles on Metro.co.uk, the website of the UK newspaper Metro, alongside its quick and cryptic crosswords, sudoku and hangman. It plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with no account needed to start.

The puzzle is a ring of eight letters around a ninth in the middle. You build words by picking letters from the wheel, and every word has to contain the centre letter. A counter beside the wheel shows how many words you have found against the total and a target, and a progress bar fills as you go. Somewhere in the letters is a single word that uses all nine.

Metro publishes its free puzzles Monday to Friday. A new wheel goes up each weekday and is the same for everyone that day. Weekend puzzles, along with competition crosswords and sudoku, are part of Metro's paid Puzzles+ subscription.

The page has a Rules button, a Hint button when you are stuck, a Shuffle button that rearranges the outer letters to help you see new words, and a timer you can pause. The page carries Metro's usual advertising. It suits anyone who likes the word wheel or target puzzles from a printed newspaper and wants a short anagram session on a weekday.

How to play Word Wheel (Metro)

1. Open Metro's Word Wheel page on a weekday to get that day's nine letters.
2. Tap or click letters on the wheel to build a word in the row of boxes below it, always including the centre letter.
3. Press Enter to submit the word; valid words appear in the Words found list.
4. Use Clear letter or Clear word to fix a mistake, and Shuffle to rearrange the outer letters.
5. Keep going until you reach the target, and look for the one word that uses all nine letters.

Tips

• Look for the nine-letter word early: common endings such as -ING, -ED or -ER often point to it.
• Shuffle the wheel when you run dry; seeing the letters in a new order brings out new words.
• Once you have a long word, look for shorter words inside it that still keep the centre letter.
• Use the Hint button sparingly if you want the satisfaction of reaching the target on your own.

Questions