Word Safe

About Word Safe

Word Safe is one of PuzzleLab's free daily browser puzzles. The board looks like the dials of a combination lock: seven columns of letters that you slide up or down, with one highlighted row across the middle. Six seven-letter target words are hidden in the columns, and each one appears when the right letters line up in that row.

When you think the row spells a word, you submit it. A target word is found and the board moves on. Any other real word of five or more letters counts toward a hint: three of them earn one, and you can earn up to three hints, each of which reveals letters in a word you have not yet found. A submission that is not a word is a mistake, and three mistakes end the game.

The daily safe is generated from a seed that every player shares, taken from the date in Pacific time, so it changes at midnight there. Once you have finished it, the daily stays locked until the next day, and a practice mode deals new safes whenever you like. At the end you see which words you found, how many mistakes you made and how many hints you used, with a result to share. PuzzleLab keeps a streak across its daily games and needs no sign-up.

How to play Word Safe

1. Open Word Safe on PuzzleLab and start the daily puzzle.
2. Slide the seven columns up and down to change the letters in the highlighted row.
3. Submit when the row spells a word.
4. Find all six hidden seven-letter target words to crack the safe; other words of five or more letters build toward a hint.
5. Avoid submitting non-words: the third mistake ends the game.

Tips

• Look for common seven-letter endings such as ING, ION or ERS in the right-hand columns first.
• Spotting shorter real words is useful: three of them earn a hint.
• Before submitting, read the row aloud; a near-word costs a mistake.
• Each target uses letters from every column, so the leftover letters narrow down the last words.

Questions