Wordsearch (PuzzleMadness)

About Wordsearch (PuzzleMadness)

Wordsearch is the familiar letter grid with a word list beside it. Each word sits in a straight line in the grid: across, down or on a diagonal, and it may read backwards. On PuzzleMadness the day's list follows a theme (the example on the rules page is a list of words for pushing and poking, such as Prod, Nudge and Elbow), and found words stay highlighted and are crossed off the list.

The daily page opens today's puzzle on its own, and its title carries the date (on 3 October 2026 it read "Daily Wordsearch Puzzle for Saturday 3rd October 2026"). The Wordsearch page has a single daily puzzle rather than a choice of levels. Past days stay in the archive, so a missed puzzle can be played later, and there is a print version and an image download of the grid. PuzzleMadness does not publish solutions: the site tells you when you have finished a grid correctly or made a mistake. Each completed puzzle adds to your total on the Wordsearch monthly and all-time leaderboards, where only your best score on any one puzzle counts.

Wordsearch is the gentlest puzzle on the site and suits players who want a calm few minutes rather than a logic problem. It works with a mouse or with a finger on a tablet. Scanning for unusual letters (a Q, a Z, a double letter) is quicker than reading the grid line by line.

PuzzleMadness is a British puzzle site with dozens of daily puzzle types in the browser, from many sudoku variants to logic grids such as Nurikabe, Hashi and Slitherlink. It is free to play and carries ads. A free account keeps track of the puzzles you have finished and puts your name on the leaderboards, and the badges next to usernames mark how many puzzles a player has completed.

How to play Wordsearch (PuzzleMadness)

1. Open the day's Wordsearch page; today's grid loads with its word list.
2. Find a word from the list in the grid: across, down or diagonal, forwards or backwards, always in a straight line.
3. Press on the first letter and drag to the last letter, then let go to submit the word.
4. A correct word stays highlighted and is crossed off the list; keep going until the list is empty.

Screenshots

Tips

• Look for the rarest letter in a word first, then check the eight directions around each place it appears.
• Remember backwards words: many players miss the ones that read right to left or bottom to top.
• Short words hide inside longer ones, so find the long words first.

Questions