XRDICA

XRDICA is a small web puzzle in the codeword family, made by Pehr Jansson. Each day it builds a grid of hidden words in which every letter has been replaced by a number, and the same number always stands for the same letter anywhere on the board. The daily puzzle is seeded by the date, so it is the same for everyone, and a calendar archive lets you go back to earlier days.

You click a tile, type the letter you think it hides, and press Enter to check every filled tile at once. Correct letters turn green, lock in and fill that number everywhere in the grid; wrong ones turn red and clear on your next move. The game starts with a few rows and adds a new word at the bottom every 50 points, up to ten rows, and you finish when every row is solved. When you finish, English puzzles can show the definitions of the day's words.

What sets it apart is the golf-style score: every key press and every five seconds adds a point, and every correct letter takes one away, so careful guesses beat rapid typing. A pause button and auto-pause stop the clock when you step away, and a stats panel keeps your games and streak. Early-week puzzles draw on a gentler word pool and Friday and Saturday on the full one.

A language menu switches the game between English, Swedish, French, Spanish and Czech, each with its own daily grid and cipher. It suits players who like codewords and cryptograms but want something they can finish in a few minutes.