Word puzzle
Small puzzles. Big discoveries.
Have fun finding words — and learning the surprising trivia behind them.
Words to wonders
A word. A little wonder.
OCTOPUS reads across; OCEAN reads down, sharing their first O.
| O row 1 column 1 | C row 1 column 2 | T row 1 column 3 | O row 1 column 4 | P row 1 column 5 | U row 1 column 6 | S row 1 column 7 |
| C row 2 column 1 | empty row 2 column 2 | empty row 2 column 3 | empty row 2 column 4 | empty row 2 column 5 | empty row 2 column 6 | empty row 2 column 7 |
| E row 3 column 1 | empty row 3 column 2 | empty row 3 column 3 | empty row 3 column 4 | empty row 3 column 5 | empty row 3 column 6 | empty row 3 column 7 |
| A row 4 column 1 | empty row 4 column 2 | empty row 4 column 3 | empty row 4 column 4 | empty row 4 column 5 | empty row 4 column 6 | empty row 4 column 7 |
| N row 5 column 1 | empty row 5 column 2 | empty row 5 column 3 | empty row 5 column 4 | empty row 5 column 5 | empty row 5 column 6 | empty row 5 column 7 |
The crossboard
A crossword gives you a grid and a list of clues. A crossboard gives you the letters too — a finite, honest set of them — and makes the order you solve in part of the puzzle.
Every board is a set of intersecting answers. A letter you commit in one word is a letter given to the word that crosses it, so solving one entry genuinely makes its neighbours easier.
Seven visible slots, backed by a hidden reserve holding exactly the letters the board still needs. Placing a tile leaves its slot empty — nothing slides over — so what you can see is always the truth.
Letters go down in pencil and stay that way until you press Check. Correct letters ink and stay; incorrect ones come back to the rack. Checking is free, but wrong commits cost score.
600 local illustrations bring visual deduction to every World. A board selects a small, varied set. Tap a clue to enlarge it; pictures work offline.
A few free starter letters help you begin, with extra support for longer answers. These givens never reveal a whole answer or add points.
Every authored puzzle ships with the app. No account or connection is required to play; online services stay optional.
How play works
One loop, repeated until the crossing is complete. There is no time limit; take the space you need to think.
Pick an entry and read its clue. Crossing letters already inked stay in place.
Letters go down in pencil. Each tile leaves its rack slot visibly empty.
One free action commits every pencilled letter at once.
Right letters ink permanently, and a solved word marks the crossing.
Wrong letters come back to the rack. Only the gaps left by correct letters draw again.
Repeat until the crossing is complete. The reserve empties as the board fills.
Checking is free, so there is no cost to being careful. Committing a letter that turns out to be wrong lowers the board’s score, which is what keeps Check from becoming a letter-by-letter oracle.
Ways to play
Authored puzzles, arranged to be worked through.
One authored board a day, the same for everyone.
Progressive hints
Choose how much help you want. Each tool shows its current Ink cost or free availability. Spending Ink on hints lowers that board’s score.
Adds a second, clearer clue for the entry you are working on. The original clue stays — you end up with both, and can reopen the pair for the rest of the board.
Opens an enlarged, indirect picture beside the clue. It narrows the idea without revealing the answer, and no letters change. Available only for selected text clues; once unlocked, reopening it on that crossing is free.
Reveals and inks exactly one letter, in the cell you choose.
The single currency the hints draw on. Each tool shows its current cost or free availability. Spending Ink on hints reduces that board’s score.
Still stuck? A separate whole-word rescue explains its Ink and score cost and asks for confirmation. Primary picture clues are part of the puzzle; they do not also offer a Lens picture for the same answer.
Earn Ink through play. Where available, choose a rewarded video for verified Ink. Watching is never required to finish a puzzle, and this release has no paid Ink.
Paced full-screen ads may appear between completed boards. A standard banner may appear separately from play controls. Availability depends on age treatment and privacy choices. How ads and account protection work.
A closer look
Build words. Explore worlds. Six short chapters on how Wordlore plays and what you can discover. Open any card to read it; use the arrows or your keyboard to move between them.
Seven visible tiles, a hidden reserve, and one free Check.
A Wordlore board is a set of answers that share letters. You work from a rack of seven visible tiles, backed by a reserve holding exactly the letters the board still needs — nothing arbitrary, nothing wasted.
Letters land in pencil. Their rack slots stay visibly empty; no tile slides over to hide the gap. When you are ready, Check commits everything at once: correct letters ink permanently, and incorrect ones return to the rack.
Only the gaps left by correct letters draw again, and only while the reserve lasts. Near the end there is nothing left to draw, and the board finishes on what you already hold.
Lantern, Lens, and Quill — help that narrows rather than solves.
Every entry starts with one clue. A Lantern adds a second, clearer one and leaves the first in place, so you finish with the pair rather than a replacement. Once unlocked, both stay open for the rest of the board.
A Lens opens an enlarged picture that points at the idea sideways — a setting, a trace, a detail — without naming it. No letters change. It is offered only where a suitable illustration exists, and reopening it is free.
A Quill is the direct one: it reveals and inks a single letter in the cell you choose. The tools show their current Ink cost or free availability. Spending Ink on a board lowers its score. Stuck help also offers a separate whole-word rescue, with its own confirmation and cost.
Small puzzles. A world of discovery across ten themed worlds.
Puzzles are grouped into worlds — Nature, Ocean, Space, Science, Entertainment, Sports, Geography, Myths & Legends, History, and Arts & Letters. Each has its own colour direction and its own illustrated resident, drawn twice so it belongs in daylight and at night.
Within a world, Journey content is arranged into volumes and chapters, then into levels. Finishing one keeps it open for inspection, and replaying it starts a fresh board without erasing what you earned.
All ten worlds have authored Journey puzzles in the first release: 114 levels in total, each built from six crossing entries. Complete the next available level to open the following one.
For curious kids — and the grown-ups beside them. Explore together: read the clues, talk through unfamiliar words, and discover the stories behind the answers.
One authored board a day, the same one for everybody.
The Daily Crossing is a single authored board, shared by everyone who plays it that day. The givens are fixed, so two people comparing notes are genuinely comparing the same puzzle.
There is no time limit. A local streak records your visits, and an optional reminder can help you return. Missing a day never locks you out of the puzzle.
167 illustrated cards, each with a verified fact and its source.
The discovery continues beyond the board. Completing levels unlocks cards. Each one is an original illustration with a short verified fact and a citation for where that fact came from — the reward for finishing a puzzle is something true.
Cards are grouped by the world they came from, and a locked card shows its route through the World, chapter, and level. Sealed and collected filters help you find your next discovery. Every card has a night companion.
Light, dark, zoom, reduced motion, and no connection required.
Light, Dark, and System are all first-class. Dark is an authored night treatment — the paper, lighting, World scenes, and Collection art change. Primary picture clues keep the same readable illustration in both themes.
The board pans and zooms instead of shrinking below a readable cell, so large text sizes stay usable. Reduced motion replaces travel with immediate state changes without removing any information, and important changes are announced.
Everything authored ships inside the app. No account or connection is required to play; online services stay optional.
See completed crossings, Collection progress, your Daily streak, Ink, and optional account status in one place. Open Collection or Settings directly. Your Profile is private. Guest progress stays on your device; Cloud Save is enabled for explicitly linked accounts.
Link Google, Sign in with Apple, or Game Center on iOS to back up and synchronize puzzle progress, unfinished boards, completed levels, Collection, Daily streak, and your appearance preference. Sync needs a connection; puzzle play does not. Ink earned through play stays local. Verified rewarded-ad Ink has a separate account-protected server balance.
Puzzle worlds
Each world has its own subject, palette, and resident, and every illustration has a night companion drawn for it rather than a dimmed daytime version.
Meadow edges, quiet tracks, and the habits of animals that notice you first.
fox · leaves · tracks · meadow
Currents, coral shelves, and the patient intelligence of deep water.
octopus · coral · shells · currents
Orbits, instruments, and the long arithmetic of getting somewhere far away.
astronaut · orbit · restrained stars
Diagrams, careful glassware, and creatures that turn out to be excellent evidence.
axolotl · diagrams · glassware
Stages, projector light, and the songs everyone somehow already knows.
stage hound · projector · music marks
Lane markings, hard-won seconds, and the trophies that remember them.
running hare · track · trophy
Coastlines, compass bearings, and routes drawn by people who walked them.
tortoise · map · compass · route
Ruins, warnings carved in stone, and the creatures the warnings were about.
dragon · ruins · symbols
Monuments, archive marks, and the dates that turned out to matter.
owl · monuments · archive marks
Studios, well-used brushes, and the books that keep being reread.
atelier cat · book · brush · tools
Accessibility and appearance
World scenes and Collection cards have authored night companions. Primary picture clues use the same clear illustration in both themes. New players begin in Light; an explicit appearance choice is remembered.
The board pans and zooms rather than shrinking cells below a readable size, so large system text stays usable.
Travel and parallax are replaced by immediate state changes. No information or state change is lost.
Cells, clues, and board changes are labelled and announced, and the board is navigable by focus rather than by touch alone.
