🔤 Word Search

I typed a 14-word spelling list into Easy and three words just didn't go in — the grid was placing words by trial and error and giving up early. It now looks at every spot a word fits, packs words so they share letters, and tries the whole grid again before it gives up: that same list now goes in whole about 9 times in 10 (it was 1 in 100), a word that still won't fit is named, and Medium takes 18 words, Hard 24. Typing your words also used to do nothing until you guessed to press New puzzle — there's a "Make a puzzle from my words" button right under the box now (Ctrl/⌘ + Enter works too). And if you play with a keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

Two things in the word search were quietly unfair. The random filler letters sometimes spelled a word a second time (in about one Animals puzzle in six, DOG or CAT was in the grid twice), and finding it in the "wrong" spot counted for nothing; same for SUN when your own list also had SUNFLOWER. Now a word counts wherever you find it, forwards or backwards, and the filler no longer spells your words again. The printable answer page was also off: its highlight bars sat half a row too high and stopped in the middle of the last letter, so they marked the wrong letters. They now run through each word from end to end, the letters sit in the middle of their squares, a half-done Daily survives a reload as the Daily, and the worksheet is titled with the puzzle's real theme and your own date.