word games

5 tips for making long words in word games

One night in the late 1960s, the members of the British band Fairport Convention were travelling back to London after a gig. To while away the long hours on the motorway, they played a game in which each person had to add another letter to a… Read More
illustration children playing board game

What the Wordle?

Everybody’s favourite social media phenomenon Wordle is still going strong! According to the New York Times, over 300,000 people play every single day… and counting. One of the best things about Wordle is the sheer breadth of its vocabulary. Creator Josh Wardle says that there are approximately 2,500 words… Read More
children playing board game

Adventures in Wordle Land: Wordle #285

I started Wordle #285 with a streak of forty-nine consecutive wins, hoping to notch up a half-century. It proved to be a close-run encounter. I started with my usual opening word, using the two most common vowels, A and E: TARES* For the third time in five days, none… Read More
children playing board game

Adventures in Wordle Land: Wordle #282

Some Wordle puzzles leave you scratching your head to find any word that might fit into a particular pattern of letters. Wordle #282 was just the opposite of this, and provided a situation where I had too many solutions – more than the number of guesses available to me. I… Read More
illustration children playing board game

What to do when you are stuck at Wordle

Wordle #281 was not my finest hour. However, it did raise the interesting question of how to get started again when you come to a grinding halt. I started with my usual opening word, using the two most common vowels, A and E: TARES* None of the letters were… Read More

Top 10 Crossword Tips

Bamboozled by crosswords? Here are our top ten tips to help you hone your puzzle-solving skills! Crossword Tip #1: Quick crosswords Crossword puzzles tend to be basically ‘quick’ or ‘cryptic’. A quick crossword usually relies on a one- or two-word clue which is a simple definition of the answer required. Read More
Mixture of scrabble tiles

Get More Involved with Scrabble

Here are some Scrabble resources to keep you in the game… Associations World English-Language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA)The WESPA website also provides access to an Initiation Kit, highlighting major differences between the 2011 third edition of Collins Official Scrabble Words and the 2015 fourth… Read More

World Scrabble Championships 2017

The next World Scrabble Championship (WSC) will be taking place at the Old Museum, Nottingham Conference Centre, Nottingham Trent University from Tuesday 22nd – Sunday 27th August (preceded by the World Junior Championship at the same venue from 19-21). The event was originally due to be held in Qatar but… Read More