Waffle is a daily word game of 21 letters within boxes created by James Robinson. The challenge for solvers is to rearrange the letters to create six interlinked five-letter words.
The boxes will change colour according to whether they are in the right or wrong position. You have 15 moves or fewer to complete the puzzle, with each Waffle taking a minimum of 10 moves to solve. Gold stars are awarded according to how well you do.
How to play
1. Take a look at the puzzle and check which letters are already in the correct place.
Green = letter in correct place.
Yellow = letter is part of that horizontal/vertical word but in a different position (if it is in a square which sits on both a row and a column, like the top ‘T’ in the example above, then it could be in the horizontal or the vertical word).
Grey = letter is in the wrong place and not in that horizontal/vertical word.
2. Consider these special cases
- Sometimes the same letter will appear multiple times in one word.
In the above horizontal word there can only be one ‘A’ as only one is highlighted yellow.
Once an ‘A’ is in the correct place, the first A is no longer needed, so turns grey.
- The ‘Funky Dingo’ situation.
This is when a horizontal and vertical word must both contain the same letter, as with the letter ‘N’ here:
This doesn’t necessarily mean that both of the letter Ns must be used in the two words. In this example, both words contain an N in the middle, and the other N belongs in ‘CLONE’.
The highlighted letters simply indicate that a letter (in this case N) is in the mystery word. It doesn’t mean that this particular N has to satisfy that.
3. Use the information contained in the starter puzzle and combine this with your knowledge of the English language to logically deduce where letters can go.
In this case, we know that there is an ‘O’ in the top horizontal word and that it is currently in the wrong place (as it’s coloured yellow).
As the ‘B’ and ‘N’ in this word are already correctly placed (they are green) this leaves two possible options for the ‘O’.
If it were to go where the letter ’T’ currently sits, the first three letters of the corresponding vertical word would be ‘OEM’. As no such word occurs in English, we know that the ‘O’ has to go in the position where the ‘C’ appears.
4. Continue with this process of deduction until all letters turn green and you have six words (three reading horizontally and three reading vertically).
What’s the verdict?
Waffly by name (and look) but not by nature. This game is sleek, clear and fun to play.
While it’s been around for nearly as long as Wordle, it hasn‘t hit the headlines in the same way. This is most likely because it asks a little more of solvers. You must have a good handle on spelling (it’s not going to tell you if a word doesn’t exist, for example) along with one eye on how your decisions can impact other elements of the puzzle. In this respect it shares some similarities with a Codebreaker, Pair and Square or Bits and Pieces, all of which require some thinking ahead.
Once you’re up to speed you’ll find that there’s something about this word game that keeps drawing you back. You might even be tempted by Waffle Royale, an exclusive version for Amazon Prime members.
Finally, with the reveal of a handy set of dictionary definitions at the end of every solve, it could be that Waffle words start cropping up in your day-to-day life. Is it time to make this puzzle part of your remit?
[Images from wafflegame.net by James Robinson]