Medium1 player·5–10 min
Waffle
Six words arranged in a crossword grid — swap misplaced letters into their correct positions.
Waffle presents a 5×5 crossword-style grid containing six five-letter words (three across, three down) in which every letter is already present but many are in the wrong square. Players must swap letters into their correct positions to solve all six words within fifteen moves. Every letter is colour-coded from the start: green means it's in the right place, yellow means it belongs in this word but in a different position, and white means it belongs in the other orientation (across vs down).
How swapping works
- Click or tap one letter, then another — they swap positions.
- The puzzle always has a solution using exactly 10 swaps (for a perfect "6-star" score). You have 15 moves before failing.
- Green letters should never be moved — they are already correct.
- After each swap the colours update instantly, showing you the new state.
Strategy tips
- Fix the corner letters first. Corner squares appear in both an Across and a Down word simultaneously — placing them correctly benefits two words at once.
- Look for "swap chains": a yellow letter can often be swapped directly to where it belongs, displacing another letter that also needs to move. Chaining swaps this way minimises your move count.
- Identify the word skeletons first. With the green letters fixed, you usually have enough constraint to deduce what the full words must be, then work backwards to plan the minimum swaps.
- Never move a green tile — even if you think you see a better arrangement, it will always cost you extra moves to restore it.