How to play Word Grid: finding more words fast

Three minutes goes quickly. The best players don’t search harder; they search smarter, with patterns that turn one find into five.

The rules

A 4×4 grid holds 16 letters. Link letters that touch, across, up and down or diagonally, to spell words of three or more letters. You can’t use the same square twice in one word. Longer words score more: 1 point for 3 or 4 letters, 2 for 5, 3 for 6, 5 for 7 and 11 for 8 or more.

Start with a quick scan

In the first few seconds, look for common pairs that sit together: TH, ER, ST, ING, ED. Each one is the start or end of many words.

Turn one word into several

Found RATE? Check for RATED, RATES, CRATE, GRATE and IRATE nearby. Plurals and -ED or -ER endings are the quickest extra points on the board.

Hunt for the long word

A single 7-letter word is worth as much as five short ones, and 8 letters is worth 11. Once you’ve grabbed the easy short words, spend time looking for one long word that uses a chunk of the grid.

Work around each vowel

Vowels are the hubs of the grid. Pick a vowel and look at the consonants around it. Many short words are just a consonant-vowel-consonant triangle.

Learn from the missed list

When time runs out you’ll see every word you missed. Glance through it: you’ll start to notice the patterns you tend to overlook.