The letter relay
Anagram Relay
Add one letter. Discover the next word.
No daily editions of Anagram Relay are published yet. These are practice rounds: original, machine-validated and clearly labelled, but not yet through human editorial review. Difficulty labels are the author's intention, not calibrated evidence.
Master rounds are written for strong tile-game and cryptic-crossword players: obscure but valid vocabulary, denser puzzles and fewer helping hands. They are the hardest rounds here.
Gentle 14 rounds
Original demo relay 1Original demo round · Not startedOriginal demo relay 2Original demo round · Not startedGentle relay 1Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 2Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 3Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 4Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 5Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 6Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 7Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 8Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 9Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 10Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 11Practice round · Not startedGentle relay 12Practice round · Not started
Standard 14 rounds
Standard relay 1Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 2Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 3Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 4Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 5Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 6Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 7Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 8Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 9Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 10Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 11Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 12Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 13Practice round · Not startedStandard relay 14Practice round · Not started
Expert 20 rounds
Expert relay 1Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 2Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 3Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 4Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 5Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 6Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 7Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 8Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 9Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 10Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 11Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 12Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 13Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 14Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 15Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 16Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 17Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 18Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 19Practice round · Not startedExpert relay 20Practice round · Not started
Master 14 rounds
Master relay 1Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 2Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 3Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 4Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 5Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 6Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 7Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 8Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 9Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 10Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 11Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 12Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 13Practice round · Not startedMaster relay 14Practice round · Not started
How to play
Start from the given word. At each stage (three, or four in Master), keep every letter, add exactly one more, and rearrange them all to answer the clue.
Running a stage
- A relay has a start word and three clued stages (Master relays may have four). Each answer is exactly one letter longer than the word before it.
- Use every letter of the previous word, plus exactly one new letter, and rearrange them into the clued answer.
- You may never drop, swap or leave out a letter. Rearranging the same letters without adding one is not a move.
- The new letter may be one that is already there, for example a second R.
- Your answer must fit the clue as well as the letters: another word made from the same letters is not accepted.
- Only the current stage takes answers. Type your answer, or choose the added letter and tap tiles to build it, then press Submit.
- A rejected answer stays in the box so you can rearrange it. Wrong answers never cost points.
More than one right answer
- Some stages accept two answers that both fit the clue, for example two words for the same idea made from the same letters.
- Every accepted answer has been checked to lead on to the end of the relay, and later stages follow the answer you chose.
Changing an earlier answer
- Use Revise on a finished stage to reopen it. Later answers depend on it, so they are cleared after you confirm.
- One wrong attempt never disturbs stages you have already solved.
Scoring
- Each stage you solve earns an equal share of 100 points (a third, or a quarter in a four-stage Master relay); the total is rounded once at the end.
- A stage filled by a hint scores 0. Revealing the whole relay ends the round as revealed.
- The result lists every letter that was added and shows the whole chain.
Hints
- Letter to add: names the new letter for the current stage (Gentle rounds show it from the start).
- Opening letters: shows the first two letters of the answer.
- Where the new letter goes: shows the pattern with the opening letters and the new letter in place.
- Fill this stage: completes the current stage (it scores 0). Reveal the whole relay: shows every remaining answer.
- Hints never change what you have typed, and they follow the answers you chose.
Difficulty
- Gentle: short start words, direct clues, and the letter to add is shown. A simple plural may appear as a learning step.
- Standard: you work out the added letter yourself, and the rearrangements are less obvious.
- Expert: repeated letters, precise but less obvious clues, and some stages with two accepted answers.
- Master: five- to seven-letter starts that grow to a nine- or ten-letter word. The letter to add is never shown, and clues are cryptic-flavoured: an indicator such as 'recast with a newcomer' tells you to rearrange the word above plus one extra letter, and the rest of the clue defines the answer. Answers may be uncommon words that a strong player will know. Where the larger word list allows another word from the same letters, the definition is written to point to one answer.
- Each difficulty is a different set of relays. These labels are the author's intention and have not yet been calibrated with players.
Example
STARE plus N makes ASTERN (behind a ship); ASTERN plus P makes PARENTS; PARENTS plus a second R makes PARTNERS. STARE to ALERT is not allowed: it swaps S for L instead of adding.
Release status for Anagram Relay
- Engine rules and tests: passed · Pure add-one multiset engine, exchange-one rejected, branch-aware hints, revision and reveal; exact chain validator
- Browser walkthrough (keyboard, touch, refresh, hint, completion): passed · tests/e2e/anagram-relay.spec.ts
- Human editorial review of every round: open
- Reviewed practice bank (10+ rounds per advertised difficulty): open
- 30 scheduled reviewed daily editions: open
- Approved dictionary membership layer: open
- Observed player pilot and difficulty calibration: open
- Manual screen-reader and real-device checks: open