The connection collection
Word Families
Four groups. Connections worth discovering.
No daily editions of Word Families 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 15 rounds
Starter familiesOriginal demo round · Not startedGentle families 1Practice round · Not startedGentle families 2Practice round · Not startedGentle families 3Practice round · Not startedGentle families 4Practice round · Not startedGentle families 5Practice round · Not startedGentle families 6Practice round · Not startedGentle families 7Practice round · Not startedGentle families 8Practice round · Not startedGentle families 9Practice round · Not startedGentle families 10Practice round · Not startedGentle families 11Practice round · Not startedGentle families 12Practice round · Not startedGentle families 13Practice round · Not startedGentle families 14Practice round · Not started
Standard 15 rounds
Everyday familiesOriginal demo round · Not startedStandard families 1Practice round · Not startedStandard families 2Practice round · Not startedStandard families 3Practice round · Not startedStandard families 4Practice round · Not startedStandard families 5Practice round · Not startedStandard families 6Practice round · Not startedStandard families 7Practice round · Not startedStandard families 8Practice round · Not startedStandard families 9Practice round · Not startedStandard families 10Practice round · Not startedStandard families 11Practice round · Not startedStandard families 12Practice round · Not startedStandard families 13Practice round · Not startedStandard families 14Practice round · Not started
Expert 21 rounds
Expert families 1Practice round · Not startedExpert families 2Practice round · Not startedExpert families 3Practice round · Not startedExpert families 4Practice round · Not startedExpert families 5Practice round · Not startedExpert families 6Practice round · Not startedExpert families 7Practice round · Not startedExpert families 8Practice round · Not startedExpert families 9Practice round · Not startedExpert families 10Practice round · Not startedExpert families 11Practice round · Not startedExpert families 12Practice round · Not startedExpert families 13Practice round · Not startedExpert families 14Practice round · Not startedExpert families 15Practice round · Not startedExpert wall 16Practice round · Not startedExpert wall 17Practice round · Not startedExpert wall 18Practice round · Not startedExpert wall 19Practice round · Not startedExpert wall 20Practice round · Not startedExpert wall 21Practice round · Not started
Master 12 rounds
Master wall 1Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 2Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 3Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 4Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 5Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 6Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 7Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 8Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 9Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 10Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 11Practice round · Not startedMaster wall 12Practice round · Not started
How to play
Sort the tiles into groups of four that share one precise connection. Every tile belongs to exactly one group.
Making a group
- Select exactly four tiles, then press Check group. Order does not matter.
- Tap a selected tile again to deselect it, or press Clear selection.
- A correct group moves into a solved row with its category and an explanation.
- Solved tiles leave the board and cannot be selected again.
- A tile may contain more than one word (for example FULL STOP); it is still one tile.
Mistakes
- Checking four tiles that are not a group costs one mistake. Your selection stays so you can adjust it.
- If exactly three of your four tiles belong to the same unsolved group, you are told you are one away. Nothing else about the wrong group is revealed.
- Checking a group you have already tried (in any order) costs nothing and tells you so.
- Selecting fewer or more than four tiles is never a mistake.
- You have four mistakes (three on Master boards). When they are used you can continue (your result is marked as an assisted continuation), take a hint or reveal the answers. The round never ends by force.
Hints and revealing
- Name a category: shows the category of one unsolved group.
- Two that belong together: names two tiles from that same group.
- Reveal a group: solves that group for you. It counts as revealed, not found.
- Reveal answers: shows every remaining group after you confirm. The round then ends as revealed.
- Every hint is recorded in your result.
Result
- Your result shows groups found by you, groups revealed, mistakes and hints. There is no timer and no speed bonus.
- Every connection is explained at the end, including the full compound words.
- The share text shows one dot per group (● found, ○ revealed) and no answers.
Keyboard
- Tab to the board, then use the arrow keys to move between tiles.
- Space selects or deselects a tile. Enter checks the group. Escape clears the selection.
Difficulty
- Gentle boards have three direct groups of twelve tiles (the original starter demo has four).
- Standard boards have four groups, mixing ordinary categories with a word-building one such as words before BALL, and a few tiles that seem to fit two groups.
- Expert boards are built around deliberate overlaps: several tiles fit two groups, and only one complete arrangement uses all sixteen.
- Master boards are built for crossword-fluent players: hidden smaller words, anagrams, words that gain a letter, sound-alikes and compound words. Many tiles fit two or more groups (some groups have five or more candidates), yet exactly one complete arrangement uses all sixteen, checked by exhaustive search. Master boards allow three mistakes instead of four.
- Each difficulty is a different set of boards. Labels are the author's intention and have not yet been calibrated with players.
Example
ROBIN, CRANE, EAGLE and SWAN are all birds. CRANE is also a lifting machine, but there is no machine group, so it belongs with the birds.
Release status for Word Families
- Engine rules and tests: passed · Pure engine; exact-size, mixed, repeated, one-away, budget, hints, reveal and replay tests
- Mechanical partition validation: passed · Exact cover, unique labels, spoiler-free titles; semantic uniqueness still needs editors
- Browser walkthrough (keyboard, touch, refresh, hint, completion): passed · tests/e2e/word-families.spec.ts
- Two independent editors solve blind and propose rival partitions: open · Red herrings logged in docs/REVIEW-LOG.md
- Human editorial review of every round: open
- Reviewed practice bank (10+ rounds per advertised difficulty): open
- 30 scheduled reviewed daily editions: open
- Observed player pilot and difficulty calibration: open
- Manual screen-reader and real-device checks: open
- Approved dictionary membership layer: not-applicable · Tiles are authored terms, not typed words