Best Daily Puzzles

41 games

Today’s Puzzles

A new challenge every day. Pick a game and play — 41 daily puzzle games, checked by hand, free unless the card says sub.

Start here

  1. WordleSix guesses at a five-letter word. The one every other game on this page is measured against.3–5 min
  2. daycrumbA daily edition of short original puzzles, the same one for everybody. No account needed.2–5 min
  3. PuzzmoA full page of dailies in one place — Cross|word, SpellTower, Typeshift, Flipart, Really Bad Chess.5–30 min

Word & letters

Anagrams, grids and guessing games. The biggest category by far.

  1. WordleSix guesses at a five-letter word.3–5 min
  2. ConnectionsSixteen words, four hidden groups of four. The traps are the point.5–10 min
  3. StrandsA themed word search with one phrase that spans the whole board.5–10 min
  4. Spelling BeeSeven letters, one compulsory. Free play caps out before Genius.10–20 minsub
  5. The Mini CrosswordA 5×5 crossword you can finish standing up.1–3 min
  6. QuordleFour Wordle boards at once, nine guesses for all of them.5–10 min
  7. OctordleEight boards, thirteen guesses. Quordle for people who coped.10–15 min
  8. WaffleSwap letters around a waffle-shaped grid in fifteen moves.3–5 min
  9. SquaredleFind every word hiding in a small letter grid, not just one.10–20 min
  10. ContextoGuess the word by meaning. Unlimited guesses, ranked warmer or colder.5–20 min
  11. SemantleThe same idea, harder and older: nearness measured by a language model.10–30 min
  12. daycrumbShort original word puzzles, in a new edition every day.2–5 min

Geography & maps

Countries, borders, trade and photographs of somewhere.

  1. WorldleName the country from its outline; guesses point you nearer.2–4 min
  2. GlobleHunt one country on a spinning globe, hotter and colder.3–6 min
  3. TradleIdentify a country from a chart of what it exports.3–5 min
  4. TravleGet from one country to another by naming the ones between.5–10 min
  5. GeoGridFill a 3×3 grid with countries that satisfy both clues.5–10 min
  6. TimeGuessrPlace a photograph in the world and in the right year.5–10 min

Film, TV & music

Stills, soundtracks and the box office.

  1. FramedName the film from one still; each miss adds another frame.2–3 min
  2. Cine2NerdleLink films by shared cast and crew before the connections run out.5–15 min
  3. Box Office GameGuess the top five films of a given weekend, in order.3–6 min
  4. BandleA song revealed one instrument at a time, until you name it or run out.2–4 min

Sport

Mostly American, mostly grids of players.

  1. PoeltlEight guesses at one NBA player, narrowed by team and stats.2–4 min
  2. Immaculate GridName a player for every square where two teams or feats intersect.5–10 min
  3. WeddleThe same shape as Poeltl, for the NFL.2–4 min

Numbers & logic

Nothing to know in advance — everything is deducible from the board.

  1. Clues by SamA daily whodunnit on a grid of neighbours. It will not let you guess.5–15 min
  2. NerdleWordle for arithmetic: guess the equation, not the word.3–6 min
  3. MathlerFind the sum that reaches today's number in six guesses.3–6 min
  4. NYT SudokuThree difficulties a day, free, with no sign-in.5–25 min

Trivia & knowledge

Games where knowing something is most of the job.

  1. MetazooaFind the animal by walking the tree of life; each guess shows the nearest branch.5–10 min
  2. ChronophotoDate five photographs. Being a decade out costs you.3–5 min
  3. GamedleName the video game from cover art, a screenshot or a keyword.2–5 min

Hubs — several dailies in one place

Publishers and platforms that put a whole page of puzzles up every day.

  1. NYT GamesWordle, Connections, Strands and the Mini are free; the rest wants a subscription.variessub
  2. PuzzmoZach Gage and friends: modern classics and originals, one daily set.varies
  3. daycrumbA new edition of short original puzzles every day. Nothing to sign up for.varies
  4. USA Today PuzzlesA free daily crossword, sudoku, jumble and quick cross.varies
  5. Guardian PuzzlesQuick, cryptic, quiptic and prize crosswords, free in the browser.varies
  6. Washington Post GamesThe daily and Sunday crosswords, plus a handful of others.variessub
  7. Puzzle PageA phone app rather than a site: a new page of 20+ puzzle types daily.variessub

Bigger directories

This page is a shortlist. When you have played through it, these are the long lists.

  1. Dle Hunt200+ ·dle games sorted by category, with ratings and a daily playlist.—
  2. Thinky GamesCurated latest-and-best lists, leaning hard towards logic puzzles.—
  3. Wordles of the WorldA community list of Wordle variants — hundreds of them, across 150+ languages.—

Questions

What is a daily puzzle game?

One puzzle, the same for everybody, replaced at a fixed time each day. You play it once and you are done — which is the whole appeal, and why results are worth sharing: your friends had the same puzzle you did.

Are these free?

Most are free with no account. A few are marked otherwise: the New York Times gives Wordle, Connections, Strands and the Mini away and puts the rest behind a subscription, Spelling Bee stops short of the full game, and Puzzle Page is a phone app with in-app purchases.

What should I play after Wordle?

Connections, if you liked the guessing. Contexto, if you want the same game made much harder. Clues by Sam, if what you actually enjoyed was the deduction rather than the letters. Puzzmo or daycrumb, if you would rather have several short ones than one long one.

When do daily puzzles reset?

It depends on the game. Most independent ones roll over at midnight UTC so that everybody plays the same puzzle on the same date; the newspapers tend to use their own local midnight, which is why a New York Times puzzle can arrive during your evening.

How is this list chosen?

By hand, and kept short on purpose. Every entry is a game that still runs, still updates daily, and is worth a bookmark rather than one afternoon. Links go to the game's own site, never to a copy of it.