Eightfold is a daily hidden-word puzzle. Press Start and a 5x5 grid of letters appears. Somewhere in it is exactly one 8-letter word, spelt out by a chain of touching letters. Neighbours can be above, below, beside or diagonal, and no square can be used twice (a grid can hold the same letter more than once).
Drag your finger or mouse through the letters, or tap them one at a time, and let go when you have eight. If it is the hidden word, the clock stops. Plenty of shorter words hide in every grid to lead you astray, but only the 8-letter word counts.
You start on 1,000 points and lose 2 points a second, 75 for each hint and 10 for each wrong guess. The first letter is marked for you, you are told how many vowels the word has, and up to four hints light up the letters after it. A new grid appears at midnight UK time, and it is the same for everyone.
Yes. The path can turn in any direction at every letter, including diagonally, as long as each letter touches the one before it.
Yes. Every grid is checked against the whole dictionary so that exactly one word of eight or more letters can be traced in it.
No. The clock runs on our server from the moment you press Start.
Yes. The archive keeps the last seven days. Archive plays are just for fun and are not ranked.
How to play Eightfold: rules, scoring and tips · Past Eightfold answers · All nine daily word games