The rules are on the how to play Cluster page. Here we look at how to play it well.
A mistake costs 20 minutes
Your score is 1,000, minus 200 for each mistake, plus a time bonus of 500 minus one point for every six seconds, rounded down and never below zero. Work that through and one mistake costs exactly as much as 1,200 seconds of thinking, which is 20 minutes.
Some real numbers make the point. A flawless solve in 15 minutes scores 1,000 plus 350, which is 1,350. A rushed solve in one minute with a single mistake scores 800 plus 490, which is 1,290. The slow, careful player wins. Unless you are already sure, it nearly always pays to wait before you press Submit.
What each reply tells you
Every submission gets one of three replies, and each carries information beyond right or wrong.
- Correct: the four words lock in. Each group you solve removes four words, so the remaining board gets easier.
- One away: exactly three of your four words belong to the same group. One word is wrong. It still costs a mistake, but now you only need to change one word.
- A plain wrong answer: no group contains three of your four words. Your selection is spread across at least two groups, with at most two from any one. That rules out a lot. Any three of those four words cannot all be together.
Two things are free. If you submit exactly the same four words as an earlier guess, in any order, you are told you have already guessed it and no mistake is charged. And Cluster does not care which colour you solve first: purple first scores the same as yellow first.
A solving routine
- Read all sixteen words before touching anything. For each one, note every link it could have: what it means, what it could go before or after, how it is spelt, what it sounds like.
- Count the candidates for each theme you spot. If a theme has exactly four candidates and none of them fits anywhere else, that group is safe. If a theme has five or six candidates, one or two of them belong elsewhere: that is the trap.
- Look for wordplay early. The trickiest group is usually about the words themselves rather than their meaning: a word that goes in front of another, a hidden word, a sound-alike or an anagram. Once you have seen the trick, the rest of the board tends to fall into place.
- Submit the group with the fewest alternatives first, not the one that looks easiest. A safe group removes four words and often settles the traps for you.
- When eight words are left, you are really making one decision. Pick the right four and the other four are a group too. When three groups are solved, the last four words are guaranteed to be correct.
Worked example: Cluster #140
Here is the routine applied to Cluster #140 from 23 October 2026. If you would rather try it first, it is still playable from the archive in the game. The sixteen words were:
ROUND, WATER, COFFEE, DRESSING, VIBRANT, BUOYANT, SPIRITED, VIVACIOUS, PACE, SPACE, TRACE, GRACE, ARMS, CARDS, LAUNDRY, NAPKIN.
Step 1: list the links
A few themes jump out. VIBRANT, BUOYANT, SPIRITED and VIVACIOUS all describe someone lively. PACE, SPACE, TRACE and GRACE all end in the same three letters. ROUND, WATER, COFFEE and DRESSING can each go in front of TABLE. And there is a household feel to ARMS, CARDS, LAUNDRY and NAPKIN, though the link is less obvious.
Step 2: count the candidates
The lively group has exactly four candidates, and none of them fits any other theme. Safe. The ACE group is a spelling link, and spelling links rarely have decoys: no other word on the board contains ACE. VIVACIOUS might catch your eye, but it contains VAC, not ACE. Also safe.
The TABLE group is where the trap is. A card table is a real thing, so CARDS is a fifth candidate alongside ROUND, WATER, COFFEE and DRESSING. That is exactly the situation step 2 warns about: five candidates for four places.
Step 3 and 4: bank the safe groups
Submit the lively words and the ACE words first. Two groups, no risk, eight words left: ROUND, WATER, COFFEE, DRESSING, ARMS, CARDS, LAUNDRY, NAPKIN.
Step 5: one decision
Now ask the question the other way round. Which words cannot go before TABLE? ARMS, LAUNDRY and NAPKIN do not make anything with TABLE, so they belong together, and they need a fourth. The only word that can join them is CARDS. What do arms, cards, laundry and a napkin have in common? You fold them. That was the purple group: things that are often folded. CARDS was the decoy for TABLE all along, and the board is solved with no mistakes.
The lesson generalises. When you cannot see the trickiest link directly, solve everything around it and let the leftovers tell you what it is.
Using One away well
When you hear One away, resist the urge to try a whole new set. Ask which of your four words had the weakest claim, swap only that one, and pick its replacement from words that fit the theme you were aiming for. If you have two possible swaps and only one mistake to spare, look at whether either word is needed for another group you are confident about. Usually one swap would break a group you have already half-built, which tells you to try the other.
Train on the archive
Every past Cluster since 5 June 2026 can be played from the archive in the game. Archive games are practice, so they do not affect your score or streak. The Cluster answers archive explains every finished puzzle, which makes it a good place to learn the kinds of wordplay the purple groups use.
Quick checklist
- Read all sixteen words and note every possible link before you select anything.
- Five candidates for one theme means a decoy. Find where the fifth word really belongs.
- Bank the group with fewest alternatives first, whatever its colour.
- Take your time: one mistake costs as much as 20 minutes on the clock.
- After a plain wrong answer, no three of those four words go together.
- After One away, change one word, not four.
- With eight words left, one correct group solves the puzzle.
For more daily puzzles, read our Letterly strategy guide and Rankle strategy guide, or browse all our daily games. If you like spotting hidden words, Eightfold hides one eight-letter word in a grid every day.