How to play
Unscramble the rows. Unscramble the columns.
Plingles is a grid of letters and blanks. Every run of two or more letters, across or down, is a real word. Your only clues are each line's letters, jumbled.
The rules
- Every square is a letter or a blank.
- Every run of two or more letters, across and down, is a common English word.
- Each row and column's clue is exactly its letters, in a jumbled order. The blanks aren't in the clue.
- Every puzzle has exactly one answer, and you can always reach it by reasoning. You never need to guess.
Solving the example
- Start with the short lines. Column 1's clue is TA, and its two letters sit in rows 3 and 4. It reads AT from the top, since TA isn't a word.
- So row 4 starts with T. Its clue ATE could be ATE, EAT, ETA or TEA, but only TEA starts with T.
- Row 3 starts with A (from AT). Its clue IEDSA makes ASIDE, AIDES or IDEAS; only ASIDE and AIDES start with A.
- Column 2 is S, E, A from the top (clue ASE). Its top letter is row 3's second letter, so row 3 is ASIDE, not AIDES.
- Keep going: each word you place gives letters to the lines that cross it, until the grid is full.
Decaf and Regular
Decaf shows you where every blank is, and each clue has a small number for how many words its line holds. If you use a letter a clue doesn't have, or use it too often, the clue turns red.
Regular hides the blanks. You work out where the words break as well as what they are, and there are no word counts and no live mistakes. If it helps, mark a square you know is blank with the striped key. Marks are only notes: the puzzle is solved when every letter is right.
On the website, Monday to Wednesday's puzzle is a Decaf Cup (7×7), Thursday and Friday's a Regular Cup, Saturday's a Decaf Pot (9×9) and Sunday's a Regular Pot. In the app you choose the mode for every puzzle.
Typing
- Tap a square to select it, then type. The cursor moves along the line and skips the blanks.
- The line you're typing along is tinted, and its clue is highlighted. Tap the selected square again to switch between across and down.
- TLetters cross off the clue as you place them, so you can see what's left.
- A blank. In Regular, a square you mark as blank looks the same but lighter.
On a computer
Check
Check marks any letter you've placed that's wrong. It doesn't fill anything in. The app also has hints when you're stuck: reveal a square, or in Regular, show where the blanks are.
Tips
- Two- and three-letter lines first. They have few possible words, and they pin down the long ones.
- Look for rare letters. A J, Q, X or Z can only go in a few places. A Q nearly always wants a U next to it.
- Count the letters. In Regular, a row with five letters across seven squares has two blanks to place. The column clues tell you which squares can't be blank.
- Use the crossings. Every letter belongs to a row word and a column word. When a row has two possible words, a column usually rules one out.
- Watch the clues clear. If a clue still has letters left over when its line looks full, something in that line is wrong.