How we write hints
A good hint moves you forward without taking the win away. Here is how ours are made.
Four steps, always in the same order
- Nudge. An oblique pointer. It names nothing and is meant to make you look at the puzzle differently.
- Hint. A direct description of the idea, still without any answer words.
- One word. Gives away a single piece: one member of a group, or a strong letter clue for a single-word puzzle.
- Answer. The full solution for that group or puzzle.
Each step opens only after the one before it, so nothing further down the page is shown by accident.
Where AI is involved
Hint drafts are written with AI from the published puzzle. Every page says how its hints were produced, and whether an editor reviewed them.
Spoiler checks
Before a page can publish, an automated check reads every step. The nudge and hint must not contain any answer from any group, and the one-word step must give away exactly one piece. A page that fails the check does not publish.
For puzzles with a single-word answer, a second check reads each nudge the way a casual player would, seeing only what the puzzle shows. If its first guess is the answer, the nudge gave too much away and is rewritten. Hints for these puzzles are never dictionary definitions: they point at where the word lives, and leave the last step to you.
Tell us when a hint misses
Every step you open has a 👍 and 👎. We read those counts to find the hints that didn’t help and to improve how we write them.
Corrections
If a hint is wrong, misleading, or spoils too much, tell us through the About page and we will fix it.