Best Free Daily Puzzles to Play Online

Guess-the-word games

The five-letter guessing game is the daily puzzle that made daily puzzles a habit for millions of people. You get six guesses; each guess is marked letter by letter; the fun is in the second and third guesses, where logic takes over from vocabulary. Daily Word is the five-letter version here, with Quick Word at four letters for a one-minute warm-up and Big Word at six for a longer think. Letter Drop is the older guess-the-letter game, and Equation Guess applies the same idea to arithmetic.

What they ask of you: a few minutes, a good opening word, and the discipline to read the marks rather than guess. The Daily Word strategy guide covers the openers.

Crosswords

Two sizes suit two moods. A mini crossword (5 × 5) takes a few minutes and is as much about speed as knowledge; a full-size grid is a sit-down with a cup of something. The Mini Crossword and the Daily Crossword (13 × 13, plain clues, British blocked style) are both here daily, with every clue written for the site. If you have never finished a crossword, start with the mini; the crossings carry you.

Number puzzles

Daily Sudoku is the standard: nine by nine, one solution, difficulty that changes with the day. If sudoku feels like homework, Number Target (combine six numbers to hit a total) is quick arithmetic with a puzzle shape, and Slide Puzzle is the old sliding-tile game with a modern move counter.

Logic puzzles

Logic puzzles are for people who like to be sure. Picture Cross reveals a picture from number clues; Crowns places one crown per row, column and region; Sun & Moon balances two symbols under three rules; Light Switch and Code Breaker are short reasoning games with a par or a guess count. None needs guessing, and each has a guide in the Guides section.

Word puzzles beyond guessing

Four Groups asks you to sort sixteen words into four hidden sets, with red herrings. Word Ladder changes one letter at a time from a start word to a goal. Word Wheel asks for as many words as you can from seven letters. Word Search is the relaxed one. Together with the crosswords and guessing games they make ten daily word puzzles.

Solitaire deals

A daily solitaire deal is a different kind of puzzle: everyone gets the same cards, so the question is who plays them best and fastest. Klondike, Free Cells, Pyramid, Golf, Spider and TriPeaks each have a deal of the day here, and the Klondike, Free Cells, Pyramid and Spider deals are checked by a solver to be winnable, which takes the luck out of losing.

Quizzes

A ten-question quiz is a daily puzzle for people who prefer facts to grids. Fifty-one daily quizzes cover geography, animals, science, history, culture, words and numbers, from world capitals and flags to the periodic table and times tables, plus the Daily Trivia Mix. Each answer comes with a one-line explanation, which is how a quiz becomes a study habit rather than a test.

What makes a daily puzzle good

• The same puzzle for everyone. It gives you something to compare with friends and a fair leaderboard.
• A fixed size. You know roughly how long it will take, which is what lets it become a routine.
• One solution, reachable by logic (for the logic and number puzzles). Guessing is the enemy of satisfaction.
• An archive. A missed day should be playable later; here the last 60 days are kept.
• Progress you can see. Streaks and statistics turn a habit into a record.
• No ads during play. An ad in the middle of a sudoku is a broken sudoku; here ads are kept away from the puzzle while you play it.

Building the routine

1. Pick two or three puzzles, not ten. A routine survives because it is short.
2. Play them at the same time each day; after a week it needs no deciding.
3. Make a free account (a username and a password, no email) so the streak and statistics follow you between your phone and your computer.
4. Use the archive when you miss a day; archive puzzles count toward your statistics, though not your streak.
5. Add a puzzle when the current ones feel easy, and read its guide first.

Glossary

• Daily puzzle: a puzzle published once a day, the same for every player.
• Streak: consecutive days with at least one daily puzzle solved.
• Archive: earlier days' puzzles, playable later.
• Leaderboard: the day's ranking of members' first attempts.
• Solver-checked: a deal or grid that a program has confirmed can be completed.