Smartle
Smartle
A swap that finishes the top row will happily break the one underneath it. That is the whole difficulty of Smartle, and it arrives about thirty seconds in.
Twenty-five letters sit on a five by five grid, you move them by exchanging any two, and the board counts as solved only when all five rows read as five letter words at the same moment. A board usually has more than one valid answer, which sounds generous and is not: the first word you settle on quietly decides which of those answers is still reachable. Smartle runs two ways. Daily hands you one puzzle, open until midnight, with up to three hints. Sprint gives five puzzles and ten minutes with short breaks between them, up to five hints, and you can start it again as often as you like.
Tips and strategy
- Place the awkward letters first. A J, a Q or a lone Y fits in very few five letter words, so letting it find its row early removes more wrong answers than finishing an easy row does.
- Finish a row only when you can see where its columns leave the letters below it. A completed top row that strands two vowels in the same column has cost more than it gained.
- Spend hints on the row that is one letter away, not on an empty one. Daily gives three and Sprint five, and a hint on a row you have already shaped tells you something you can act on straight away.
If rearranging letters is the part you like, Word Scramble does it one word at a time and Scramblish is our own daily version of it.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Smartle the same as Wordle?
No. There is nothing to guess and no hidden answer. Every letter you need is already on the board, and the puzzle is working out which arrangement turns all five rows into words.
Can I play more than one puzzle a day?
Daily is one puzzle, open until midnight. Sprint can be started as many times as you want, and each run is five puzzles against a ten minute clock.