Word Links
Every group of four words shares a hidden link that makes one everyday word with each of them: FOOT, SNOW, BASE and BASKET all come before BALL. Find the groups, then name the links.
How to play Word Links
How to play
Tap four word slips that you think share a link, then press Link. If they are a group, they are pinned above the desk and you name their link: type it and press Check, or on Easy choose it from four words. A group's link is always on the same side of its words. In one group every word comes before it (FOOT, SNOW, BASE and BASKET before BALL), in another every word follows it (PLACE, WOOD, WORK and FLY after FIRE).
Levels
Easy has three groups and offers four choices for each link. Standard has four groups and is the daily puzzle, the same for everyone. Hard has five groups and less common words. The plural of a link counts as the link.
Mistakes and hints
Wrong groups and wrong links are counted as mistakes, but there is no limit, so keep going until every link is named. If four words do share a link but the rest could then not be grouped, the game tells you and does not count a mistake. A hint first marks two words that belong together, then three, then pins the whole group. For a pinned group it gives the link's length and first letter, then the link. Show reveals a link and counts as a hint.
Keys
On a computer, the arrow keys move between slips, Space picks a word or puts it back, Enter checks four picked words and Escape clears your picks. Undo takes back your last pick, and Shuffle mixes the slips that are left.
Questions
How does Word Links work?
The desk holds twelve, sixteen or twenty words. They split into groups of four, and each group has one hidden link word that joins every word in it into a single everyday word. Find each group and name its link to finish.
What counts as a link?
The link and each word must form one closed compound, written as a single word with no space or hyphen, like SNOWBALL or FIREPLACE. Both parts are words in their own right, so a prefix or ending such as -SHIP or -LESS never counts. A solved group shows its four compounds and which side the link goes on.
Can there be more than one answer?
No. A program checked every puzzle: there is only one way to split the words into groups that each share a link, and no group has a second word that would join all four of its words.
Any tips for solving?
Start with a word that only fits one link, then look for three more that fit it on the same side. Words that fit several links are often there to mislead you, so place them last. Saying the joined words out loud helps.
Where do the words come from?
Every word is a common English word and every compound an everyday one, checked by hand for taste, and spellings that differ between British and American English are left out. Word lists: SCOWL and ENABLE.