n
A sliding-block puzzle with 15 sequentially numbered square tiles in a 4×4 frame, the aim being to arrange the numbers in order by sliding one at a time horizontally or vertically into the single available space.
n
A kind of crossword puzzle with the clues written in the grid, accompanied by arrows that indicate the position and direction of the answers.
n
A kind of puzzle in which there is one common factor in a first set of diagrams that is missing from a second set. The solver (possibly a computer program) must identify this factor.
n
A puzzle designed to exercise the brain.
n
A complex riddle or puzzle.
n
(informal) A difficult problem or puzzle.
n
An interlocking puzzle consisting of notched sticks to be assembled into a three-dimensional structure.
n
In killer sudoku puzzles, an irregularly-shaped group of cells that must contain a set of unique digits adding up to a certain total, in addition to the usual constraints of sudoku.
n
A kind of puzzle made of interlocking pieces that must be disassembled and reassembled.
n
A game in which questions are asked for the purpose of enabling the questioners to discover a word or thing previously selected by two persons who answer the questions.
n
A puzzle that resembles a crossword but is to be filled with numbers rather than words, the numbers being clued either arithmetically or by general knowledge (such as the year of a historical event).
n
(games, puzzles) A word puzzle in which interlocking words are entered usually horizontally and vertically into a grid based on clues given for each word.
n
A person who solves crossword puzzles
adj
(informal) Resembling or characteristic of a crossword puzzle.
adj
Relating to crossword puzzles.
n
A type of crossword involving wordplay and misleading definitions.
n
A player of Rubik's cube.
n
A player of Rubik's cube; a cuber.
adj
(crosswords) Having a blank grid, so that the solver must determine the positions of the black (non-lettered) squares as well as the answers to the clues.
v
Alternative form of double tap (“to shoot twice”). [To shoot twice.]
n
The art of making or solving puzzles.
n
A room containing various puzzles and riddles that players must solve in order to escape.
n
A parlor game in which participants invent definitions for an unfamiliar word found in a dictionary, and as one person reads them out, the others try to guess which one is the correct definition.
n
A mathematical puzzle played on a 5 × 5 grid.
n
A usually large jigsaw puzzle that does not fit into a frame, meant, instead, to be assembled on a surface such as a floor.
n
(cryptic crosswords) The text to be operated on (anagrammed, etc.) within a clue.
n
A Japanese logic puzzle in which a grid must be filled with a set of numbers while obeying inequality constraints.
n
(combination puzzles) An optimal algorithm that finds the solution with the fewest moves.
n
(games, puzzles) A puzzle in which cells of a grid must be filled or left blank, according to sets of numbers given at the side of the grid, to reveal a hidden picture.
n
(games, puzzles) A puzzle in which cells of a grid must be filled or left blank, according to sets of numbers given at the side of the grid, to reveal a hidden picture.
n
A puzzle game in which the player fills in boxes with numbers, attempting to fill the grid with consecutive numbers that connect either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
n
(games, puzzles) a puzzle where a diagram is filled with numbers between 1 and the number of cells of the diagram, each number is used exactly once, and consecutive numbers must be orthogonally or diagonally adjacent.
n
(sudoku) A set of cells in a Sudoku puzzle which must contain each digit exactly once, such as a row, column, or 3×3 box in classic Sudoku.
n
A sudoku technique involving possible cell locations for a digit, or pair, or triple, in uniquely four rows and four columns only. This allows for the elimination of candidates around the grid.
n
A type of puzzle in which the aim is to reconstruct a picture that has been cut (originally, with a jigsaw) into many small interlocking pieces.
n
(games) A type of number puzzle, similar to a crossword but with numbers. Each "clue" is the sum of the digits to be placed in its group of squares, and no digit can be repeated within a group.
n
A sudoku variant where the grid also contains cages which must sum to the total where indicated, without repeating any digit within the cage.
n
(games, puzzles) A logic puzzle in which the player must link circles on a rectangular grid so as to form a continuous loop that passes once through every circle.
n
A compound puzzle formed by several lesser puzzles. In contrast to a regular puzzle, a metapuzzle is missing data that is essential to solving it, and which can only be obtained by solving other sometimes entirely unrelated puzzles. Metapuzzles are frequently used in puzzlehunts.
n
(uncountable, computing, video games) A logic-based computer game in which the player has to discover the position of mines in a rectangular grid, based on numerical hints.
n
A logic puzzle in which a number of missionaries and cannibals must cross a river using a boat which can carry only a limited number of people, under the constraint that missionaries must never be outnumbered by cannibals on either bank (since they would otherwise be eaten).
n
A hidden message revealed in the completed grid of a crossword.
n
(Scrabble) A word that covers two triple-word squares, so that the overall value of the letters is multiplied by nine.
n
(games, puzzles) A puzzle in which cells of a grid must be filled or left blank, according to sets of numbers given at the side of the grid, to reveal a hidden picture.
n
(games, puzzles) A Japanese logic puzzle with a rectangular grid of squares, some of them numbered; the solver is challenged to fill in a subset of squares (under certain constraints) such that each numbered square finally indicates the number of unfilled squares contiguous to it.
n
(games, puzzles) A puzzle in which cells of a grid must be filled or left blank, according to sets of numbers given at the side of the grid, to reveal a hidden picture.
v
(video games) to look for a small, onscreen, hard-to-find object in a graphic adventure puzzle video game
n
(sports, video games, board games) A unit of scoring in a game or competition.
n
A type of crossword puzzle where solvers have to identify the string of letters, spelling out a word, that has been removed from a sentence.
n
A game for one or more people that is more or less difficult to work out or complete.
n
A box that cannot be opened by the usual obvious means, and therefore challenges a person to find the correct way to open it.
n
(video games, informal) A game, especially a text adventure, that mainly requires the player to solve puzzles.
n
A game where teams compete to solve puzzles, the answers to which reveal the location of a hidden treasure or allow the teams to accomplish a final goal. The puzzle answers are frequently combined in a metapuzzle.
adj
Having the nature of a puzzle.
n
Something that contains puzzles;
n
One who enjoys creating or solving puzzles; a puzzle aficionado.
adj
of or relating to puzzles
n
A painting by numbers puzzle, consisting of a mass of numbered circles, that reveals a hidden image when the circles are coloured in
n
(gaming) The initial clue that leads to an alternate reality game.
n
An arrangement of pictures, symbols, and/or words representing phrases or words, especially as a word puzzle.
n
A verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.
n
(countable) A riddle, a verbal puzzle.
n
a person asked or expected to solve a riddle.
n
A sudoku variant where numbers outside the grid indicate the sum of the digits sandwiched between the digits 1 and 9 in the corresponding row or column.
n
A grid-based puzzle which involves connecting dots so they form one big loop. Some squares in the grid contain numbers, indicating how many sides of the square form connecting lines between dots.
n
(video games) A computer puzzle game, devised in 1980 and frequently reimplemented, in which the player must push boxes to designated locations under a set of movement constraints.
n
(video games) The elapsed time at specific intermediate points in a speedrun.
n
A type of puzzle in which the object is to find a certain number of minor differences between two pictures, usually printed side by side, that are otherwise identical.
n
(games, puzzles) A type of pencil puzzle played on a square grid, requiring each of the columns, each of the rows, and each of the subregions (called "boxes" or "regions") to contain the lowest whole numbers up to the dimension of the puzzle, usually 1 to 9, once each. The subregions are rectangular or square except in variants.
n
(rare) A person who solves sudoku puzzles.
n
A sudoku technique involving possible cell locations for a digit, or pair, or triple, in uniquely three rows and three columns only. This allows for the elimination of candidates around the grid.
n
(behavioral science) A simple maze used in animal cognition experiments, shaped like the letter T, providing the subject with a straightforward binary choice.
n
A Chinese puzzle made of a square that is cut up into different triangular pieces which can then be reassembled to make designs.
n
A puzzle video game in which falling tetrominoes must be manipulated to form complete lines, which are then cleared from the grid.
n
(gaming) The initial clue that leads to an alternate reality game.
n
(obsolete) Something intricately contrived; a puzzle.
n
A game in which people have to find hidden objects or places, with the help of clues.
adj
(video games) Controlled by two joysticks simultaneously, usually one moving the player character and the other firing a weapon directionally.
n
A puzzle consisting of a set of pieces that can be arranged into various combinations, such as a Rubik's cube.
n
A crossword puzzle allowing the solver to choose from two sets of clues: simple or cryptic.
n
A television game show where word puzzles are solved by filling in the missing letters.
n
A (particular type of) word search puzzle, in which the letters not forming part of any word to be found spell out an additional word.
n
A game which involves manipulating words.
n
word ladder puzzles generally
n
A kind of puzzle in which one word must be transformed into another specified word of the same length by changing one letter at a time, each step yielding a valid intermediate word, as in lead → load → goad → gold.
n
(games) A word game consisting of a grid of letters, the aim of which is to find an array of given words hidden within the grid.
n
A type of puzzle where words need to be found in a long chain of unspaced letters, using in a wavy line.
n
Alternative form of word search [(games) A word game consisting of a grid of letters, the aim of which is to find an array of given words hidden within the grid.]
n
A player of the web-based word game Wordle.
n
Alternative form of word search [(games) A word game consisting of a grid of letters, the aim of which is to find an array of given words hidden within the grid.]
n
A pattern commonly found in a sudoku grid where the only possible locations for a number, or a pair, are uniquely in only two rows and two columns. Diagonals drawn between these four cells would form a symmetrical X.
n
(India) Alternative form of jigsaw puzzle [A type of puzzle in which the aim is to reconstruct a picture that has been cut (originally, with a jigsaw) into many small interlocking pieces.]
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