Word connect game tips: finish any swipe crossword level

How a word connect level works

A word connect puzzle joins two ideas: a wheel of letters, as in a word wheel, and a small crossword of empty squares. You spell words by swiping from letter to letter round the wheel without lifting your finger, and each right word drops into its place in the grid. The level is done when every square is filled.

In Yuzool's Word Wheel this mode is called Crossings: 360 levels in chapters named after a walk round Sunset Bay, with wheels of five to seven letters. Levels 1 to 100 are free. A few rules are worth knowing:

• Each letter on the wheel can be used once per word.
• Every word in the grid uses only the wheel's letters, and the grid holds exactly those words and no others.
• Real words that are not in the grid are extra words. They earn a coin each.
• Coins buy hints: ten coins put one letter in the grid. You start with 20, and each finished level gives three more.

You can swipe, tap the letters one by one and press Enter, or type on a keyboard.

Read the grid first

The grid tells you more than the wheel does. Before you swipe anything, look at it:

• Count the lengths. If the grid has one six-letter slot and the wheel has six letters, one answer uses every letter. Find that first.
• Count the slots of each length. Three empty four-letter answers means you are looking for exactly three four-letter words (and any others you find are extras).
• Look at crossings. A square shared by two answers is worth more than one at a dead end: filling it helps both words.
• Notice where answers start and end. A long across answer with three downs hanging from it gives each down its first letter as soon as you find the long word.

The order to find words

1. The longest word. It uses all or nearly all the letters, so it is the hardest to stumble on but the most useful. Look for an ending (‑ED, ‑ER, ‑ING, ‑S) or a pair of letters that go together.
2. Words that fit the letters now showing. Once the long word is in, the crossing slots show some of their letters. A four-letter slot reading _ A _ E is far easier than a blank one.
3. Plurals and small changes. If the wheel has an S, many words have a plural twin. LATE and LATER, EAT and ATE: one word often leads to the next.
4. Three-letter words last. They are the easiest to find by swiping through letter pairs, so leave them until you have the clues the grid gives.

When you are stuck

• Swiping at random. It finds three-letter words but rarely the long one. Work from endings and letter pairs instead.
• Forgetting a letter. If a long slot will not fill, check you are using every letter on the wheel: the one at the bottom is easy to miss.
• Ignoring the grid's letters. A slot with two letters showing is nearly solved. Say the pattern out loud: "something-A-something-E".
• Spending hints on short words. A hint letter does most good in a long answer or a square where two answers cross.

Coins and hints, spent wisely

In Crossings, coins are earned only by play: one for each extra word, three for each finished level. Nothing is for sale. So a few habits keep you in hints:

• Collect extras while you think. Every real word you spot that is not in the grid is a coin. Plurals and short words add up fast.
• Hint the crossing square. A letter where an across and a down meet helps two answers at once.
• Hint the longest gap. One letter in a long word cuts its possibilities far more than one letter in a short word.
• Save up early. The early levels are short and forgiving; bank coins there for the seven-letter wheels later on.

A worked example

That is the whole method: the long word first, then let the grid's letters choose the short ones. It is the same skill as the Daily Wheel's nine-letter word, explained in our word wheel solver tips, and the general methods are in how to solve anagrams.