Puzzle modes
Most Spellhunt puzzles are classic word searches. A few change one rule, just enough to make you look at the grid differently. Here's each one and how to approach it.
Classic
Words run in straight lines in any of eight directions: across, down, diagonally, and backwards along any of those. This is the Daily on six days of the week and most of the campaign. The word search tips are written with classic grids in mind.
Zigzag
In a Zigzag puzzle, each word winds through letters that touch side by side or top to bottom, never diagonally. Every word bends at least once and at most three times, and no word crosses itself or another word. The word list looks the same as usual.
GARDEN runs across, turns down at the R, then carries on to the right.
To find a Zigzag word, drag through every letter of it, around the corners too. The highlight snaps from cell to cell instead of along a line. A Direction hint flashes the first two cells of a word, which shows you where it starts and which way it leaves.
How to read them: look for the word's first two or three letters sitting together in a line, then follow the next letter wherever it touches. Bends make the usual "scan along the row" habit less useful, so spotting unusual letter pairs works better here. Friday's Daily is always a Zigzag puzzle.
Gaps
A Gaps puzzle is a classic grid where one letter of each word is missing, both from the list and from the grid. The list might show W_VE, and somewhere in the grid a blank tile sits where that missing letter belongs. When you find the word, the letter fills in.
How to read them: trust the shape. Hunt for the letters you can see, in order, with a single blank tile between them. The blank is often the fastest way in: a blank tile has to belong to a word, so check the lines running through it. A First letter hint reveals the missing letter.
Mirror
In a Mirror puzzle every word is hidden backwards, in any direction. The list shows words the right way around, so you're hunting for, say, DLOC instead of COLD. Mirror puzzles join the campaign from chapter 8.
How to read them: flip the word in your head before you scan, then look for its last letter first. The guide to diagonal and backwards words has more on training your eye for reversed words.
Hidden
A Hidden puzzle has no word list at all. You know the theme and how many words there are ("3 of 9"), and each word appears in the panel once you've found it. Hidden puzzles are a rare surprise in the campaign from chapter 12.
How to read them: think about the theme first. Name a few words that belong to it, then look for their opening letters. Long words are easiest to spot without a list, so start there.
Boss
Every campaign chapter ends with a boss: a 14×14 grid with 15 words shown as blanks and a category, like five blanks and "Kitchen". The word lengths are your best clue. There's no fail state, and you play for stars. See boss puzzles.
Blitz
Blitz is its own thing: a 12×12 grid, 18 words and 60 seconds to find as many as you can. You start it from its card on the Today tab. It has its own guide.
The Expert grid
At level 20 you unlock the Expert grid, an option for Hard difficulty in the campaign: a 13×13 grid where every word runs backwards. Turn it on with the Expert grid switch once it's unlocked. It's meant for when Hard starts to feel easy.
The opposite: no backwards words
If backwards words aren't your idea of fun, turn on Relax mode and then the "No backwards words" setting. Words will then only read forward: never right to left or bottom to top. See settings.
Updated September 30, 2026.