How to solve Wend

How to solve Wend: techniques that work

Wend hides words that snake orthogonally through the grid, and together the words cover every open cell exactly once — the board is a partition, and that's your main weapon. Don't hunt words in isolation; ask which cells each candidate word would consume and whether the leftovers can still form the other lengths on the list.

Start at the corners and along walls. A corner letter has at most two neighbours, so few words can pass through it — corner cells are almost always the first or last letter of a word. The length list at the top tells you exactly how many words of each size to find, which narrows candidates fast.

When you spot a word, trace its path mentally before committing: the same letters can often be read along two different snaking routes, and only one keeps the rest of the board coverable. If a trace leaves an isolated letter pocket, it was the wrong route even if the word was right.

Common mistakes

Tracing a real English word that isn't one of the hidden ones — the board only accepts the intended words, because any other split would make full coverage impossible. A red flash means wrong word or wrong route, not a broken board.

Reading diagonally. Words only move up, down, left and right; a diagonal step is never legal, even when it spells something tempting.

From easy to hard

Larger grids hide longer, more winding words, and dark wall tiles carve the board into odd shapes. Treat walls as allies: they cut the number of routes a long word can take, often down to one.