New daily word game Knotwords is a twist on crosswords, Wordle, and sudoku

Zach Gage, a conceptual artist and game designer, loves nothing more then to play with and optimize the oldest and most well-known games. He has previously worked on solitaire, chess and pool. Now he and his co-developer Jack Schlesinger are back, and this time they’re tackling crossword puzzles.

Knotwords — which is out now on Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows PC — is a crossword for people who don’t like solving clues, cryptic or otherwise. In fact, it’s a mash-up of crosswords and killer sudoku. Killer sudoku, and the similar math game KenKen, guide players by boxing out portions of the grid and indicating what the sum of the numbers contained within each “cage” should be. Knotwords Uses similar cages, and informs you which letters are inside each one. But not where they should be placed.

Crosswords are where you combine letters and clues to solve the puzzle. You can also find In KnotwordsYou are creating words out of their raw materials. This process is not dissimilar to the way that you narrow your choices after making a few guesses. Wordle.

You can play KnotwordsIt is important to have a solid understanding of vocabulary, the intricacies and tendencies associated with English spelling. Wordle does. But less so. They are merely the starting point for a game of strategy and logic. Two- and three-letter words are the best way to solve a puzzle. From there, you will find more solutions. If you ever do get stuck, you can ask for a hint, which gives you a dictionary definition for a word you’re stumped on. It’s odd how much this feels like cheating, when it’s the core gameplay of non-cryptic crosswords like the wonderful New York Times mini crossword.

It’s more helpful, really, to think of KnotwordsAs sudoku with letters and not as a crossword variation. Gage explained to The Verge that he preferred the complicated grid of letters over the crossword clues. As he was working on his sudoku app, Schlesinger joined him. Sudoku is a good choice, Gage’s mother tried to persuade him to make a KenKen game instead — and when he applied the grouped-cells mechanic to a crossword grid, “it worked instantly.” Wordle Creator Josh Wardle has called Knotwords “an incredibly elegant daily word game.”

Elegance is kind of Gage’s thing. He and Schlesinger have created apps that are renowned for their pristine graphics and intuitive interfaces. He also prides himself on stripping a game’s design down to its purest elements, shining a bright light on anything obscure or unreadable about it, and smoothing away elements of risk and randomness.

These systems are sometimes objectively stunning and enjoyable to use. They can also feel monotonous and optimized up to the point that they seem alienating. Sudoku is a good choiceThe goal is to teach and support the player how to solve the number puzzle. Sage Solitaire The combination of solitaire and poker is undoubtedly clever, but it’s also academically boring. It loses sight on what solitaire can be as a captivating and unpredictable way to pass your time. This is the simple, unstructured version. Flipflop Solitaire (It is more like it. The card of Darkness, a sort of math-solitaire-roguelite game with gloriously surreal art by Adventure TimePendleton Ward was the creator of this game. He is coldly brutal.

Gage’s purist interest in game systems often leads him to design out the soul of the game, or to ignore the player’s emotional, as opposed to intellectual, investment. KnotwordsThis is not an exception. It’s a clever word game that’s a pleasure to play, and I do recommend downloading it — the basic daily puzzle and 10 monthly puzzles are free, while a one-off or subscription payment gives you access to the full archive, a daily variant, and extra monthly puzzle books. It’s absorbing, but detached. It’s a game of WordleIt feels like an emotional, thrilling journey. It’s a game of Knotwords feels like you’re just filling in boxes.