How to find the hidden word in SEEK

How the hidden word works

Every square in the 8 by 8 grid belongs to a listed word, to the hidden word, or to one of a few extra letters. When all the listed words are found, the squares left over stand out. They spell a word about the day's theme, with the letters mixed up, and sometimes with a couple of extras.

Step 1: use the theme

Before you look at the leftover letters, guess a word that fits the theme. The theme is on the puzzle: Ocean, Zoo, Space and so on.

Step 2: read the leftover letters

Write the leftover squares as a list and sort them in your head. Check your guess against them. A match tells you the word, and the extras are any letters you have spare.

Example 1: Ocean (October 28)

The 11 listed words were BEACH, CORAL, DOLPHIN, OCTOPUS, REEF, SHARK, SHELL, SQUID, TIDE, TURTLE and WAVE. That left seven letters: C, U, R, R, E, N, T. With an Ocean theme, CURRENT uses all seven and no letter is spare.

Example 2: Zoo (October 29)

This puzzle left ten letters: N, O, R, O, A, A, D, K, A, G. A zoo word that fits eight of them is KANGAROO (K, A, N, G, A, R, O, O). The two letters left over, A and D, are the extras.

Example 3: Space (October 30)

Ten letters again: C, E, G, C, I, L, S, P, E, H. ECLIPSE uses seven (E, C, L, I, P, S, E). The extras are C, G and H.

If you are stuck on the list first

Find the longest words first, since they have the fewest places to fit, and scan backward and diagonally. On the Ocean puzzle, nine of the eleven words ran up or to the left. The word search tips cover the habits.

Common mistake

Typing a guess before you have found every word. Guesses are limited to three, so wait until the leftover letters can confirm your word.