About Fill-In
You are handed a list of words and a dressed stone slab with their slots cut into it. Every word fits the grid exactly one way: find it by its length and by the letters it shares with the words crossing it.
Work through 240 grids in eight chapters of a mason's year, from a garden wall to a cathedral nave, each a little larger and with more words of the same length. Every grid is proved to have one answer that reasoning alone reaches, with no guessing.
How to play
- Goal
- Fit every word on the list into the grid so that all crossing letters agree.
- How it ends
- The grid is finished when every word is in place; words can be lifted and moved, so a grid cannot be lost.
- Record
- Your first finish of each grid keeps its time and the number of words revealed by hints.
- Every run of open cells across or down is a slot. Each word on the list goes in exactly one slot of its own length, and every word is used once.
- Tap a slot, then a word to carve it in; or tap a word first, then one of the lit slots. A word that clashes with a crossing word is refused, and the clash is named.
- The gilded starter word is carved in for you. Every word shares its length with at least one other, so the crossing letters decide each one: find a slot only one word fits, or a word that fits only one slot.
- A hint lifts a word in the wrong place, or carves in a right one; each counts in Words revealed. Set ten grids of a chapter to open the next.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Tap or click a slot, then a word | Carve the word into that slot |
| Tap a word, then a lit slot | The same, word first |
| Arrow keys; Space | Move across the grid; switch across and down |
| Type a word's first letters; Enter | Pick a word of the slot's length and carve it |
| Backspace; Ctrl+Z | Lift the chosen slot's word; undo |
| Shift+R; Escape | Restart the grid; go back |
Tips
- Let crossings choose When a slot already has a letter or two, check which words of its length still fit; often only one does.
- Turn it round When every slot still has two or more words that fit, look at the words instead: one of them will fit only one slot.
Good to know
Progress stays in this browser. The clock starts when a grid is first opened and keeps running when you leave it. Only the first finish of a grid can set its records; a grid opened before the page was reloaded finishes on this device only.
Watch how to play
Questions
Can a grid have two answers?
No. Every grid is checked by two independent counters and two separate solvers: each has exactly one fill, reached by reasoning without guessing.
Do hints cost the record?
A hint counts one in Words revealed, the grid's second record. Your time still counts.
