Letter Boxed Solver,
solved in two words.

Field guide

How Letter Boxed works — and how to crack it.

Letter Boxed is The New York Times' daily word puzzle played on a square. Twelve letters are arranged three to a side, and your goal is to use all twelve in as few words as possible. The puzzle lists a target number of words to beat — most days it can be done in two.

The rules

• Build words of three letters or more using only the twelve letters on the board.
• Consecutive letters must come from different sides — you always jump across the square, never along one edge (the “same-side rule”).
• The next word must start with the last letter of the previous word.
• Letters may be reused any number of times. You win when every one of the 12 letters has been used.

The same-side rule, in detail

This is the rule that trips most people up. Because three letters share each side, you can never move directly between any two of them. If the top side holds A, C, M, then AC, CA, AM, MA, CM, and MC are all illegal transitions — you must pass through a letter from the right, bottom, or left side in between. Our solver only ever lists words that obey this constraint, so you don't have to check by hand.

How word chains work

A solution is a chain of words linked by their letters. The last letter of one word is the first letter of the next:

Here the chain pivots on the shared T, and between the two words every letter on the board is covered — a complete two-word solve. A one-word solution is rarer and more elegant: a single word that happens to touch all 12 letters at once.

Daily strategy tips

• Start with the rare letters. Find words that use awkward letters like J, Q, V, X, or Z first — they have the fewest partners, so they constrain the puzzle most.
• Chase a pivot letter. For a two-word solve, look for a long first word ending on a letter that begins a second word covering everything that's left. The solver ranks chains by total length so the tightest solves float to the top.
• Long words do the heavy lifting. A single 7–10 letter word can cover most of the board, leaving only a few letters for the partner word.
• Use the trace tool to verify. Switch to Trace a word and tap letters to draw a path; the board blocks any illegal same-side move so you can sanity-check a play before you commit to it in the app.

Using this solver

Type the three letters from the top side, then right, bottom, and left — focus jumps to the next box automatically. As soon as all twelve are in, the panel lists the best one- and two-word solutions plus every valid word grouped by length. Switch to trace mode to plan a path by tapping letters directly on the square.

Disclaimer: This tool is an independent fan creation and is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by The New York Times Company.