FREE NYT LETTER BOXED SOLVER
Letter Boxed Solver: Free Word Chain Finder for the NYT Puzzle
Paste the twelve letters from today’s board and get valid word chains instantly — shortest answer on top. Free, no account, not tied to The New York Times.
✓ 100% Free ✓ No Login ✓ Instant Results ✓ Mobile Ready
HOW IT WORKS
What a Letter Boxed Solver Actually Does
You built a decent chain, then the last letter refused to fit anywhere. That is where most players give up. A letter boxed solver gets you past it.
Reads Your Board
The solver reads the twelve letters on your board and notes which letter sits on which side. That side assignment is what the game’s rules depend on.
Builds Word Chains
It strings words together where each new word starts with the last letter of the one before it, testing thousands of paths simultaneously.
Fast on Any Device
Dead-end paths are cut off early, so the solver stays fast even on a slow phone. No app to install — runs in any mobile browser.
Filters Legal Words
It checks letters against a curated word list and drops any word that would break the side rule — no two consecutive letters from the same side.
Ranks Shortest First
Results come back sorted so the shortest chain sits at the very top. Two-word answers are always checked before three-word ones.
Uses Every Letter
Only chains that use all twelve letters are returned. The tool only shows chains that will actually register when you type them into the puzzle.
Reading the Board the Right Way
Every side holds three letters. The order you type them inside a single side does not change anything. What counts is which side each letter belongs to, because that is what the side rule depends on. Get the sides right and the results will match your real board.
STEP BY STEP
How to Use the Solver in Four Steps
The whole thing takes under a minute.
1 — Open Today’s Puzzle
Open today’s puzzle and read the three letters on each side of the box. There are four sides, twelve letters total.
3 — Pick Word Count
Pick how many words you want to aim for. Two or three is a good start. The game scores shorter chains as better.
2 — Type the Letters
Type those letters into the four boxes, one side per row. The order inside a single side does not change anything — only which side matters.
4 — Hit Solve
Hit solve and choose the chain you like best. The first result is usually the shortest valid solution for that board.
HINTS & STRATEGY
Solve Today’s Board, or Just Get a Nudge
Some days you want the finished answer. Other days you only need a small push to keep going. Both work here.
Get Today’s Answer Fast
Type in the letters from today’s board and solve. The first result is usually a solution with two words, which the game scores as the best you can do.
If you would rather see the official one, the NYT reveals a two-word answer for the previous day under the Letter Boxed menu marked “Yesterday.” You can also browse every previous puzzle in our letter-boxed-nyt-history archive.
Hints Without Spoilers
Read these one at a time. Stop the moment you have enough. Each hint is designed to give you just enough to keep going without revealing the full answer.
Hint one. Most boards have a strong two word answer waiting. If your longer chain will not link up, a shorter route probably exists.
Hint two. Begin with the rarest letter on the board. Hard letters need to go early, while the full square is still open.
Hint three. Hunt for one long word first. A word of seven or eight letters clears most of the square in a single move.
Hint four. Find the bridge letter. That is the letter that ends word one and starts word two.
Hint five. The second word usually starts with the letter you keep failing to place. Search for words that begin there and cover what is left.
UNDER THE HOOD
How the Solver Finds Word Chains
You do not need this section to use the tool. Reading it helps you trust what comes back and spot a bad entry.
It Maps the Board First
The solver notes which letter sits on which side, then guards one rule: two letters in a row can never come from the same side. It labels every letter with its side before doing anything else.
It Builds the Chain
Now it strings words together. Each new word starts with the last letter of the one before it. The tool links them in a line — like STORM to MARBLE to EXTEND — and tests thousands of paths at once.
It Filters the Word List
Next it drops any word that would break the side rule. If a word needs two letters from the same side back to back, it goes. What survives is a clean set of legal words built for your exact twelve letters.
It Ranks Shortest First
The solver checks every two-word answer before moving to three-word ones. Dead paths are cut off early, so a branch starting with an impossible letter pair gets dropped right away — keeping results fast even on a slow phone.
REAL BOARD EXAMPLES
See It Work on Real Boards
Board One
Top: T, I, D · Right: R, C, G · Bottom: O, A, E · Left: P, L, S
Solution: TROPICAL → LODGES
T (top)→R (right)→O (bottom)→P (left)→I (top)→C (right)→A (bottom)→L (left). Every step jumps to a new side. Then L→O→D→G→E→S — all twelve letters used, no side rule broken.
Board Two
Top: D, O, U · Right: I, M, N · Bottom: P, A, E · Left: L, T, S
Solution: DIPLOMAT → TUNES
DIPLOMAT runs top, right, left, bottom — keeps switching sides through all eight letters. TUNES starts on T (left)→U (top)→N (right)→E (bottom)→S (left). Bridge letter is T. Every letter used, rule unbroken.
Why Checking Each Trace Matters
A common solver example pairs CLOUD with DRONE on a similar layout, but CLOUD puts U and D on the same side in a row — it fails. That is why checking each trace matters, and why a good tool does it for you.
PRO STRATEGIES
Strategies the Solver Uses That You Can Copy
End Words on a Strong Letter
Before you lock in a word, ask if you can name three common words that start with its last letter. Ending on S gives the most options — it starts more common words than any other consonant.
Use Bridge Letters on Purpose
A bridge letter ends one word and starts the next. Letters like N, R, and S make strong bridges — they sit at the end of many words and begin many too.
Think Two Words Ahead
Before you submit word one, picture word two. A word ending in N gives you nature, narrow, or north. A word ending in K gives you very little. Pick the ending that keeps your options open.
Open With a Long Word
A long first word does two jobs: it clears more sides at once, and it burns the hard letters early. On a board with B, R, A, I, N, S — BRAINS beats BITE by a mile.
Keep Rare Letters in the Middle
When Q, X, Z, or J lands on the board, tuck it inside a longer word instead of the end. Ending on X or Z usually stops the chain cold, since few words start there.
| Ending Letter | Strength | Why It Helps |
|---|---|---|
| S | Strongest | Starts more common words than any other consonant |
| N, R, T, D | Strong | Each begins thousands of everyday words |
| L, C, G | Fair | Workable, but fewer options than S or R |
| Q, X, Z, J, K | Weak | Almost nothing common starts here |
| Rare Letter | Good Middle Words | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Q | tranquil, eloquent | Q pairs with U inside the word, then ends on a strong letter |
| X | explore, relaxing | X between vowels moves cleanly between sides |
| Z | blazing, frozen | Endings like -ize help you finish on a strong letter |
| J | object, majesty | J works mid-word, almost never as an ending |
WORD LIST
Which Words the Solver Accepts, and Why the NYT Sometimes Disagrees
Curated Word List
A good solver aims its own word list at the same standard as the NYT. Most of the time the two match, so the chains you get will work in the game.
Why a Word Gets Rejected
The solver might accept a word the NYT left out (usually something old or unusual), or the game might allow a fresh word the solver has not added yet. Both cases are rare — the gap sits in dated words, new slang, and abbreviations.
When the Solver Says No Solution
First, check your letters — a single typo is the most common cause. The Q-without-U problem, or too many vowels on one side, can also produce boards with no legal chain. Custom boards carry no guarantee of having an answer.
Custom Boards May Have No Answer
When you invent your own twelve letters, you can build a board that simply has no legal chain. This often happens when too many vowels land on one side, or common letter pairs get split apart. The NYT tests each daily puzzle to make sure at least one solution exists. A homemade board carries no such promise.
Is Using a Letter Boxed Solver Cheating?
Short answer: There is no leaderboard and no rule about how you play the daily puzzle, so nobody is watching. The better question is whether the tool is helping you or replacing you.
Run it instead of thinking, and you skip the whole point. The joy of a two-word solve only exists because the board was hard. Copy letters every day and you learn nothing.
Use it after a real attempt, and it teaches you. You see what you missed and why. Think of a chess player reviewing a finished game. That habit builds skill. That is not cheating.
Where Letter Boxed came from
Letter Boxed was created by Sam Ezersky, the digital puzzles editor at The New York Times. It had a soft launch in 2018 and an official release on February 1, 2019, as Polygon reported at the time. It sits in the NYT Games lineup next to Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, Strands, and the Crossword. A fresh board goes live every day at 3 a.m. Eastern, according to Wikipedia. Ezersky, who also edits Spelling Bee, has said he shapes solutions to feel human rather than machine made.
Letter Boxed rules, quick recap
- If you are new or need a refresher, these are the rules that run every board.
- Each word must be at least three letters long.
- No two letters in a row can come from the same side.
- Each new word starts with the last letter of the word before it.
- Every one of the twelve letters must be used at least once.
- You can reuse letters as often as you need.
- The word has to be in the game’s list. No proper nouns, abbreviations, or slurs.