The Word Wheel game is live

I have added a new Word Wheel game to the site.

Each puzzle has nine letters: eight around the outside of the wheel and one required letter in the centre. Your job is to find as many words as possible before you finish and reveal the answers.

Every answer must:

• be at least five letters long
• include the centre letter
• use each letter no more times than it appears on the wheel

There is also always at least one nine-letter word. Finding it uses every letter on the wheel and earns a small celebration.

How a round works

The letters spin into place at the start of a round, settling around the outside of the wheel before the centre letter is revealed.

Type a word and press Add word, or click the letters on the wheel to build your answer. Valid answers appear immediately in either the Common words or Obscure words panel, while repeated words and words that cannot be made from the wheel are rejected. If a genuine word is missing from the site's dictionary, there is a direct link to report it.

Each panel shows how many answers you have found and how many are available in that category. Words are grouped by length as you find them. There is no timer, so you can keep looking for as long as you like. When you are satisfied, choose Finish and reveal answers to see your overall percentage and fill in all the words you missed.

Can you find every word?

Probably not—and that is all right.

Word Wheel checks the full Countdown Tools dictionary. Familiar words are separated from unusual or specialist answers, so you can concentrate on completing the Common words panel without feeling that you ought to know every obscure dictionary entry. A perfect score across both panels is still very rare.

The total is there to give you an idea of how much remains, rather than to suggest that every word should be familiar. Finding the nine-letter word is a good achievement; finding most of the shorter answers as well is even better.

How the answers are found

The game uses the same dictionary and letters-solving code as the main Countdown letters solver. It finds every dictionary word that can be made from the nine letters, then keeps the answers that are at least five letters long and contain the centre letter.

Each wheel is built around a known nine-letter answer, so the promise that every puzzle has one is guaranteed rather than left to chance.

Play Word Wheel

Try the new Word Wheel game, or browse the other word games on the site.