Android Word Games

4 Pics 1 Word Puzzle Plus by Second Gear Games (free) - There are several games in the apps store which show you four pictures, and you must determine the word which fits all four pictures. This app adds an extra element to this type of puzzle because you're only shown one picture. If you can't guess the word then tap the square with a question mark in it to see another picture. The fewer pictures you see, the more coins you earn when you get the word right (coins are used when you need a hint). Tap a picture to enlarge it, then tap it again to restore it. If you can guess the word which fits the pictures, then tap the appropriate letters to see if you're right. If you can't guess the word after you've displayed all four pictures, you'll be able to tap the "question mark" button if you need a hint (if you have enough coins) or if you want to skip the word. Also see Logic Quiz Free - Word Puzzles (below).

Anagramic by Hotdog Games (free) - Solve anagrams by assembling the letters into the proper order. In "Conundrum" mode, you have 30 seconds to figure out the word. In "Beat the clock" mode, you have 6 minutes to find as many words as possible using the letters provided. "Free play" mode is the same as "Beat the clock" mode, but there's no timer. In all modes, tap the letters at the bottom of the screen in the proper order to spell a word. The word will be displayed at the top of the screen, and you can tap any letter at the top of the screen to return it to the bottom of the screen. If you're stuck, tap the blue "curved arrows" button to shuffle all of the letters. When you've made a word at the top of the screen, tap the green "checkmark" button to check if it's a valid word.

Astraware Kriss Kross by Astraware Limited (free) - A crossword puzzle, but without any clues. To play, drag a word onto the game board, or drag a word from the game board back to the word list. To scroll the word list, drag the numbers on the right side of the screen. Also see Bonza Word Puzzle (below) and Codewords Lite (below) and Shortyz Crosswords (below) and Unolingo (below).

Bonza Word Puzzle by MiniMega (free) - Build a crossword puzzle by dragging parts of words to the proper positions. You're given a clue (e.g. "Shapes"), and all of the words in the crossword puzzle will relate to the clue. Also see Astraware Kriss Kross (above) and Codewords Lite (below) and Shortyz Crosswords (below) and Unolingo (below).

Codewords Lite by Teazel Ltd (free) - A crossword puzzle, but without any clues. Each letter from A to Z can appear multiple times in a puzzle. Tap a square with a number in it, then tap a letter. Every square containing the selected number will receive the selected letter. To get a hint, tap a square and then go to the menu and tap "Reveal/Clear." To audit the puzzle in order to see which letters are in the right or wrong positions, go to the menu and tap "Check answers." Also see Astraware Kriss Kross (above) and Bonza Word Puzzle (above) and Shortyz Crosswords (below) and Unolingo (below).

Crossword Solver by Havos Ltd (free) - After trying several apps which help solve crossword puzzles, this one is my favorite. In a recent crossword puzzle that I played, one clue was "Flower Clusters," and I had the letters "_A__MES" filled in. I had no idea what the full word was, so I opened Crossword Solver and entered "?A??MES" into the textbox at the top of the screen, and immediately several possible words were displayed. I tapped the "Rare" filter button to turn it off, which removed the rare words from the list, leaving me with just the word "racemes." I had no idea if that was the right word because I don't know what it means, so I tapped the yellow "Dict" button. This told me that "raceme" is a botany term which refers to a certain type of flower cluster. Bingo! This app can also be used to help solve Anagrams, Codewords, and Cryptic Crosswords.

Draw Word -Find it- by Maf (free) - You're given a clue (e.g. "Shapes"), and you're shown a grid containing some letters. You must slide your finger from letter to letter in order to draw a colored line through each word, using up all of the letters in the grid.

Hangman by Ricardo Manuel Alves (free) - This is a better Hangman app than the others I've tried. In the one-player game you can tell the program to select a random word from a number of categories (sports, animals, fruits, singers, etc.). To play with two human players, tap the "1 Vs 1" button, select a Normal or Hardcore game type, then Player 2 enters a word for Player 1 to try to guess.

Logic Puzzles by P S Galey (free) - Provides logic grid puzzles for you to solve. Tap the name of a puzzle to read what it's about, then tap the "green triangle" button to play the puzzle. Read the first clue, then tap the "green minus" button at the top right corner of the screen to hide the clues (it will change to a "green plus" button to allow you to show the clues). Drag the "gray crosshairs" icon over the puzzle to see that section of the puzzle enlarged inside the magnifying glass at the bottom right corner of the screen. Tap a square inside the magnifying glass to place a "red X" in that square (tap the square again to place a "green checkmark" in the square, or tap the square a third time to erase the square). At the top of the screen, tap the "green magnifying glass" button to zoom in or zoom out the entire puzzle grid. The "green arrow" buttons are for undo and redo. The "red circle with a slash" button will ask if you want to clear out the entire puzzle grid. The goal is to use the clues to fill in every square in the puzzle grid. While the clues are displayed, there's a button at each corner of the clues window. Tap the "green minus" button to hide the clues, or tap the "green diagonal arrows" button to re-size the clues window, or tap the "green square" button to maximize/restore the clues window, or drag the "green horizontal and vertical arrows" button to move the clues window (this doesn't work if the window is maximized). Tap the title of a clue (e.g. "Clue 1") to hide it when you're finished with the clue (tap it again to re-display the clue). After you've filled in all of the squares in the puzzle grid, tap the "green question mark" button at the top of the screen to validate the puzzle.

Logic Quiz Free - Word Puzzles by The App-Team (free) - A Rebus puzzle. Type the answer in the textbox, then tap the "Validate" button. Also see 4 Pics 1 Word Puzzle Plus (above).

Quote Slide by Wiggles 3D (free) - Drag the letters into the correct boxes to reveal the quote. While you're dragging a letter, a horizontal arrow and a vertical arrow will show you which boxes the letter is allowed to go into. You can also double-tap a letter to place it into the first empty box for the row or column where you tapped. After you reveal the entire quote, the letters which are inside of circles will appear in the circles at the bottom of the screen. Unscramble the letters in the circles to spell out the answer to the riddle which pops up.

Red Herring by Blue Ox Technologies Ltd. (free) - Drag the words in the gray rectangles and place them into the correct column based on the category name at the top of each column. In "Easy" mode, the category names are displayed at the top of each column, and you're given some of the answers. In "Normal" mode, you're given some of the answers but the category names are not displayed. In "Hard" mode, you're not given any answers and the category names are not displayed. In each mode, the far right column has a red herring (a red fish) in place of the category name at the top of the column, because there are always four words which don't fit into any of the other categories (these words are "red herrings"). If a word has an asterisk next to it, tap the word for some information about the word.

Shortyz Crosswords by Robert "kebernet" Cooper (free) - Solve crossword puzzles from popular newspapers and magazines (e.g. USA Today, People Magazine, LA Times, etc.). Tap a white box to see the clue for that word, and tap the same box again to toggle between "across" and "down." Double-tap the crossword to zoom in/out, or use pinch-to-zoom, or long-press the crossword for more zooming options (such as changing the font size for the clues). Occasionally the display glitches out on my phone, but double-tapping the crossword restores the display. Also see Astraware Kriss Kross (above) and Bonza Word Puzzle (above) and Codewords Lite (above) and Unolingo (below).

Unolingo: No Clue Crosswords by Equazi Enterprizes LLC (free) - A crossword puzzle, but without any clues. Each letter from A to Z will appear just once in a puzzle. Tap an empty square, then tap a letter to place the letter into the square. To get a hint, tap a square and then tap the "Hint" button. To audit the puzzle in order to see which letters are in the right or wrong positions, tap the "Audit" button. Also see Astraware Kriss Kross (above) and Bonza Word Puzzle (above) and Codewords Lite (above) and Shortyz Crosswords (above).

Word Hunt - Word search game by AppTornado Games (free) - A word search puzzle. The word list is displayed at the top of the screen. When you find a word on the game board, drag your finger through the word to highlight it. While you're dragging your finger, the letters which you've touched are displayed above the game board, making it easy to see when you've highlighted the entire word.

Word Ladder by Etropa LLC (free) - Two words are displayed (e.g "CAR" and "COP"), and you must convert the first word to the second word in as few steps as possible by changing one letter at each step. Each time you change a letter, it must result in a valid word. To change "CAR" to "COP," for example, first you would tap the "R" in "CAR" (which turns the letter yellow), then tap the "P" in the list of letters at the bottom of the screen. You now have the word "CAP," and you tap the "A" and replace it with "O" to make the word "COP."

Words With Friends by Zynga (free) - This is the game of Scrabble which you play against someone over the Internet. To start a new game, tap the "plus sign" icon at the top right side of the screen. You can choose an opponent from your phone contacts or your Facebook contacts, or you can let the game choose a random opponent for you, or you can play against someone by passing the phone back and forth. Double-tap the game board to zoom in/out, or use pinch-to-zoom.

• June 29, 2014 - New page.