This difficult word search starts on the Hard level: 12 words in a 14 × 14 grid, running across, down, diagonally and backwards, in all eight directions. Every puzzle is new, so you never solve the same grid twice.

What makes it hard

Words can run backwards, so SNOW may appear as WONS.
Diagonals go both ways, up and down.
The free squares are filled with the most common letters of English, so E, T and A are everywhere and false starts are easy.
Long words cross each other and share letters.

How to play

Choose one of 21 themes, from animals and countries to space and food. Find a word from the list in the grid and drag from its first letter to its last; on a phone you can tap the first and the last letter instead. The timer shows how long the whole grid took, so you can try to beat your time.

Tips for hard grids

Search for the rarest letter of a word first: the Z in ZEBRA, the Q in EQUATOR, the double letters in BALLOON.
When you find the first letter, check all eight neighbours before you move on.
Read the grid backwards, right to left, row by row: reversed words are easier to spot that way.

Too hard today? Switch the level to Medium or Easy at the top. You can also print any grid with a separate answer key, or make your own in the Word Search Generator. For a gentler start, play the classic Word Search.