How to Solve a Word Scramble Puzzle

Word scrambles typically use common recognizable words.

Though less common than crossword puzzles and Sudoku, some newspapers carry a daily or weekly word scramble. The typical word scramble consists of about five scrambled words followed by a longer scrambled phrase. Solvers must figure out the smaller words to find the letters in the scrambled phrase, then unscramble these letters to discover a joke or pun.

Instructions

1. Solve the first five words, one at a time. If you can't solve the words in your head, work them out on a separate sheet of paper. For example, if you have the scrambled word "TANGUO," write out different combinations (NATGUO or GATNOU, for example) until you determine the correct word, "NOUGAT."

2. Look in a dictionary to determine whether an unscrambled letter combination is a word or not. If a word seems familiar but you don't know what it means, verify that it is a real word before continuing with the puzzle.

3. Enter a scrambled word into a crossword puzzle solver if unable to figure it out yourself.

4. Write each scrambled word solution in its appropriate line in the puzzle. Typically, you enter one letter into each box or line.

5. Solve the final puzzle: take selected letters from the scrambled words you solved earlier and write them on a separate piece of paper. Selected words are set apart from the rest in some way -- their boxes usually have a different color or shape that sets them apart from the rest.

6. Unscramble the words in the final puzzle to make a phrase, and write the words in the provided spaces. Sometimes the puzzle will have a cartoon or image that gives you a clue. Singular spaces indicate the word "A" or "I." The word "the" is also likely to be in the final phrase.

References

• Scrambled Word and Crossword Solver; Charles Bower, M.D.; 1998
• University of Akron; Scrambled Word/Crossword Puzzle Solver; June, 2007