Slideword

What you are trying to do

Slideword begins with a scrambled 5×5 letter grid. Your target is not one answer but five: every horizontal row must simultaneously spell one of the day’s five words.

How a move changes the grid

Each move slides a complete row or column. Tiles that leave one edge wrap back in from the opposite edge, so no letters disappear. A row move rotates that row without changing its cyclic letter order; a column move redistributes letters among several rows. That distinction is the main planning constraint.

Clues and modes

The clue bar can reveal a target word when you need orientation. The linked listing distinguishes Easy and Hard modes. In the rendered rules, Easy mode locks a completed row so later column moves skip it. Hard mode leaves completed rows movable, which makes the order of operations more important.

When the puzzle ends

The solve is complete when all five rows show valid target words at the same time. Finding one correct row is progress, not the end of the round.

A practical first approach

Look first for a row whose letters already form a target word in a rotated order; a row slide can finish it without disturbing other rows. Use column moves for letters that must change rows. In Hard mode, avoid polishing one row too early because a later column move can break it again. The current evidence does not establish an optimal move count, difficulty rating or universal scoring rule, so this guide does not invent one.