How to Become Great at Word Search Puzzles

Do you like to play JetPunk's word search? Do you think you're good at it? Do you want to be even better? If so, you've come to the right place. Or, maybe you don't play JetPunk's word search. If so, may this blog inspire you to start and immediately become an expert! Read on to find out how to solve every puzzle on JetPunk in at most ten minutes (depending on the size of the puzzle) !

As someone who has completed every featured puzzle on JetPunk, I will admit that there are many puzzles that have themes that I'm not too familiar with. Especially some of the newer ones that were created by users. However, I still managed to complete them just fine with the help of the handy word list.

But what if you do know the theme well? I think it's safe to say that the most popular subject for quizzes on JetPunk is geography, so it would make sense for the same to be applied to puzzles. If you are indeed someone who is very much familiar with geography, it may help to dive straight in and not look at the word list just yet!

Below is the grid from puzzle #8: "Geography". See if you can find any words without looking at any word list.

If you know your geography well enough, it shouldn't be hard to see "Brasilia" at the very top, and just by looking, you should be easily able to find the other places here. Look horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.

Also, it should be useful to notice letters that go together easily. For example, look at the fourth last column. I don't think there's any place on Earth whose name contains the letters "NHDGRT". Now look at the bottom row. There's no place called "Orgenet" or anything, but the order of those letters look like they could go together. As it turns out, it's part of the word "Montenegro".

What I do is I look at all the rows, then all the columns, then I look at all the diagonal lines. For example, look at the pictures below from Puzzle #72: "Words".

It also really helps to actually use the orange oval thing and circle the line where you're looking, as it can help direct your eyes to the right spot.

When you've already found many words, it is EXTREMELY helpful to look at your unused letters to try and find a hidden message. Every featured puzzle has a hidden message, so this trick will be very useful if you're playing a featured puzzle. Look at the example from puzzle #113: "Countries".

Let's say you get stuck here. Just look at your unused letters! You currently have: GEOGRAPPHYRTPYGU. It should be obvious that the hidden message is at least going to contain "Geography" from the first few letters. Since there are two Ps before the H, that's your hint that one of them is part of a word! Just start looking around and you'll find the word!

In addition, the letters that seem to be in a peculiar position are probably part of a word you haven't found yet. Take for example the "TPYG". They clearly don't form a word in the hidden message, so they must be parts of words you're supposed to find! Indeed, they are part of the word "Egypt".

I also feel I should mention that I have noticed that "Iran" and "Iraq" appear in most of the "Hidden Countries" puzzles. They are annoying as heck to find! Look for them whenever playing a Hidden Countries puzzle!