How to play Allways
Four clues sit around an empty centre. Every one of them points at the same hidden word — but each takes a different route to get there. Find the word in five guesses.
- HEATA heat wave is a stretch of hot days.Pair
- GESTURETo wave is to gesture with your hand.Definition
- TSUNAMIA tsunami is a kind of wave.Kind
- MAKETo make waves is to cause a stir.Idiom
1. Guess the word
Five guesses. Every miss opens something up — help arrives, and you have fewer chances left to use it.
- 1Start. Three clues on the board, and five guesses.
- 2Every miss. One clue tells you how it connects.
- 3Second miss. The fourth clue appears.
- 4Fourth miss. The first letter and the length.
2. Follow the routes you are given
There is nothing to fill in. Each miss writes one route onto the line between a clue and the centre — and that is real help, because it tells you something true about a word you have not found yet. There are only four, and they read exactly like this:
- Synonym
- The clue is another word for it.
- Phrase
- The two words go together, and mean just what they say.
- Example
- The clue is one type of the thing.
- Idiom
- The word turns up in a saying that means something else.
Afterwards, each explanation gives its route a more formal name — Definition, Pair, Kind and Idiom — which is why the worked example above reads a little differently. Nothing to memorise either way.
That is the whole game
The rest answers itself as you play. Open one if you get curious.
Which route do I get first?
The least helpful one available. Phrase rules almost nothing out, since plenty of words pair with plenty of others. Synonym all but hands the answer over, so it comes last.
What is the difference between Phrase and Idiom?
Whether the words mean what they say. A heat wave really is a wave of heat, so that is a Phrase. To make waves has nothing to do with water, so that is an Idiom.
Does a different form of the word count?
Yes. Wave may turn up as waves, crown as crowning. The connection just has to be to the answer itself.
Can two clues take the same route?
Now and then, where the word leaves no honest alternative — not every answer has four fair routes, and forcing a fourth would just give you something to argue with. It changes nothing about how the puzzle plays.
I think I found a better answer.
Sometimes you will, and sometimes you will be right. There is a button on the results screen for exactly that. Reported answers get read, and good ones get added.