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How to play Quartets

Quartets is a daily word puzzle: the 16 words on the board split into four groups of four, and each group shares a link. The rules take a minute to learn; the solving is different every day.

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Free · no sign-up · phone and desktop

Quartets board with one group solved and four words selected

The goal

There are 16 words on the board, hiding four groups: four fruits, say, or four jobs, or four words that can all go before the same word. Select the four you think belong together and tap Submit. If you are right, they slide into a row and turn into a coloured bar with the group’s name. Find all four groups and the puzzle is solved.

Once three groups are found, the last four words open by themselves as the final group.

Mistakes and the “Close” hint

You can make four mistakes; the four dots under the board show how many are left. If three of your four belong to the same group, the game says “Close: one doesn’t belong” — one word has to change, but you decide which. Submitting a four you already tried does not cost a mistake: the game simply reminds you. After the fourth mistake the game ends and the groups you missed are revealed one by one on the board.

Colours and levels

Every puzzle has four levels, and each group opens in its level’s colour. Small bars in the corner of the strip show the level too, so it is readable even if colours are hard to tell apart.

ColourLevelWhat it usually is
Yellow1 — easya plain set most people spot at once
Green2 — mediumbroader knowledge, or a set with a decoy
Blue3 — harda shared trait: “things that …”
Coral4 — trickiestwordplay: hidden words, ___ + word, homophones

Decoy words

This is what makes the puzzle fun: some words seem to fit two groups. Yet there is only one solution, because each group’s name is precise and every word fits only its own group.

FRESHWATER FISH
TROUT, PIKE, BREAM, TILAPIA
PARTS OF A SHOE
SOLE, HEEL, TONGUE, LACE

SOLE looks like a fish, but it is a sea fish, so it belongs to the shoe. Every puzzle has decoys like this.

Controls

  • Select: tap a word; tap it again to deselect.
  • Shuffle: reorders the words; a new layout often reveals a link.
  • Deselect: clears your selection.
  • On a computer: arrow keys move, Space selects, Enter submits, Esc deselects, S shuffles.

Statistics

Each language keeps its own record: puzzles played, win percentage, current and best streak, and how many mistakes your wins took. It is stored in your browser, so there is no account or sign-up. Close the page mid-game or switch languages and the game picks up where you left it.

FAQ

Is Quartets free?

Yes, completely: the daily puzzle and the whole archive. The site runs on ads.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes, it opens in the browser with nothing to install, and the tiles are sized for one-handed play.

Which languages are there?

English (110), Russian (88) and Uzbek (88) puzzles. Each set is written separately in its own language, not translated.

Can I restart a puzzle?

No: your tries are saved, so results stay honest. For practice, open another puzzle from the archive.

See also

Daily puzzleDaily puzzleone for everyone, streaks, archiveTips and strategyTips and strategyhow to find the groupsKinds of groupsKinds of groupsknowledge, shared trait, wordplayWord association game onlineWord association game onlinefree, no sign-up
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