Clusters

Clusters is a daily word-grouping puzzle in the family the New York Times made a morning ritual: sixteen tiles on a grid secretly belong to four groups of four, sorted by category, theme, or some sideways connection, and your job is to find every group before four mistakes run you out. What makes it more than sorting is that a tile can sometimes look as if it fits more than one category — a coincidence of which groups were drawn rather than a planted trap, since every tile has exactly one correct home — and each puzzle carries exactly one group per tier, from a gentle yellow to a purple that is usually the hardest to see. Smart play starts with the group you are surest of, since locking it away clears the clutter hiding the rest; when the game tells you a guess is one away, three of your four are right and you should swap the odd one out rather than start over. The same sixteen tiles face everyone that day, generated from the date so no account is needed, and a spoiler-free emoji grid lets you share how you did. A practice mode deals a new random board whenever the daily is done, drawn from the same fixed bank of 44 groups, so regulars will start to recognise some of them. Free, no sign-up.