Letter Salad

If you like letter tiles, this is the fast version. You get a rack of letters and build them into your own crossword — every word real, every tile connected. Clear your rack and everyone draws again. Empty the bag first and you win.

TWO WAYS TO WIN, AND THEY PLAY NOTHING ALIKE Classic is a footrace. First finished, valid board takes it, and speed is everything.

Score is the thinker's game. Every letter carries its value, so a well-placed Z or Q can steal a game you were losing on speed. Suddenly the long word is worth the extra thirty seconds, the awkward letters are the valuable ones, and the best board wins instead of the quickest hands. Same tiles, completely different instincts.

THREE CHEFS TO BEAT The Line Cook takes its time. The Sous Chef keeps pace. The Head Chef will bury you. Each plays like someone thinking it through rather than a solver — get it stuck with an awkward letter and you can watch it pull its own words apart and rebuild them to fit.

PLAY WITH FRIENDS Share a room code and race up to six people at once. Watch everyone's tile count fall in real time, then look over the boards they built once it's done.

PLAY ANYWHERE Solo, Computer and Timed run entirely on your phone. No connection, no account, no waiting on a server — they work on a plane, on the subway, or anywhere with no signal at all.

ONE PURCHASE, AND ONLY IF YOU WANT IT Small Salad — half the letters, for a quicker game — and the 5 and 10 minute Solo rounds unlock together for $2.99, once. Everything else is free and stays free: all three chefs, both ways to win, playing with friends, and the 1 and 3 minute rounds. No ads, no subscription, nothing to sign up for.