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Try out your word-making skills on this free online word puzzle.
The aim is to make as many words as you can from nine given letters. The letter in the middle has to be used in every word. Your words must be at least four letters long, and there must be at least one nine-letter word.
There are two new puzzles every day. And if that's not enough, you can get a random puzzle whenever you like. See how high you can go on the Chihuahua scoreboard!
There are new daily Chihuahua puzzles at midnight, GMT, each day. Everyone playing the current day's puzzle goes on to the scoreboard (displayed to the right of the puzzle).
Click here to see when the next puzzle is due.
To learn more about the Chihuahua puzzle, visit the Help Page or the Questions and Answers Page.
The following sources have been useful in the creation of the Chihuahua word puzzle.
Chihuahua uses its own word list, compiled with the use of many resources, in particular:
Chihuahua also uses YAWL (Yet Another Word List), compiled and placed in the public domain by Mendel Cooper. (The list and associated documentation and software may be downloaded from his Available Software site.)
For general information and ideas on word games, David Parlett's Web site and books, The Penguin Book of Word Games (1982) and The Guinness Book of Word Games (1995) have been most helpful.
Chihuahua is designed to run without the need for Java or Flash plugins. (Although where Flash is available, it is used to play sounds if the sound effects option is selected.) Chihuahua uses JavaScript and CSS. Perl and MySQL are used on the server. Communication with the server uses, where available, the techniques that have been called "Ajax" (Asynchronous JavaScript and XMLHttp).
Chihuahua uses Scott Schiller's SoundManager, a JavaScript interface for using Flash to play sounds. Where Flash is not available, Chihuahua uses techniques described on Mark Huckvale's Demonstration of Different ways to Play a Sound from a Web Page.
Chihuahua also uses the JavaScript implementation of the MD5 hashing algorithm by "Paj" (Paul Johnston) and Saltstorm's ESC JavaScript compression tool.
Recommended books and websites:
JavaScript and DHTML Cookbook (2003) by Danny Goodman.
Web Designer's Reference (2005) by Craig Grannell.
MySQL (Third edition, 2005) by paul DuBois.
The Ajaxian Web site for the latest news and discussion on Asynchronous JavaScript and XMLHttp
The How To Create and QuirksMode sites - full of useful tips for Web site developers.
And thanks also to my friends who have tried out the Chihuahua puzzle and given me valuable findings and suggestions.
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Needless to say, none of the worthy authors listed above are responsible for anything wrong with the Chihuahua puzzle or website. All bugs, design flaws and the like are my own work.
