Solutions At Your Finger Tips
Attention problem solvers: Here is a compilation of the most useful puzzle tools on the internet to help you find that elusive solution or answer. Whether its word puzzles like crosswords and scrabble, math based ones, or general knowledge and trivia, there are tools that can keep you from getting stuck and allow you to take on even the hardest challenges.
General Word Play
Unscramble has a number of useful search tools to ‘unscramble, find, rhyme or define that word’. A must to bookmark because its versatility will help with multiple types of word puzzles.
The unscramble feature proved invaluable when solving the puzzle “Blocks With Letters On“. Even though there are better tools for specific word puzzles (like crosswords, word jumbles, etc.), unscramble is a great all-around word puzzle tool.
Anagram Finder
As WordSmith.org’s animated tag line illustrates: “I, Rearrangement Servant” is an anagram for “Internet Anagram Server”.
Just type in your words and press “Get Anagrams” and moments later you will be presented with a list of unscrambled results. This list can be extensive; typing “Clint Eastwood” yielded 76,924 results. There is also an advance feature that allows you to fine tune. For example, limiting your results to one word enables you to solve word jumbles effortlessly.
Crossword Answer Search
If you are having trouble getting a word in a crossword puzzle, see if the One Across search engine can help. Unlike pure pattern dictionary searches, OneAcross.com actually analyzes the clue as well. Simply enter a crossword clue and the answer length or an answer pattern (using question marks to indicate unknown letters)
If you are less confident of your letter pattern, this crossword tool offers a powerful feature. Using uppercase letters will tell the search you are 95% sure, while lowercase letters indicates 60% certainty.
Honorable mentions:
- WhatsThisWord.com simple to use word pattern tool
- XWordInfo.com answer pattern with usage frequency
eCalc is an online calculator that supports unit conversion, equation solving, and even complex-number math. It is designed to work directly in your browser and requires no special plug-ins. It operates in either algebraic input (default mode) or RPN input. For Trivia and Crossword puzzlers alike, the conversion feature is a great resource covering mass, speed, time, power, volume, area, length, energy, temperature, force and energy.
Language Translation
There are several good foriegn language translators out there but Google does the best job and they present a clean and crisp, page.
Alphametic Puzzle Solver
Send + More = Money is a famous verbal arithmetic puzzle where letters represent unknown numbers in a mathematical equation. This tool removes the guess work and solves the values of the variables. Apart from the normal mode of base 10 (ten digits), you can also change the base from 2 to 16.
Lights Out Puzzle Solver
This “lights out puzzle” tool will help not only solve these puzzles, but in the lowest amount of moves possible. Some of these puzzles are unsolvable and the program will let you know.
Crypto Cracker
Type in a cryptogram and receive the most likely possible answer. The longer the cryptogram phrase, the more likely you will get an exact answer.
Word Morph
A perfect aid for solving word ladder puzzles. Just enter a word into Word Morph and it will provide a list of words differing from that word by one letter.
Sudoku Solver
This elegant Sudoku solver has a handy aid for entering the known numbers. When you click on any square a small wheel pops up displaying1 through 9 and X. Just select the correct content for that square. Once you have entered the information use the solve button to display two solutions