Word building

Check it makes both bracketed words real

HintOne try, two jobs — the same choice has to finish the first and open the second.

The whyRun through the alphabet if you are stuck, sounding each finished pair in your head — most letters fail one word instantly, which narrows things fast.

Both words are still real words

HintTaking the letter out must leave sense behind — and adding it must make sense too.

The whyThe letter comes off the front or back of the first word and joins the front or back of the second. Check the leftover word as carefully as the new one.

One real word, using a word from each group

HintTwo halves, one whole — try the pairings out loud in your head.

The whyJoin them in the order given — "cup" and "board" make cupboard, but reversing the halves usually makes nothing.

A compound word

HintSnowball, footpath and teacup are all this kind of thing.

The whyBoth halves keep their spelling: foot + path = footpath. Verbal reasoning papers build and break these all the time.

One — the same letter fits both

HintA single choice must repair the first gap and the second together.

The whyTry a letter in the first word; if it works, test it in the second before you settle. Only a letter that mends both is the answer.

Across the join of the two words

HintSay the sentence smoothly — something new appears where one thing finishes and the next begins.

The whyIt starts inside the first word and finishes inside the second, letters in order with no gaps. Sliding a finger across the boundary helps you hear it.

No — the letters stay in their printed order

HintThis is not an anagram — read straight through, left to right.

The whyA hidden word is a run of neighbouring letters, nothing rearranged and nothing skipped. If you find yourself jumping about, you have drifted into a different kind of puzzle.

last and first

HintIt sits at the seam, closing one word and opening the other.

The whyThat seam position is why a single letter can mend two words at once — it belongs to both of them.

The front or the back of the first word

HintEnds only — nothing gets pulled out of the middle.

The whyIt is added to the front or the back of the second word, too. Middles never move — which keeps the puzzle quick to check by eye.

Raincoat joins two whole words; quickly is one word with an ending

HintSplit each in half and see whether the halves can stand alone.

The why"Rain" and "coat" both live on their own; "quick" does, but "-ly" does not. A compound needs two words that survive the split.

Yes — only one order makes a real word

HintTry it both ways round in your head; usually just one sounds like something.

The whyTake "sun" and "flower": sunflower is a plant, but flowersun is nothing at all. The order the groups are printed in is almost always the order you must keep.

The end of one word and the start of the next

HintCover everything except a few letters either side of that meeting point.

The whySlide your eye along rather than reading for meaning — meaning is what hides it. The letters you need sit side by side, and they never jump over a gap.

Say each finished word aloud in your head

HintListening catches a wrong choice faster than looking at it does.

The whyVowels are worth trying first — they finish far more words than most consonants do. If a letter mends only one gap, move on rather than forcing it.

One of the four words is not a real word

HintCheck every spelling again — something you accepted probably is not in the dictionary.

The whyThese questions are built to have exactly one answer. Two answers means one you waved through does not exist, so test the doubtful spelling properly.

One

HintNever a pair — a single traveller crosses between the two words.

The whyIt leaves the first word and joins the second. If you find yourself shifting two, you have misread the question rather than found a clever route.

Check the other pairings do not also work

HintOnly one join in the whole list should make sense — so try them all.

The whyPapers include near-misses on purpose. Running through every combination takes seconds and stops you settling on the first one that half-works.

No — it must cross from one into the other

HintA find that never touches the second word does not count here.

The whyPlenty of ordinary words hide smaller words inside them, which makes this an easy trap. The one the question wants always straddles the boundary.

Nothing travels — you supply a letter that was never there

HintIn one puzzle a piece shifts along; in this kind you add a fresh piece.

The whyBoth look alike on the page because both leave gaps. Ask yourself whether the question hands you something to shift or asks you to think of one.

two and spelling

HintCount the parts; then ask whether either part changes when they join.

The whyThat is why "cupboard" still shows cup and board, even though nobody says it that way any more. Nothing is dropped or altered at the join.

A single letter of the alphabet

HintNot a whole word — just one character does the job.

The whyChildren sometimes write a syllable, or a short word that fits the sense. The instruction is stricter than that: exactly one character, no more.

The first one — it loses a letter

HintWhatever gives something away must end up smaller than it started.

The whyThe second word grows by exactly the same amount. Counting before and after is a quick way to check you have not slipped.

The answer can hide at any join in it

HintWork along from left to right and test every meeting place in turn.

The whyThere is only one hidden word, but you cannot tell which neighbours hold it until you check. Being systematic beats guessing where it feels likely.

Two

HintOne gap in each of the given words.

The whyThat is what makes it harder than an ordinary spelling gap: your choice has to satisfy both words at once, not just the one in front of you.

Re-read the two words — one has been misread

HintA slip in copying is far likelier than a question with no solution.

The whyPapers are checked before they reach you, so a dead end almost always means a misreading at your end. Start again from the printed page, not your notes.