Every narrowboat has a logbook, and ours happens to be full of hidden words. Logbook Word Hunt gives you twelve packs to choose from, each built around a corner of canal life: lock keeping, ropes and knots, bridges and tunnels, the cabin kitchen, riverbank birds, waterside flowers and more. Each grid hides its words running forwards, backwards, up, down and along all four diagonals.
Above the packs sits Today’s log, a daily puzzle that picks a pack and builds a fresh grid every day. A timer runs while you hunt and your stars depend on how quickly you finish. Three hints are on hand for each grid; each one shows where a word begins, and each adds a short penalty to your time, so they are a helping hand rather than a free pass.
How to play Logbook Word Hunt
- Choose Today’s log or any of the twelve packs from the list on the start screen.
- Read the word list beside the grid; every word on it is hidden somewhere among the letters.
- Drag across a word in any of eight directions, or tap its first letter and then its last.
- Stuck on one? Press Hint to see where a word starts, remembering each hint adds time.
- Find every word to finish the grid and earn up to three stars for a quick, tidy hunt.
Logbook Word Hunt controls
Getting better at Logbook Word Hunt
- Scan for unusual letters first; a K, W or Y narrows the search far faster than a common E or A.
- Start with the longest words on the list, because they have fewer places to hide in the grid.
- Look backwards along each row, since plenty of words run right to left where the eye rarely checks.
- Save your hints for the last stubborn word or two, when the time penalty costs you least.
- The daily pack is the same for everyone that day, so it makes a pleasant little shared ritual.
Words gathered from the towpath and the cabin
We wanted the packs to read like the vocabulary of a slow trip by water. Windlass, paddle and sluice come straight from the lockside. Hawser, cleat and bowline belong to the ropes. Sloe, damson and bullace are what you might pick along the hedgerow on a September afternoon, and crumpets and porridge are what you cook once the boat is tied up for the night.
Every word is everyday English, or a lovely old canal word that is worth learning. Some, like kingfisher and blackberry, are long enough to stretch across a whole row. Others, like jam, yew and dew, are tiny and sneaky. Mixing long and short keeps each grid interesting right to the final word.
Small screens, smaller grids, the same calm hunt
On a wide screen the grid is generous and every word from the pack goes in. On a narrow phone screen the grid shrinks so letters stay readable and comfortable to drag across, and the very longest words make way so the puzzle still fits. The word list moves beneath the grid and splits into tidy columns.
Stars are earned on time, adjusted for any hints you took. Finish quickly and three stars glow; take your time and you still earn at least one. Many of our crew play the daily pack with breakfast and come back to a themed pack in the evening, which turns out to be a very relaxing way to bookend a day.
Questions about Logbook Word Hunt
Yes. Each day Today’s log chooses one of the twelve packs and builds a fresh grid for that date, so there is always something new waiting when you open the game.
Three per grid. Each one shows where a hidden word begins and adds a small amount to your time, which can lower your star count if you lean on them.
They can. Words hide in all eight directions: left, right, up, down and along each diagonal, both forwards and in reverse.
