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babel16

Thank you!!! Fixed.
Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Wednesday August 06, 2025 @11:07AM (#44813029)
Thank you! You are actually able to play ones from previous days, through the archive (calendar button on the main page).
Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:41PM (#44806332)
Fixed now! Sorry about the trouble.
Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:40PM (#44806324)
Fixed now! Sorry, bug fixing on the fly is trepidatious :')
Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:35PM (#44806299)
Hi, thanks for the feedback! Swiping on the tutorial is a great polish idea, I just added it to the game.
Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:22PM (#44806202)
Thanks! I've been thinking about adding a hint function for a while, but not sure what form I want it to take.

Also, Aug 4 was broken-- please try again for a new, solvable puzzle :)

Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:21PM (#44806192)
Thank you so much for the feedback! The dictionary look up feature is a great idea-- I had never thought of it before, but it does solve a pain point with the game you've articulated well.

The desktop UI suggestions are also very helpful. I've updated the desktop version with some minor hover effects and cursor styling. I've mostly been focused on mobile, so it was good hear some feedback for desktop.

Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:07PM (#44806090)
Wow, great minds think alike! Your game is really fun and clever as well, thank you for sharing :)
Re:Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game on Tuesday August 05, 2025 @08:05PM (#44806072)
Hi, this is OP! Thank you to everyone for pointing this out, you are not crazy-- these puzzles were impossible after I removed some invalid words from the dictionary. I had previously replaced the puzzles, but my branch state seems to have gotten out of sync. Please restart Aug 1 and 4 if you'd like, there should be new puzzles to try now!

Show HN: Whittle – A Shrinking Word Game

https://playwhittle.com/

Whittle is a small word game I've been working on. Each phrase must be whittled down by one letter (or space) each turn. The remaining phrase must still consist of valid words. That's it! There's a daily puzzle, as well as an archive of old puzzles.The idea for the game came to me in a dream (really) and I built the puzzle generator with my partner, who's also a software engineer. It's a labor...

( Read More... | 59 comments | 45 points | on HN )