How to play, and what to do if something is wrong

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Three games, and none of them should need explaining. If one does, that is our fault, so here it is in writing and we will fix the screen.

SUDOKU

Fill the grid so every row, every column and every three-by-three box contains one to nine. Tap a cell, then tap a number.

• Notes pencils in candidates rather than an answer. Tap NOTES, then tap numbers.
• A wrong digit turns red immediately, so you never build a long chain of work on a mistake.
• A number greys out once all nine are placed.
• Hint fills in the selected cell. Undo steps back through everything you have entered.

Every board has exactly one solution. We check that when the puzzle is made, by confirming after each clue is removed that only one answer still fits. A sudoku with two answers is a broken sudoku, and you will not get one.

CRYPTOGRAM

A quote with every letter swapped for a different one, consistently. If E became Q, then every E is Q.

• Tap a letter in the puzzle, then tap the letter you think it really is. Every copy changes at once.
• Letter counts are listed underneath. In English the commonest letters are E, T, A, O, I and N, so the letter appearing most often is usually one of those.
• Short words give it away. A one-letter word is A or I.
• Check marks anything wrong. It is a button rather than automatic, because working it out is the point.

CODEBREAKER

A hidden code of four or five letters, from A to F, and repeats are allowed. Build a guess and submit it.

It is not a word. A to F spells a surprising number of them, so this catches people out. The code is random, and the same letter can appear more than once.

• A filled dot means one letter is right and in the right place.
• A hollow dot means one letter is right but in the wrong place.
• It never tells you which letter. That is the game.
• Letters proved impossible are dimmed on the keyboard, so you do not have to keep that on paper.

DOES IT COST ANYTHING?

No. There are no adverts, no in-app purchases and nothing to subscribe to. Every game and every difficulty is included.

DOES IT NEED AN INTERNET CONNECTION?

No. Puzzles are generated on your phone. It works in aeroplane mode, on a train, underground, anywhere.

A HARD SUDOKU TAKES A MOMENT TO APPEAR

That is deliberate. Before showing you a board it verifies that exactly one solution exists, and on hard that takes a fraction of a second. We would rather you waited a tenth of a second than solved a puzzle that turned out to have two answers.

SOMETHING IS WRONG

Email hello@pixelandshovel.co.uk and tell us what happened, which game, and which difficulty. A screenshot helps enormously. We read all of them and reply.