How to play
Every day there’s a new donut: a ring of five-letter words. Fill in the missing letters so that every word is a real one.
The donut
Read the words clockwise. Each word starts with the last two letters of the word before it, and the last word loops back into the first.
PECAN ends in AN, which starts ANGEL, so the ring closes.
Because the words share letters, a donut of three words has only nine slots. The first letter of each word is given on a cream tile.
Placing letters
- Tap a letter in the tray, then tap a slot. You can also drag it.
- Tap a placed letter to send it back to the tray. Drag one placed letter onto another to swap them.
- The tray holds every missing letter, plus two that don’t belong.
- Shuffle mixes up the tray. Clear sends back every letter that isn’t part of a finished word.
Checking words
- A word checks itself as soon as its five slots are full. If it’s a real word, it turns green.
- Any real word counts, even if it isn’t the one we had in mind. If your ring works, you’ve solved it.
- Turn every word green to finish the donut.
Stars
You start with 5 stars. The fewest moves you can make is one per empty slot, and every move beyond that costs a star.
| Move | Counts as |
|---|---|
| Place a letter from the tray | 1 move |
| Swap two placed letters | 1 move |
| Send a letter back to the tray | 1 move |
| Clear | 1 per letter |
| Shuffle | Free |
Placing one of the extra letters always costs at least one star, since it has to come out again. Run out of stars and you can still finish the donut.
Time
The clock starts with your first move, pauses while you’re in another tab or app, and stops when the donut is done.
A new donut every day
- Everyone gets the same donut. A new one arrives at midnight UTC: 8 pm in New York during daylight saving time, 7 pm the rest of the year.
- The donuts grow through the week: 3 words on Monday, 4 from Tuesday to Thursday, 5 on Friday and Saturday, and 6 on Sunday.
- Want more? The practice buttons under the game deal a random donut any time. Practice donuts are never daily ones, and they don’t count toward your stats.
Stats and sharing
The stats button shows how many donuts you’ve played and solved, your current and best streaks (days in a row solved), your stars and your times. They’re kept in this browser only, so clearing its site data resets them.
When you finish, Share or Copy gives you a result without spoilers:
Donutle #1 · 3 words
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ 1:42
donutle.com