Pair Down - A daily word puzzle for fans of crosswords and word games
by•
Make new words by removing letters from old words. Pair Down is a new daily word game for crossword puzzle and word game enthusiasts. Play in Easy or Hard mode, and earn a perfect score by solving each level with the minimum number of taps.
Replies
Hey there! My name is Jeff Chen, and I’m hooked on puzzles. I’ve published thousands of crosswords, including 164 in the New York Times, and I’m the author of several puzzle books, including Spy School: Entrance Exam, which hit the Indie Bestseller List in 2024.
Last year, I launched an original word game, Squeezy, that’s been played millions of times and got picked up by our friends at Hey Good Game. Today, I'm excited to share our next game: Pair Down!
Squeezy is all about adding letters into words to form new ones. U might turn an ACTION into an AUCTION, or maybe a B flies into a ROOT, and suddenly there’s a ROBOT.
Pair Down goes the opposite way, subtracting letters to form new words. Turning a COURSE into a CURSE might make you say “O no!”
(I make no apologies for groany puns.)
Each Pair Down game has two levels. The first contains a secret word . . . that serves as a hint to the second level!
Finding a secret word is fun, but uncovering a secret phrase is even better. In the second level, you’ll remove a pair of letters from each word to spell out the secret phrase. If the first word turns OCCURS into OURS, those two Cs might be the starts of CHEAT CODES. Check out our website for a tutorial and a How to Play video!
Pair Down is great for casual folks seeking light wordplay in the daily Easy puzzle, all the way to puzzle experts tackling the daily Hard puzzle. Two new puzzles every day! Thanks so much for checking it out.
When @jeffchen1972 decides to make a new game, it's immediately in my daily rotation. Pair Down keeps me coming back every morning.
Hey Jeff!
Great game! Managed to get 4 stars only, but I'll try again tomorrow!
@csaron92 So close!