Wordle daily players have a new challenge in Knotwords, which looks like crosswords, but the list of clues is gone. The objective is to fit all the letters in as required while correctly spelling out words both down and across.

Knotwords is the work of Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger. “There’s this kind of weird thing with crosswords, which is that if you talk to crossword players about crosswords, it’s all about the clues and the structure of the clueing,” Gage says. “But the thing is, the actual grid of letters is incredibly complicated…but as a player, it’s like this little side effect that you’re not even focusing on.”

Gage envisions a future where puzzle creators design their puzzles for local markets. “If this is something that’s successful,” he says of Knotwords, “going after a syndication market is something that we’re really interested in because I do think it works really well as a pen and paper game.”

Knotwords is available from Steam, priced at $9 with its 10 per cent launch discount.