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puzzle 538
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About Puzzle #538 Your mission is to unveil the title of puzzle 538 with as few guesses as possible. The global median for this puzzle is 55 guesses. Click redacted words to show length and double-click words to take notes. Team up with friends to solve together. A new daily puzzle launches at 4PM UTC (4PM your time).
Streaks include a 1-day grace period — if you miss a day, you can still keep your streak by completing yesterday's puzzle before the next reset.
Average solve time is 8m41s, and the give-up rate is 5.4%.
You'll need 0 coffees to solve this puzzle based on a 5.4% give-up rate and a 8m41s median solve time.
The solve rate is 71.4%, hint usage is 26.3%, and 4,019 games have been played globally.
0/0  0s
Guess a word to reveal matches in the article.

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What's New

Thanks to everyone who has supported the project!

Your donations help keep Redactle running and improving.

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Trying ads again (Jul 30, 2026)

  • I pulled ads because they were showing up over the game and the footer. The ad partner has since cut the worst formats, including interstitials, so I'm giving it another shot. If they misbehave, off they go again.
  • Supporters and educators still won't see ads.

Smart matching is back (Jul 30, 2026)

  • Smart word matching broke on recent puzzles, so guesses like "one" no longer revealed "1" and plural or past-tense forms of a word stopped matching each other. Word matching now works again on every puzzle.

No ads until they behave (Jul 29, 2026)

  • Ads are temporarily gone from Redactle. The ad agency kept serving intrusive ads over the game and footer, and they haven't been able to fix it. That's hostile to the site and frustrating for players, so I've pulled the plug while I consider a way forward.
  • Ad revenue helps pay the bills and gives me time to keep improving Redactle, so ads will probably return. But they need to support the game without ruining it.
  • Puzzles now show their text almost immediately instead of leaving you on a blank screen while the page loads. This is a big speed-up on phones and slower connections.

Smoother Scrolling (Jul 27, 2026)

  • The article now loads much further ahead of where you are reading, so scrolling no longer runs into blank gaps waiting for content to appear.

A Nudge Before You Quit (Jul 25, 2026)

  • When you give up, Redactle now offers you a hint first and shows how many guesses the puzzle usually takes. If a daily streak is on the line, it says so before you quit.

Freshest Redactle (Jul 25, 2026)

  • Redactle now lets you know when a new version is available, so you can reload when it suits you and keep playing with the latest improvements.

A Steadier Page (Jul 25, 2026)

  • Made typing guesses more responsive and stopped the page jumping around while articles and images load. The footer no longer shifts as the page settles.
  • The article image now appears only after the puzzle is finished, without leaving an empty gap during play or affecting the page stability score.

Stronger Account and Data Security (Jul 23, 2026)

  • Rebuilt the how-to guide for new players into a single screen: a three-tap K2 example that shows how Wikipedia first sentences give away the answer, plus a handful of opening words that tell you what kind of article you're solving. It also sets expectations up front, so newcomers know a typical solve takes around 35 guesses and 5 to 10 minutes.
  • Strengthened protection around account sessions, imported game history, and private collections.
  • League pages no longer expose internal account identifiers.
  • Corrected ad-free access for recent Ko-fi supporters whose donations were made during the ads transition.

Letter Counts On by Default (Jul 22, 2026)

  • Every redacted word now shows its letter count by default, giving you an extra clue at a glance. You can still turn this off in Settings.

Ads That Match Your Theme (Jul 19, 2026)

  • Sticky ads now blend in with your selected theme, including the close button.

Support and Go Ad-Free (Jul 16, 2026)

  • Subscribe for $5 a month to skip the ads, or chip in on Ko-fi. Every $6 donated adds a month ad-free, and larger gifts stack up.

A Faster, Steadier Game (Jul 13, 2026)

  • Stopped the page footer from jumping while the Wikipedia article loads.
  • Made guesses respond faster on mobile, especially in longer articles.

Your Guessed Words Stay Put (Jul 8, 2026)

  • Fixed a bug where the list of words you guessed could disappear from a game you just finished. Your guess history is now safe from being wiped during a background sync.

Tidier Ad-Free View (Jul 2, 2026)

  • Removed an empty strip that was showing above the game on mobile for players who do not see ads.

A Sustainable Redactle (Jun 25, 2026)

  • Redactle is starting a small, careful ads rollout to help cover hosting and keep improving the game. Contact me on Discord if you have any feedback.
  • Supporters do not see ads. As a one-off transition into ads, anyone who has already donated $10 or more can get lifetime no ads by logging in with the same email they used to donate, or by contacting me if it does not link up correctly.
  • The desktop navbar is now more compact, and the default article text size is one step smaller.

Double-Tap Annotations on iOS (Apr 24, 2026)

  • Double-tapping a word to annotate it now works on iOS Safari and iOS Chrome, which weren't firing the double-click event reliably.

Annotation Input Fix for Privacy Browsers (Apr 24, 2026)

  • Double-clicking a word to annotate it now works correctly on desktops in privacy-focused browsers (like LibreWolf) that hide whether the device has a touchscreen. The inline keyboard flow kicks in as soon as you press a physical key, and the choice is remembered for next time. You can also force it from the browser console: `localStorage.setItem("redactle_has_keyboard", "true")` (or `"false"` to force the popup).

Better Annotation Input on Hybrid Devices (Apr 24, 2026)

  • Annotations now pick the right input style based on how you actually opened the word: tapping brings up the familiar popup on phones and tablets, while double-clicking with a mouse keeps the inline keyboard flow on desktop and hybrid laptops.

Reliable Post-Game Links (Apr 23, 2026)

  • The "play another game" and Weekly Collection links at the end of a puzzle now load reliably again, no longer blocked by ad-blockers or cross-site fetch hiccups.
  • The streak grace reminder now disappears right away after you complete yesterday's puzzle in another tab or device, instead of lingering until the next reload.

Smarter Number Guesses (Apr 20, 2026)

  • Number guesses now reveal matching written-out numbers more reliably in German and other supported languages, so guessing digits like 2 can uncover words like zwei, deux, dos, and due.

Stability Recovery (Apr 15, 2026)

  • Game pages and stats now recover more reliably when the site is busy, reducing the chance of puzzle loads failing during traffic spikes.
  • Background cache and article loading now avoid one class of server-side connection and memory failures, helping the site stay available more consistently.

Solve Tracking Reliability Fixes (Apr 9, 2026)

  • Anonymous games now keep a stable browser identity more reliably on Daily, Random, and Junior pages, so solves are less likely to disappear after a reload.
  • Finished games that were saved only on this device can now backfill to the server once your browser identity is available again, helping previously missed stats catch up automatically.
  • When you sign in, local browser game records can now help reclaim older anonymous history that was split across multiple anonymous IDs, so more past solves follow you into your account.
  • The page bootstrap script is now emitted in a browser-safe format again, avoiding a malformed inline JavaScript block that could break startup in stricter browsers.

Faster Article Loading (Apr 8, 2026)

  • Long articles now load the opening sections much faster, so Daily and Random games feel quicker to start on slower devices.
  • The opening part of the article now arrives in the first page render more reliably and in a shorter initial chunk, so puzzles feel less blank while the rest of the article finishes loading.
  • The article handoff from the first server-rendered preview to the fully interactive article is now steadier, reducing the small nudge some players could see as loading finished.
  • Word letter counts now respect your setting immediately on load more reliably, reducing the flash where counts could briefly appear or disappear after the page hydrated.
  • Clicking a redacted word now toggles its own letter count without forcing the whole article to re-render, so count reveals and hides feel more consistent in long articles.
  • Word reveals now stay reliable even when a match only appears deep in the article, so later-section guesses still uncover the right text without needing to scroll there first.

More Languages + Cleaner Localized Links (Apr 8, 2026)

  • Redactle is now available in Italian, Turkish, Hebrew, and Arabic, expanding the full game UI to 10 supported languages.
  • Localized pages, sign-in flows, collections, leagues, and shared links now keep you in the language you are already using more reliably.
  • English remains on the clean default URLs like / and /login, while other languages now use more consistent locale-specific routes for navigation and SEO.

Daily & Sign-In Fixes (Apr 8, 2026)

  • Logging in now does a better job restoring finished games from this device.
  • Imported games now keep their original play dates more accurately.
  • Daily wins now register more reliably, including tricky title-word solves.
  • Using any hint now correctly rules out a snipe, and your snipe badges and stats stay in sync.

Snipe Title Fix (Apr 3, 2026)

  • Snipes now work properly for titles with apostrophes, such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
  • Small title fragments no longer get in the way of a deserved snipe.

Snipe Rules Made Clear (Mar 29, 2026)

  • A snipe now means solving without using any hints.
  • Your badges, stats, share text, and win screen all follow that same rule.

Streak Grace Fix (Mar 27, 2026)

  • Solving yesterday's Daily within the grace window now updates your streak correctly the next day.
  • The grace reminder now behaves more reliably for affected players.

Faster Junior Games & Clearer Stats (Mar 26, 2026)

  • Reveal images now load more reliably after you solve.
  • Random Junior games start faster and are less likely to fail when the site is busy.
  • Stats now use the same Snipe rules as gameplay.
  • The old Perfect label is now called Snipe.
  • Snipe badges now appear across all solved games.
  • Added a JetArcs link in the stats window.

Collection & Stats Fixes (Mar 25, 2026)

  • Collection progress now counts all of your solves for that collection, even if you started elsewhere.
  • Accuracy is now shown more consistently across the app.
  • Games you played before signing in are now brought into your account history.

Better Sharing & League Setup (Mar 23, 2026)

  • Shared results now include your guess count and are less likely to break formatting on other sites.
  • Creating a league from a new collection now feels much smoother and matches the main league setup flow.

Leagues (Group Competitions) (Mar 22, 2026)

  • You can now run scheduled group competitions from a collection.
  • Players can join from a shared link and compete on solves, speed, guesses, and more.
  • League pages are translated in all supported languages.

Better Sharing & Daily Posts (Mar 21, 2026)

  • Finished collections now have a share card you can copy and post.
  • Shared results now show your guess count and whether you used hints.
  • Daily Discord posts are clearer, spoiler-safer, and include a direct play link plus the article image.
  • Collection playlist titles now reveal properly after you give up.

Profiles, Junior Safety & Stats Fixes (Mar 19, 2026)

  • Reopening a solved Daily after playing Junior no longer briefly shows empty results.
  • Public collections now show less personal info, and you can choose a display name for public areas.
  • Junior daily scheduling is easier to manage, with stronger kid-friendly filtering.

A new version of Redactle is ready

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