JetPunk Word Search Puzzle Statistics - Updated to November 2022!

Time flies! It's been two months since the last stats blog, and since then, a lot has happened here on JetPunk: a new country population resource, hexagonal word search grids, throwback themes in October... you name it! In this blog you will find the latest statistics for JetPunk's newest minigame, Daily Word Search. Without further ado, let's get started!

1. Overview

✓ From March 1 (#29) to November 20 (#293), there were 4,805 total words in all grids. The number of words in the average grid now stands at 18.1.

✓ The largest puzzle is now puzzle #261 (Wed, Oct 19), with 31 words. Meanwhile, puzzle #89 (Sat, Apr 30) managed to remain as the smallest word search puzzle, with just 10 words.

✓ Overall, Sundays' puzzles had the most words (21 in average grid, a decrease from September), whereas Mondays' puzzles had the fewest words (13.8 in average grid).

✓ For Saturdays (since April 9), Iran and Oman are now the countries with the most appearances, with 13. Meanwhile, India appeared 12 times, Italy appeared 11 times, and Sudan appeared 10 times.

2. Puzzle Size Distribution

So far (as of November 20), we have had:

✓ 29 "mini" puzzles (≤12 words);

✓ 89 "small" puzzles (13~16 words);

✓ 70 "medium" puzzles (17~20 words);

✓ 54 "large" puzzles (21~25 words); and

✓ 23 "extra large" puzzles (≥26 words).

The following is a more detailed distribution of puzzle sizes.

3. Average Words per Grid by Weekday

The following table summarizes the average number of words per grid for each weekday, as well as how they compare with last month:

4. Measures of Spread

Now let's take a look at the variance (a measure of how spread out the data are) of the number of words in each weekday's puzzles, as well as how they compare with last month:

As you can see from these data, Picture Thursday has seen a surge in the variations of puzzle sizes since September!

0. Caveats

Before we dive into the stats for the letters, let me point out a few things:

- These data are for letters in the words, not the grids.

- Only words from April 9 onwards are included since that's when I started collecting data.

- For Sundays, the actual words are used instead of the clues.

1. Overview

✓ From April 9 (#68) to November 20 (#293), there were 4,088 total words in all puzzles (excluding the numbers in puzzle #81) made up of 25,022 individual letters. The average word length now stands at approximately 6.12 letters (slightly increased from September), and there are now about 111.2 letters per puzzle (also increased from September).

✓ Overall, Tuesdays' puzzles had the most letters in them (129 in average puzzle). Mondays' puzzles, as always, had the fewest letters in them (76 in average puzzle).

✓ The puzzle with the most letters is still puzzle #195 (Sun, Aug 14) with 249 letters. Meanwhile, puzzle #189 (Mon, Aug 8) remains the smallest puzzle in terms of the number of letters, with just 52 (again, that's excluding puzzle #81, which was all numbers).

✓ The letters A and E have managed to continue dominating the word searches. Since April 9, they have appeared 3,093 and 2,565 times respectively. Just these two letters alone have accounted for nearly a quarter (or 22.6%, to be precise) of all letters in the puzzles' words!

✓ Over the last two months, the letters L and T topped 1,000 occurrences. So far, nine of the 26 letters (A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T), including four vowels, have reached this milestone. Among the other letters, D is closest to 1,000 - currently at 896 occurrences.

2. Average Letters per Puzzle by Weekday

The following table summarizes the average number of letters per puzzle for each weekday, as well as how they compare with last month:

3. Table of Letter Occurrences and Percentages

The following is a detailed table summarizing the number of occurrences of each letter, how they changed from last month, as well as the percentage that each letter accounts for:

As always, the Word Search is changing and evolving. Just look at the changes to Picture Thursday we've observed since September, and you'll know what I'm saying! I can't wait to compile more stats in the future to keep you updated about this great minigame.