About Untangle

Beads joined by threads, all in a knot. Drag the beads around the board until no thread crosses another. Threads that cross are drawn in red and the count of crossings sits above the board, so you can see every move make things better or worse.

Every board can be untangled. Each one is built from a handful of straight lines drawn across each other: every place two lines cross becomes a bead, and each stretch of line between two crossings becomes a thread. Laid out that way nothing crosses — then the beads are shuffled round a circle, and the knot is yours to undo. Beads with only two threads are the easy ones to tuck away; the four-thread beads are the ones holding the knot together.

The daily board has 21 beads, the same for everyone, and is timed from the moment it appears; a hint puts one bead where it belongs and adds thirty seconds. The numbered levels grow from 6 beads to 36.

Tips to win

• Pull the outer beads out to the edges first to open up room
• Find a triangle of beads that belong together and build outwards from it
• Beads with two threads can almost always be tucked between their neighbours
• Watch the crossing count after each move — it tells you if you're winning