[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":425},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-44801399":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":28,"sentiment":29,"stance_mix":30,"scored_comments":35,"aspects":36,"strip":45,"post_text":46,"what":47,"said":59,"maker_in_thread":221,"shape":234,"grid":237,"attempts":382,"same_week":387,"maker_shows":39,"maker_hidden":417,"reader_version":418,"card":419},"44801399","Whittle","A shrinking word game","title","Show HN: Whittle – A shrinking word game","https:\u002F\u002Fplaywhittle.com\u002F","playwhittle.com","babel16",1754415566,2025,141,58,532,3837,14,"notable","games","word game","web_app",[21,24,25,26,27],"daily puzzle","anagram game","word puzzle","wordle alternative","mixed",0.147,{"positive":31,"neutral":32,"mixed":33,"critical":34},11,18,3,7,39,{"design":37,"execution":40,"idea":42,"docs":44},{"positive":38,"critical":39},1,2,{"positive":38,"critical":41},5,{"positive":33,"critical":43},0,{"positive":43,"critical":43},[33,43,38,33,33,43,41,43,41,33,33,33,43,41,43,33,43,33,33,38,33,38,41,38,33,41,33,33,41,41,38,38,43,41,43,41,41,41,38,33],"Whittle is a small word game I've been working on. Each phrase must be whittled down by one letter (or space) each turn. The remaining phrase must still consist of valid words. That's it! There's a daily puzzle, as well as an archive of old puzzles.\n\nThe idea for the game came to me in a dream (really) and I built the puzzle generator with my partner, who's also a software engineer. It's a labor of love! Any feedback or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for playing!",{"problem":48,"audience":48,"pricing":48,"motivation":49,"time_to_build":48,"stack":55,"openness":56,"stage":57,"team_size":58},null,{"value":50,"source":51,"evidence":52},"Idea came in a dream; built as a labor of love with partner.","maker",[53],{"id":54},"post",[],"unknown","launched","team",{"praise":60,"objections":92,"requests":143,"questions":182,"alternatives":201},[61,81],{"value":62,"source":63,"evidence":64},"Fun and addictive word game","commenter",[65,69,73,77],{"id":66,"by":67,"text":68},"44802394","kipukun","This game is awesome. I have no other feedback other than I had a lot of fun.",{"id":70,"by":71,"text":72},"44803017","strongpigeon","I had much more fun than anticipated. Nice work! Sharing with some friends",{"id":74,"by":75,"text":76},"44844958","skurtcastle","Interesting concept. I enjoyed it, has something to it.",{"id":78,"by":79,"text":80},"44821343","jzting","Love the concept and execution! After finishing today’s I am going backwards to play the archive :) If anyone else likes simple but fun word games, I made one for iOS here:…",{"value":82,"source":63,"evidence":83},"Good UX and clever concept",[84,88],{"id":85,"by":86,"text":87},"44804817","jessecoleman","Cool, the description reminded me a bit of my word game https:\u002F\u002Fgramjam.app, but after playing they're pretty different. I like your UX!",{"id":89,"by":90,"text":91},"44801639","dylanhouli","Good game! Nice little touches on the website too like the tray at the bottom and the header click easter egg.",[93,108,121,132],{"value":94,"source":63,"evidence":95},"No win state or victory feedback; unclear when puzzle is finished",[96,100,104],{"id":97,"by":98,"text":99},"44802013","duncancarroll","Fun! I was a bit confused at the end because there's no \"victory\" state or indication. I think I was expecting it to give me a new word pair once I got to the end, or tell me…",{"id":101,"by":102,"text":103},"44802815","teach","I didn't understand what you were saying at first, but it turns out that you have to click to remove the final, single letter before the \"you won\" screen shows. And I agree it…",{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},"44805587","yobananaboy","I didn't realize that I was supposed to get to 0, but just trying to get as many words as possible. I got down to 'a' and reset, it would be nice if just getting to a 1 letter…",{"value":109,"source":63,"evidence":110},"Puzzles Aug 1 and Aug 4 were unsolvable due to invalid dictionary words",[111,114,118],{"id":112,"by":102,"text":113},"44802293","Is it always possible to go all the way down to a single letter? I'm working on August 4, and it's proving challenging",{"id":115,"by":116,"text":117},"44804641","ipsento606","August 4 is not solvable with the given wordlist. There is no way to get to a word below 3 letters (\"set\")",{"id":119,"by":11,"text":120},"44806072","Hi, this is OP! Thank you to everyone for pointing this out, you are not crazy-- these puzzles were impossible after I removed some invalid words from the dictionary. I had…",{"value":122,"source":63,"evidence":123},"Unclear UI: letters not obviously clickable, unlabeled tabs, no hover effects on desktop",[124,128],{"id":125,"by":126,"text":127},"44802772","jsnell","Nice! You definitely have something there. I would love a dictionary lookup. I'd expect a big part of the strategy to be working backwards from the possible 1\u002F2 letter words, but…",{"id":129,"by":130,"text":131},"44804824","pimlottc","Feedback: I wasn’t sure what to do in the initial game state. It wasn’t obvious that the letters could be “clicked” directly. In a similar word game [0] (also posted on HN…",{"value":133,"source":63,"evidence":134},"Crashes on load after an update",[135,139],{"id":136,"by":137,"text":138},"44806268","davidsojevic","I like the idea of it; though I think the latest update (around puzzle solveability?) may have broken the game as I'm unable to begin in any browser I've tried: ``` Uncaught…",{"id":140,"by":141,"text":142},"44806267","hackyhacky","Crashes for me under Firefox and Chromium. ``` Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'puzzleLog') ```",[144,157,161,168,175],{"value":145,"source":63,"evidence":146},"Hint feature",[147,151,154],{"id":148,"by":149,"text":150},"44802391","spadros","I’m stuck on that one too! Got 100% of all possible words but cannot figure out how to reduce to zero. A “show hint” feature would be nice when you’re stuck.",{"id":152,"by":149,"text":153},"44802449","Really fun! Could use a hint function though. I got %100 of all words on Aug 4 but still have not found a way to get it down to zero letters. If anyone has figured it out please…",{"id":155,"by":11,"text":156},"44806202","Thanks! I've been thinking about adding a hint function for a while, but not sure what form I want it to take. Also, Aug 4 was broken-- please try again for a new, solvable…",{"value":158,"source":63,"evidence":159},"Dictionary lookup",[160],{"id":125,"by":126,"text":127},{"value":162,"source":63,"evidence":163},"Give up button to lock in daily result",[164],{"id":165,"by":166,"text":167},"44810041","unnamed76ri","There should be an “I give up” button to let you finish the game and be locked into that result for the day. I like the idea, there’s just something about the UX that’s weird to…",{"value":169,"source":63,"evidence":170},"Respect prefers-color-scheme",[171],{"id":172,"by":173,"text":174},"44806758","kps","Please respect `:prefers-color-scheme`.",{"value":176,"source":63,"evidence":177},"Share button fix on desktop",[178],{"id":179,"by":180,"text":181},"44802127","fao_","Hey! I absolutely love it! I wanted to share the results with my partner but it looks like the share button doesn't work on the PC? (Firefox 141.0, Linux)",[183,191],{"value":184,"source":63,"evidence":185},"Is every puzzle always solvable down to one letter?",[186,187],{"id":112,"by":102,"text":113},{"id":188,"by":189,"text":190},"44802462","NoboruWataya","Yes, 1 August and 4 August have me stumped. Interestingly it says I have discovered 100% of words on 1 August, but I wasn't able to whittle it down to 0. I'm not sure if that…",{"value":192,"source":63,"evidence":193},"Why does removing h from 'rat he' not give 'rate'?",[194,198],{"id":195,"by":196,"text":197},"44804178","busymom0","When I remove \"h\" from: rat he It doesn't accept \"rate\" as a correct word. What am I doing wrong?",{"id":199,"by":196,"text":200},"44804153","I ended at: rat he I remove \"h\" but it doesn't accept \"rate\" as a correct word. Am I missing something?",[202,210,217],{"value":203,"source":63,"evidence":204},"Shrinkle (shrinkle.org), a similar shrinking word game",[205,209],{"id":206,"by":207,"text":208},"44803505","onion92","WOW, we had a similar idea: https:\u002F\u002Fwww.shrinkle.org https:\u002F\u002Fnews.ycombinator.com\u002Fitem?id=44714167 Great work!",{"id":129,"by":130,"text":131},{"value":211,"source":63,"evidence":212},"Wordle",[213],{"id":214,"by":215,"text":216},"44803594","werds","Congrats on your imminent acquisition by the New York times (a'la Wordle)",{"value":218,"source":63,"evidence":219},"Gramjam",[220],{"id":85,"by":86,"text":87},{"comments":222,"answered":223,"key":224},8,4,[225,228,231],{"id":226,"text":227},"44806192","Thank you so much for the feedback! The dictionary look up feature is a great idea-- I had never thought of it before, but it does solve a pain point with the game you've…",{"id":229,"text":230},"44806090","Wow, great minds think alike! Your game is really fun and clever as well, thank you for sharing :)",{"id":232,"text":233},"44813029","Thank you! You are actually able to play ones from previous days, through the archive (calendar button on the main page).",{"commenters":235,"max_depth":223,"maker_replies":222,"first_comment_mins":18,"lifespan_hours":236},45,109,[238,240,242,243,247,251,255,258,260,261,263,264,268,270,271,275,276,279,282,286,290,294,295,298,301,302,303,304,307,309,312,315,317,320,322,324,325,328,330,331,334,335,339,343,345,348,350,352,354,356,359,362,364,366,368,372,374,377],[125,43,33,239,126,43],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fdesign",[226,43,43,241,11,38],"maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone",[97,38,33,239,98,43],[244,38,38,245,246,43],"44802174","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fdesign","frankdenbow",[248,38,33,249,250,43],"44802339","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign","Hammershaft",[252,38,33,253,254,43],"44802806","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution","Trufa",[256,38,43,257,102,43],"44802870","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[259,38,43,257,149,43],"44803056",[101,38,33,249,102,43],[206,39,41,262,207,43],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea",[229,39,43,257,11,38],[265,39,41,266,267,43],"44808602","project\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","pragmatick",[232,39,43,269,11,38],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[165,33,33,249,166,43],[272,223,33,273,274,43],"44803301","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs","jangerhofer",[195,223,33,253,196,43],[277,223,43,257,278,43],"44804280","Retr0id",[280,223,43,257,281,43],"44804291","Freeboots",[283,41,33,284,285,43],"44816372","project\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","jodrellblank",[287,288,41,262,289,43],"44803480",6,"c22",[291,288,43,292,293,43],"44812769","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","joeframbach",[129,34,33,239,130,43],[296,34,43,257,297,43],"44805359","redbell",[299,34,43,300,11,38],"44806299","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign",[112,222,33,253,102,43],[148,222,33,253,149,43],[188,222,33,253,189,43],[305,222,33,253,306,43],"44802944","littlekey",[115,222,38,308,116,43],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution",[310,222,33,253,311,43],"44810406","IanCal",[313,222,38,308,314,43],"44802463","z_open",[119,222,43,316,11,38],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[78,318,41,319,79,43],9,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fexecution",[136,321,38,308,137,43],10,[323,321,43,316,11,38],"44806324",[105,31,33,249,106,43],[85,326,41,327,86,43],12,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fdesign",[214,329,43,292,215,43],13,[152,18,33,284,149,43],[332,18,33,253,333,43],"44804308","tobr",[155,18,43,269,11,38],[336,337,41,266,338,43],"44820070",15,"stephenlf",[340,341,41,262,342,43],"44818399",16,"porjo",[179,344,38,308,180,43],17,[346,32,33,249,347,43],"44810597","zimpenfish",[140,349,38,308,141,43],19,[351,349,43,316,11,38],"44806332",[89,353,41,266,90,43],20,[199,355,33,253,196,43],21,[357,355,43,257,358,43],"44805431","JadeNB",[360,355,43,257,361,43],"44805458","ethan_smith",[74,363,41,266,75,43],22,[66,365,41,266,67,43],23,[70,367,41,266,71,43],24,[369,370,43,292,371,43],"44853316",25,"jenita25",[172,373,38,245,173,43],26,[375,376,43,292,371,43],"44853318",27,[378,379,33,380,381,43],"44806354",28,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea","avidiax",[383,386],{"id":384,"t":385,"points":38,"comments":43},"44387918",1750948848,{"id":4,"t":12,"points":14,"comments":15},[388,393,398,403,408,412],{"id":389,"name":390,"points":391,"category":392},"44787902","Kilopixel",1145,"creative",{"id":394,"name":395,"points":396,"category":397},"44807868","Kitten TTS",1003,"ai",{"id":399,"name":400,"points":401,"category":402},"44792005","Carbon",322,"web_saas",{"id":404,"name":405,"points":406,"category":407},"44747229","Mcp-use",155,"dev_tools",{"id":409,"name":410,"points":411,"category":397},"44767775","browser-llm",145,{"id":413,"name":414,"points":415,"category":416},"44745820","AgentMail",121,"infrastructure",false,"v2",{"id":420,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":417,"cat":20,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rec":28,"s":421,"top":18,"kw":422,"maker":11,"domain":10,"tier":19,"attempts":39,"strip":423,"url":9,"mix":424,"praise":62,"objection":94,"sub":21},44801399,0.15,[21,24,25,26,27],"3013305053330503033131513533551105055513",[31,32,33,34],1794036679729]