This is a word search for people who finish the newspaper puzzle too quickly. The 18 hidden words all have awkward spellings, with doubled letters, silent letters or unusual vowel pairs: Rhythm, Necessary, Accommodate, Embarrass, Conscience, Mischievous, Separate, Definitely, Occasion, Restaurant, Maintenance, Privilege, Questionnaire, Millennium, Bureaucracy, Pharaoh, Liaison and Silhouette. They run in all eight directions in a 20 × 20 grid, set in a Typewriter font with every letter the same width, so a wide M or W stands out less than it does in an ordinary font.
Why it’s harder than it looks
Three things work against you. Backwards and upward words force your eyes to read against habit. Long words cross each other, so a letter you’ve already used may belong to a second word. And half of the filler letters are drawn from the hidden words themselves: you’ll see plenty of ACCOMM, SILHOU and RHYT fragments that lead nowhere. The answer key is on the second page if you need it.
A spelling test in disguise
Because the words are easy to get wrong, the puzzle doubles as a spelling refresher. Try writing each word before you look at the list, then check your spelling against the grid. Swap in your own nemesis words: the maker accepts up to 60, and the page names any that don’t fit.
Turn up the challenge
Leave the title empty, switch Letters to lowercase, or pick a 25 × 25 grid. To compete, print a few different versions under Printing and time each other; whoever finishes first checks their sheet against the key page with the same code.
The 18 words in this puzzle
Rhythm · Necessary · Accommodate · Embarrass · Conscience · Mischievous · Separate · Definitely · Occasion · Restaurant · Maintenance · Privilege · Questionnaire · Millennium · Bureaucracy · Pharaoh · Liaison · Silhouette