Countries Word Search

Eighty countries from every continent fill these grids: big ones like CANADA, CHINA and BRAZIL, small ones like MALTA, FIJI and QATAR, and plenty in between. A single board can send you from ICELAND to MADAGASCAR in a few seconds.

Country names end in a way that gives them away, which also makes them hide well together. More than a dozen end in IA, from AUSTRALIA to TANZANIA, and a handful end in LAND: FINLAND, POLAND, ICELAND and THAILAND among them. When the grid holds several, look for the beginning instead: the Z of ZIMBABWE and ZAMBIA, the J of JAPAN and JORDAN, the Q of QATAR.

Some names sit inside others: OMAN is hidden in ROMANIA, so the two are never dealt together. Others only look alike. CHINA and CHILE share their first three letters and SLOVAKIA and SLOVENIA their first four, so check a word all the way through before you let go.

The longest names, like SWITZERLAND and PHILIPPINES, appear on Hard, and NETHERLANDS too. On Hard, a country can also read backwards, so AIDNI is just INDIA seen from the other side.