The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SCYTALE
Definition of SCYTALE
noun
A cylinder with a strip of parchment wound around it on which a message is written, used for cryptography by the ancient Spartans.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Latin scytale (“cylinder used for encoding and decoding”), from Ancient Greek σκυτάλη (skutálē, “club, baton, cylinder used for encoding and decoding”).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- Latin
- English
2 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
2nd
of 58 source languages in OUTLIER
12.6%
of traced words share this origin (3,702)
branch · 12.6% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
SCYTALE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 19 boards so far. 24 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 42, 1 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 142, 9 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 42, 1 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
SCYTALE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read ACELSTY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start SCYTAL
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 42
Could you have found SCYTALE?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 42 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER