ClueTheTimes

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  HomePage

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  PuzzlePage

Inspiration

Scrolling through the news lately feels like doomscrolling through a word soup of chaos: recessions, revolutions, viral memes, political feuds, AI breakthroughs... you name it. So I built a word search puzzle where every word is ripped straight from today’s headlines, powered by Sonar model. But it’s more than just a word list—each term comes with a clue and an explanation, so you’re not just finding the word...
You're learning why it matters.

What it does

ClueTheTimes uses the Sonar model to:

• Fetch relevant keywords from live news topics
• Generate puzzle-worthy clues and short explanations
• Populate a playable, interactive word search grid
• Let users solve puzzles based on what’s happening right now It’s like a trivia game with live updates and a side of word-nerd joy.

How we built it

Frontend: Reactjs
Backend/API: Nextjs 15 API
AI Integration: Prompt-engineered Sonar calls to generate keywords,clues and explanations
Styling: Tailwind CSS for fast and clean UI

Challenges we ran into

• Grid logic. Word collisions, wraparounds, and fitting long words into constrained space = 😵‍💫.
• Clarity vs. creativity. Some AI clues were too vague, some too obvious — finding the sweet spot was key.
• Real-time relevance. News changes fast. Keeping puzzles fresh without lag required tight API integration.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Nailed the real-time content-to-game loop using Perplexity
• Turned passive news consumption into an interactive experience
• Built something educational that’s actually fun

What's next for ClueTheTimes

• User-submitted topics: Let users enter topics or names and generate personalized puzzles
• Difficulty settings: Add modes for speed, word obscurity, or reverse definitions
• Leaderboard + social share: Compete with friends. Share your "news IQ"
• Classroom mode: Educational version for teachers and students, with filters
• Multilingual support: Global news, global puzzles.
• Multiplayer support: Let users create/join rooms and compete

Built With

• nextjs
• sonar-api
• typescript