Bells and Whistles
Fill the grid with bells and whistles by the clues.
Bells & Whistles is a daily logic puzzle from Puzzmallow that reworks the classic nonogram with two symbols instead of one. Instead of just shading cells, you fill each square with a bell or a whistle so that every row and column clue is satisfied at the same time. A new puzzle in three sizes goes live each day.
What is Bells and Whistles?
The grid works like a nonogram with a two-symbol twist. Row clues tell you how many bells go in that row, grouped by amount and in order, and groups may not touch. Column clues do the same for whistles. Clicking a cell fills it with a bell, a second click changes it to a whistle, and a third clears it. Right-clicking fills in the opposite order, starting with a whistle, and clicking the row or column legend swaps that behaviour. A row or column turns green once it satisfies its clue, and the creator's launch post says every puzzle is always logically solvable, so you never have to guess.
Most nonogram or picross games solve for a single state, shaded or blank. Bells & Whistles solves for two symbols sharing the same grid, since bells count toward row clues and whistles count toward column clues, and both systems have to resolve together in the same cells. The game launched on Hacker News in August 2025 as, in its own words, "a new type of daily logic puzzle," and its creator coined the name kanogram for the variant. It keeps the cross-referencing logic of picross but asks you to track two separate clue sets instead of one.
Bells & Whistles comes from Puzzmallow, described on the site's About page as a small team of two based in the UK who design and develop all of their own puzzles. Three sizes are available each day, Mini, Classic, and Large, so you can pick a short warm-up or a longer solve. Puzzmallow also lists an archive of past puzzles at puzzmallow.com/bells/archive, though that page showed a loading screen followed by an error rather than a puzzle list during testing.
The daily puzzle loads and plays in the browser without an account. A site-wide Premium option appears in the navigation, but the core daily puzzle is not blocked behind it. An on-screen timer tracks your solve, and you can hide it if you prefer to play untimed. Puzzmallow takes feedback and suggestions through a Discord server, a Bluesky account, and the email [email protected].
How to play Bells and Whistles
- Open Bells & Whistles at puzzmallow.com/bells.
- Pick a size, Mini, Classic, or Large, for that day's puzzle.
- Click a cell once to place a bell, twice for a whistle, and a third time to clear it.
- Right-click to fill in the opposite order, starting with a whistle, or click a legend to swap the default direction.
- Match each row's bell-group clue and each column's whistle-group clue, watching for rows and columns to turn green as they're solved.
- Finish the whole grid to complete that day's puzzle.
Tips and strategy
- Start with clues that only allow one possible placement, the same first move you'd make in a standard nonogram.
- Remember bells belong to row clues and whistles belong to column clues, so any cell you mark has to work in both directions at once.
- Watch for the green highlight on completed rows and columns to confirm you haven't mismarked a cell before moving on.
- When you're placing a run of whistles, use right-click or swap the legend direction so you don't have to cycle through a bell in every cell.
- Work from the densest clue groups first, the rows or columns with the most numbers, since they constrain their neighbors the most.
- Try the Mini size first if the two-symbol format is new to you, then move up to Classic or Large.
Good to know
- Category
- Logic puzzle
- Modes
- Mini, Classic, Large
- Resets
- Daily, with numbered puzzles (e.g. Classic Daily #378)
- Cost
- Free to play in the browser
- Timer
- On-screen timer, can be hidden
- Launched
- August 2025, via a Show HN post
- Archive
- Listed at puzzmallow.com/bells/archive (page errored during testing)
- Creator
- Puzzmallow, a two-person UK-based team
- Platform
- Web browser
Bells and Whistles FAQ
Is Bells & Whistles free to play?
Yes. The daily puzzle loads and plays in the browser without an account. Puzzmallow lists a separate Premium option in its navigation, but the core Bells & Whistles puzzle is not blocked behind it.
How do you play Bells & Whistles?
Fill grid cells with bells or whistles, or leave them empty, so that each row's bell-group clue and each column's whistle-group clue are both satisfied. Clicking a cell cycles it from bell to whistle to empty, and right-clicking cycles in the opposite order, starting with a whistle.
When does Bells & Whistles reset?
A new puzzle is posted daily. The site labels each one with a running number, for example "Classic Daily #378".
Can I play past Bells & Whistles puzzles?
Puzzmallow lists an archive of past puzzles at puzzmallow.com/bells/archive, though the archive page showed a loading message and then an error when tested.
Who made Bells & Whistles?
It was made by Puzzmallow, described on its own About page as a small team of two based in the UK who design and develop all of their puzzles themselves.