February 10, 2008

3-D Word Hunt

I've enjoyed the previous 3-D word hunts (this is the third one in the NYT, isn't it?), and the challenge is the same here: meander from letter to letter via the connectors and spell out 5-letter words. Forget about the 4-letter words, forget about the 6+ ones. The 5-letter word is king (or queen) here.

The rules say that there are "50 relatively familiar words and 15 unusual or not-so-common ones — all from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition." I think I've found 51 common(ish) words and a couple that might not make the cut. And I've got zero interest in plowing through the letter matrix to identify the oddball uncommon words that are lurking within, but if you're in the mood for that, have at it.

My word list appears below, after the jump, invisible unless you highlight text with your mouse. Feel free to add to the list in the comments, and we'll see if we can't come up with the same list Will Shortz publishes next weekend—or a longer list. If you think any of my words are surely not on the "relatively familiar" list, let me know,

Top level:

E

event
enact


V
venal
vital
vivid


N
noose
novel


O
(none)

T
toots

Middle:

L
liven
laird
lilac
level
livid
lento
litre (Br. spelling OK?)
lacto (can it stand alone, or is it strictly a prefix?
)

I
(none)

A
atone
atria
airer
alack
atrip
anent


T
tonal
trike
trial
total


C
canto
canal


S
scant
stack
strip
stria
stile
stale
scale
scalp
stove
stone
scats
soots


Bottom level:

P

pikes
piker
piano
plena
plant
plane
plats
plata (Spanish only?)


D
divot

I
(none)

R
riant
rests
riata


K
(none)

E
(none)