So yesterday's NYT Letter Boxed puzzle was a veritable gold mine of letters to pick from, it was almost impossible to whittle it down......
I came up with way too many possibilities, after my first starter word, COUNTERFEIT, led to tons of solutions.
Here's what I found:
COUNTERFEIT and TREPANG – 18
or
PANGENETIC and COUNTERFEIT – 18
or
FUNGIC and CONTRACEPTION – 19
or
FRONTPAGE and ERUCIC – 15 or EPICURE – 16
or
GAP and PUTREFACTION – 15
or
PUTREFACTION and NAG – 15
or
GRAPEFRUIT and TRONC – 15 or TROUNCE – 17
or
PICONG and GRAPEFRUIT – 16
or
PIGFACE and ERUPTION – 14 or ENCOUNTER – 15 or eructation – 16
or
CONTRECOUP and PIGFACE – 17
or
PERFECTION and NOUGAT – 16
There were tons more that I didn't record, and I'm sure tons more still that I didn't get to.
What was most interesting to me, was that "PUTREFACTION" used 11 of the 12 necessary letters, leaving only the "G" on the cutting room floor, such that "GAP" or "NAG" in front or behind it made for easy solves.
I thought that
FRONTPAGE and ERUCIC – 15 or EPICURE – 16
or
PIGFACE and ERUPTION – 14 or ENCOUNTER – 15
was gonna be NYT's solution, but they used
PERFECTION and NOUGAT – 16.
Today, there's a "Z", and a bunch of letters that would've made things easier had been on different legs that would've made solving easier. I rather quickly stumbled onto "SOUNDTRACK" which is a ten letter word that knocks out 10 of the 12 letters, leaving only the "Z" and "L". That left "ZOLS" - 14 to pair with "SOUNDTRACK" in front, or "KLUTZ" - 15 in back, to solve today's puzzle. That damn "Z", and nasty letter placements on the legs, gives us very little to work with.
I tried several other promising prospects, like "TRANSLATOR", "CORNSTALK(S)", "COATSTAND(S)", "OARLOCKS", "GERONTIC", etc., but no joy to be had.
I'm guessing
SOUNDTRACK and
KLUTZ - 15 are gonna be NYT's solution. Sometimes solutions are abundant, other times scarce.
==
Edit: Yep,
SOUNDTRACK and
KLUTZ - 15 was NYT's solution for Sunday.....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2023 12:47PM by Buzz.
