Pym's Daily Word Square Tactics: Letter Substitution

Tuesday, 28th January 2025

Sometimes the puzzle grid in Pym's Daily Word Square Puzzle contains a clue for which you can't think of any solution. Often you'll know a word that fits, but the clue isn't enough to jog your memory. There's a tactic to get past this mental block, however.

Dr. Pym offers a solution. "One could consider each letter of the alphabet in turn, and imagine that letter in place of a particular blank cell in the word. For any well-read person, this will brng to mind a word that they had forgotten." This works particularly well for the initial or middle letter of the second or fourth word in the puzzle.

Players of the computer game have an advantage over those who enjoyed the puzzles in book form. Instead of imagining the letters in place, you can overtype the letters and see them in place. This is possible as no letter is set in stone until you submit your solution, and helps even more in bringing words to mind.