Pym's Daily Word Square Tactics: Letter Sequences

Tuesday, 4th February 2025

When placing a guess on the grid, especially when you're not certain it's right, check the words that your guess crosses. Sometimes you can eliminate a guess pretty quickly if it creates unlikely letter sequences in the words that cross it. So the top word in the illustration is not going to be "FRIES", as that would mean the second word would have to start with "RV", which to the best of my knowledge no English word does.

Just as unlikely letter sequences can eliminate guesses, you can use common letter sequences too, and extend that the the words that are crossing your own. That "V" in the second word implies that the first letter of the second word (and the second letter of the first word, the one we're trying to guess) is a vowel; I can think of no consonant that would fit before the V at the start of an English word.

So the common tip to both common and unlikely letter sequences is to keep an eye on the words that cross the one you're trying to guess.