This game of word solitaire is inspired by Solicross.
You have 15 turns to score as many points as possible by building words on the grid. Start by taking the first 7 letters from the LETTER LIST (which is taken from Wordy Wednesday 173). Form an English word using two or more letters, and place it reading across (from left to right) or down (from top to bottom) in the grid, either starting in or ending in the outlined cell. On each successive turn, cross out the letters you used and replace them with the next letters from the LETTER LIST, and then play a new word using some or all of those letters. As in Scrabble, you can play at right angles to a previous word (either incorporating a letter from it or expanding it) or parallel to a previous word, but must adjoin some previous word; adjoining letters must always form words in crossword fashion, and all letters used in a single turn must be part of a single word.
Every turn, you score for the words you made on that turn. The score for a word is the sum of all the numbers it covers (whether those letters were played on that turn or not); multiple words formed in a single turn are added up together (with shared letters counting twice). If you use all 60 letters within 15 turns, give yourself 50 extra points. If you use all 21 of the shaded cells, give yourself 500 extra points! (These are the cells I didn’t use in Wordy Wednesday 173.)
All words will be checked against http://www.m-w.com/scrabble for validity.
All solvers who score at least 750 points will be entered to win their choice of a signed copy of the May 2017 issue of Games World of Puzzles, whose cover features my original puzzle type Pent Words, or a signed copy of Logic Puzzles 101, a book of 101 of my logic puzzles of easy to medium difficulty. All solvers who score at least the median number of points will be entered into a prize drawing to win both prizes! Send your finished game (with a score of at least 750 points; a picture of the finished grid and a list of words formed each turn should suffice) to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com by 12:59 PM on August 2, 2017. You may submit multiple times during the next two weeks; only your highest score will be counted. Have fun!
