A Set of Words (Solution)
by David Farhi
These are each boggle grids, and the clued words can be found in them:
XNFI FLEX ?FND NEXT LMTN MINX XEEX ?SRA SPHINX HKNU QUARKS DI?X ZODIAC O?AC DE?F QUIETS EZIT EXUDED D?ES FREEZE QXSE TQU? ZEBRAS TTF? QUAFFS ?NAF EXTANT ?E?R E?OX TOXIC Z?GI QUALM ARL? GRAZE IQU? NHND HAZARD OARI PLAZA AZAN ORZA LPRO OOIP WHIZ TWZH UNZIP HNUI OOZING IZGN MILC TAXI AXEG AXLES TIRS CLIMAX XAID
The unused letters spell 'FIND SET IN NINTH GRID'.
The ? letters can then be gathered together to make a ninth grid:
PTRA IMRS XUQC ZZBA
We are supposed to find a set in this grid. The original triplets of worse are always either all the same length, or one length 4, one 5, and one 6. In fact, there are four such axes along which they can be grouped into 3 bins, just like SET cards. The axes are:
- Length (4/5/6 letters)
- Number of vowels (1/2/3)
- Contains Q/X/Z
(You had to use these patterns to solve the first 8 grids too.)
There is a unique set in the ninth grid: CRUX, ACQUIT, ABUZZ. The unused letters are:
P*RA *M*S **** ****
The answer is PRAMS.