Daily Puzzle Summary: 2026-03-16
Letters: n x c l i g e (required center letter: n)
Trusted
21
Likely works
3
May work
26
Disputed
0
Snapshot
50 total candidate words, including 1 pangrams.
Notable words: excelling, excellence, negligence, inclinging, clinging, cling
Trusted words
Likely works words
May work words
Disputed words
No words in this tier yet.
Strategy note
Today we have the beautiful combination of ING. Now, when you're only working with 7 letters, you do have to get a bit creative and reuse those same letters in the base word, but if you look at the word list today, you'll see lots of opportunities to start with a kernel and really ramp it up: CLING to CLINGING, to INCLINING (don't forget INCLINE). Same for GENE, GENIE, ENGINE. The words may be unrelated, but the original few letters, rearranged a bit, can inspire all sorts of options.
Editorial note
Today's puzzle was moderately tough. We got to genius in only 26 words and 163 points, thanks to a number of longer words (including a pangram), but there were still a pile of shorter words in our list that likely work and would eventually have gotten us to the same place.