How to play Nonagram
Your task is to find as many words as possible (each containing four letters or more) from the nine letters supplied. Each word must contain the central letter in the grid, and each letter may be used only once in the word. There will be at least one word which uses all nine letters.
Type each word you find in the 'Enter Word' box and hit return. All the words you enter will appear in the box to the right. As you enter the words you will be given your running score as a percentage of the total possible number of words in the puzzle.
All words in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary are eligible with the following exceptions:
- Proper nouns (those with an initial capital letter);
- All plural nouns, plus plural pronouns and possessives;
- Third person singular verbs (those mostly ending with an �s�);
- Hyphenated words, including prefixes and suffixes;
- Contractions, abbreviations and acronyms which use a capital letter or letters;
- Any words described as being vulgar slang;
- Variant spellings of the same word (where a more commonly accepted variant is also eligible);
- US variant spellings of words for which there is an English equivalent that appears in the dictionary (but not US words for which there is no English equivalent).
Forms of verbs (past tenses, past participles and present participles) and forms of adjectives (comparatives and superlatives) which are formed regularly are eligible even where they do not specifically appear in the dictionary.
How do we score it
The maximum of 150 points is awarded for finding more than 65% of the total possible number of words; below that figure of 65% your score will be reduced by 15 points for every 5% fewer words discovered. No points are awarded for finding fewer than 20% of the words.
Time bonus: Maximum time bonus points (150) are awarded for submitting the puzzle within the target time of 20 minutes. For each minute or part of a minute in excess of that target time three points will be deducted. If you fail to find more than 20% of the words you will also not qualify for time bonus points, no matter how quickly you submit your entry.