Crumble #3 — the solution

The board from October 3, 2026, on the theme “At the library”: 6 words in thirty-six falling letters — a Fair day.

The board

P L E R A V
N A J A C E
R T C S L N
U O T E C A
A H O V O M
Y R R E S R

At first sight one word is in line: COVER. The rest come together as letters fall.

The words

One order that clears it

Rows are counted from the top and columns from the left, on the board as it stands when the word is taken — the letters have fallen by then. Most boards can be cleared in more than one order; this is the first one the board allows, taking the longest word that is ready.

1. COVER. Start at row 4, column 5 of the board as it stands, then down, left, down, left. Its going brings STORY together.
2. STORY. Start at row 5, column 4 of the board as it stands, then left, down, left, left. Its going brings ALMANAC and JOURNAL together.
3. ALMANAC. Start at row 5, column 4 of the board as it stands, then right, right, up, up, left, down. Its going brings VERSE together.
4. JOURNAL. Start at row 5, column 3 of the board as it stands, then left, left, up, up, right, up. Its going brings CHAPTER together.
5. CHAPTER. Start at row 6, column 3 of the board as it stands, then left, left, up, right, right, right. That leaves VERSE, the last word.
6. VERSE. Start at row 4, column 6 of the board as it stands, then down, down, left, left. The board is clear.

The decoys

13 common words can be traced at some point and are off the theme — a mistake each: ACTOR, COURT, ERASE, HOVER, LATER, LATERAL, MOVER, MOVES, PLATE, RAVEN, TOTAL, TOTES, VOTES.

Refused, free — a fair player could argue for it: CASES.

Previous: Crumble #2 (Fri, Oct 2)

About Crumble

Crumble is Noggin’s falling-letters word puzzle, on the second shelf: every word fits the day’s theme, a traced word crumbles and the letters above fall, outside the daily line-up. How to play Crumble, or play today’s.