Crumble #5 — the solution

The board from October 5, 2026, on the theme “At the zoo”: 6 words in thirty-six falling letters — a Tricky day.

The board

P M R N A A
E U I I I N
N R E G F R
E U H L I A
L P T G O N
G A N U F E

At first sight 2 words are in line: PANTHER and LION. 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. PANTHER. Start at row 5, column 2 of the board as it stands, then down, right, up, up, up, left. Its going brings LEMUR together.
2. LEMUR. Start at row 5, column 1 of the board as it stands, then up, right, down, right. Nothing new comes together.
3. LION. Start at row 4, column 4 of the board as it stands, then right, down, right. Its going brings GIRAFFE together.
4. GIRAFFE. Start at row 4, column 4 of the board as it stands, then right, right, down, left, down, right. Its going brings IGUANA together.
5. IGUANA. Start at row 4, column 4 of the board as it stands, then down, down, right, right, up. That leaves PENGUIN, the last word.
6. PENGUIN. Start at row 3, column 1 of the board as it stands, then down, down, down, right, right, right. The board is clear.

The decoys

25 common words can be traced at some point and are off the theme — a mistake each: ARIA, AUNT, EARN, EIGHT, FEAR, FIGHT, FOIL, GLEN, GONE, HEIR, LIAR, NAIL, NIGHT, PANT, PURE, RAIL, REIN, RIFF, RIGHT, RUIN, RULE, THEIR, THEN, THIN, THINE.

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

Previous: Crumble #4 (Sun, Oct 4)

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.