Crumble #26 — the solution

The board from October 26, 2026, on the theme “On the dance floor”: 6 words in thirty-six falling letters — a Tricky day.

The board

T R V E N T
O P A O E A
X T R T D H
O F I N E O
E U J G R O
T N I M N W

At first sight 2 words are in line: PARTNER and MINUET. The rest come together as letters fall.

The words

#	Word	Where it starts, and how it runs
1	PARTNER	row 2, column 2 right, down, right, down, right, down
2	FOXTROT	row 4, column 2 left, up, right, up, left, up
3	HOEDOWN	row 3, column 6 down, left, down, right, down, left
4	MINUET	row 6, column 4 left, left, up, left, down
5	JIVE	row 6, column 3 up, up, right
6	TANGO	row 5, column 6 down, left, left, up

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.

PARTNER. Start at row 2, column 2 of the board as it stands, then right, down, right, down, right, down. Its going brings FOXTROT, HOEDOWN and JIVE together.
FOXTROT. Start at row 4, column 2 of the board as it stands, then left, up, right, up, left, up. Nothing new comes together.
HOEDOWN. Start at row 3, column 6 of the board as it stands, then down, left, down, right, down, left. Nothing new comes together.
MINUET. Start at row 6, column 4 of the board as it stands, then left, left, up, left, down. Its going brings TANGO together.
JIVE. Start at row 6, column 3 of the board as it stands, then up, up, right. That leaves TANGO, the last word.
TANGO. Start at row 5, column 6 of the board as it stands, then down, left, left, up. The board is clear.

The decoys

25 common words can be traced at some point and are off the theme — a mistake each: DENT, DOWN, FINE, FINED, FINER, FIVE, GROW, GROWN, HOOD, INTO, MINT, NEAT, PART, PAVE, RAVEN, RENT, RIFT, RING, TANG, TORT, TRAP, TROT, VENT, WORE, WORN.

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

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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.