POUTY

DEFINITION — ETYMOLOGY

Pun Play: Place it in the lost & FROWNED.

My Gameplay: PIOUS, POUCH, POUND, POUTY

I opened today with PIOUS, trying to grab some common vowels and the sneaky “S” at the end.  Right away, the “P,” “O,” and “U” lit up green, but the “I” and “S” were out.  That gave me a strong backbone to work with.

Next, I tried POUCH, sliding in “C” and “H” to test some consonants.  The “P,” “O,” and “U” stayed locked, and now the “C” and “H” were no good.  Still, progress was steady.

I followed up with POUND, chasing the natural “ND” ending.  The grid responded with the first four letters locked in green, but the “D” was gray.  That meant I was one letter away from sealing it.

On the fourth line, I typed POUTY, and boom — everything snapped to green.  The puzzle was mine.

It felt like a sharp, decisive solve.  Each guess narrowed the path, no wasted detours, just a clean march from clue to victory.  A textbook example of tightening the vise until the answer had nowhere left to hide.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.  On to tomorrow!