Why Letter Order Changes Everything

The rule is a path

Treat the prompt as a path through a word. For NTR, ENTER works: N appears, T follows, and R comes later. COUNTRY also works even though the required letters sit far apart. The extra letters never need to match a template.

This makes WordSQD different from anagrams. You do not rearrange three tiles into a word. You preserve their order while inserting as many other letters as the word needs.

Distance does not matter

Required letters may touch, or they may be separated by most of the answer. LMP fits LAMP and LIMP, but it also fits LAMPSHADE. The long answer is valid because L still precedes M and M still precedes P.

Reverse one pair and the answer disappears

For RST, RESTART works. For SRT, it does not, because the first S in RESTART comes after R and the T appears after that S, leaving no later R. A candidate can therefore look perfect while failing one positional handoff.

Repeated scanning helps: locate the first required letter, ignore everything before it, then search only the remaining suffix for the second. Repeat for the third.

Order rewards longer vocabulary

Short words are useful under pressure. Longer words become available when you stop expecting the prompt to form one visible chunk. The off-lead bonus adds another reason to look before the first required letter. CUSTOMER solves TMR and starts with C, while TIMER takes the direct route.

A repeatable checking method

Take R, S, and T in RESTART. Mark the first R, then ignore everything to its left. Find S in the remaining letters, then find T after that S. The candidate passes. Try the same scan on STAR: once you mark R, no S remains to its right, so the check stops.

This left-to-right scan also handles duplicate prompts. For ALL in ALLEY, the first L is consumed by the second tile. The next L supplies the third tile. Reusing the same position would break the rule.