CISRA Puzzle Competition 2011 - Hints

5D. Four-Letter Words

• There's a lot of tension surrounding this puzzle; ambiguities in the answers can be resolved by noticing that they are in alphabetical order. When placing words, start with low frequency letters and don't be too quick to discard a promising build for want of the right word. The airline is "Efly". Oh, and "Lawless" is not an adjective.
• There are three three-word answers and three two-word answers. Four words in the puzzle grid are unclued. This has implications for the construction: Since there are unclued words, it may not be right to discard a partial build due to the lack of a matching word. On the other hand, since there are only four missing words, it is unlikely that a particular non-matching spot is due to one, so such failures probably eliminate partial builds. Filling in the grid correctly requires striking the right balance between these considerations.
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