Insert a different letter of the alphabet into each of the blanks to form words of five or more letters reading across. The letter you insert may be the first, last, or in the middle of the word.

Example: In the first row, insert the letter C to form the word MARCH.

T R A M A R _ H E G O U S 
D E L E D E _ O T E C A R 
G L O T A C _ N D Y U N T 
R I N C E L _ O R T H A D 
E T I M B E _ C L O F I C 
L E W I N D _ N S E N C H 
M A C I E R _ A U N T E R 
C A P P E N _ O L A B E S 
F R A S O F _ A S T U R M 
A L T E B E _ A N N E S E 
H I N A M I _ E D B R I C 
B L A N M A _ L E D N E L 
I N C E D I _ Z Y E C T S 
N E R S T O _ E D A N T O 
C O N N E C _ A S P L I C 
K A T R A N _ E R O I C L 
O T I P R O _ E R A O U S 
P L A D I F _ E R M A C H 
J O L A B L _ O M S G E R 
T R A S P O _ U I T E A N 
E N C R E S _ U D G E V E 
R A T U L M _ R M U R T E 
S P I R A B _ I T H O L L 
M U S A T O _ E N R E S P 
D A N O H E _ P E R P E N 
A C R U F A _ O U S N A T 

(In reply to And another couple of solutions + variants by Charlie)

Yes, there was computer assistance. For the record, after finding words matching the rows, a matrix was built, to be examined manually, showing the number of words using given fill-in letters for each row:

   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


 1 . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . .


 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 . 1 . . . . . 1 . . . .


 3 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


 4 . . . . . 1 . . . . . 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . 1 . . .


 5 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . .


 6 . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . 1 .


 7 . . . 1 . . 2 2 . 1 . . . . . . . . 1 2 . 1 . . . .


 8 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


 9 . . . . 1 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


10 . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


11 . . . 1 . . . . . . . . 1 1 . . . 1 . . . . . 1 . .


12 . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . 1 . . . . 1 . . . . .


13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1


14 . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 . 3 . 2 . 2 1 1 . 1 2 . 1 .


15 . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . .


16 . . 1 . 1 . 3 1 . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 . . . . . .


17 . 2 . . . . 1 . . . . . . 1 . 2 . . 1 . . 3 1 . . .


18 . . . 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . .


20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . 1 . . . . . . .


21 . 1 . . . 1 . . . 1 . 1 1 1 . . . . 1 1 . . . . . .


22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . .


23 . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


24 . . . . . . 2 . . . 1 . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . .


25 . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


26 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .

----------
where, immediately rows 3, 8, 10, 13, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25 and 26 have only 1 possibility and F and X have unique possible rows (aside from those letters unique in both ways-- A on 3, O on 19, Q on 20, Z on 13).

Secondarily, when these are chosen, and other possibilities in their respective rows and columns are removed, R can be on row 5 only and T on 15 only.

After that it's manual trial and error.

Posted by Charlie on 2003-12-02 15:37:27