The following array of "*'s" 'masks' four three letter words which are to be read in the usual practice of left to right, and top down.

* * * * * * * *

Now here are some considerations.
1. Letter frequency is not restricted.
2. When all places are filled, all letters are rotated one place (direction is immaterial) around the square. At that point you must still have four three letter words.
3. Common English words are preferred.

(Words borrowed from other languages are acceptable, but try to limit words rarely found in English.)

(In reply to Suggestion by ed bottemiller)

You will have noted the difficulty in finding consonant clusters for which words could be selected and so be compliant with the rotation rule.

With that difficulty I had some difficulty as to how restrictive I wanted this to be.  As always with many word problems here at Perplexus we see the rules bent in some way (and usually those situations are qualified).  If there was a points/award scheme then we could be quite discerning on what solutions to accept. 

In the spirit of things I think point #3 and the italic comment are sufficient, besides, it's too late to make alterations now.

Posted by brianjn on 2008-08-06 19:46:20