Damn. I can only see two possibilities now, so might as well make another guess:
ZEBRA
Bingo! Congratulations, Ximenean!
Score:
Number of blank coordinates = 9
Number of incorrect guesses = 3
Total Score = 9 - 3 = 6
Your turn to set a board.
Thanks, twickster. Here’s round 3:
Blanks: 25, Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0……………*
1……………*
2……………*
3……………*
4……………*
I’ll start by guessing 05.
Come to think of it, it seems a bit pointless starting with an empty grid, bcause you have nothing to go on. So I’ll give you a head start:
Blanks: 25 (no penalty for given letters), Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…………M…
1……………*
2…W…………
3……………*
4……………*
Oops sorry, didn’t see Sternvogel’s reply.
Blanks: 22+2 (no penalty for given letters), Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1……………*
2…W…………
3……………*
4……………*
8-2 if you will.
Blanks: 21+2 (no penalty for given letters), Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1……………*
2…W………T…*
3……………*
4……………*
How about 15?
OK.
Blanks: 20+2 (no penalty for given letters), Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1…U…………
2…W………T…*
3……………*
4……………*
72 please.
49, pls.
Remaining blanks: 18+2, Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1…U…………
2…W……I…T…
3……………*
4……………X
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1…U…………
2…W……I…T…
3……………*
4……………X
Okay, the 5 column isn’t anything, so we can stop guessing there for a while. The 7, 8, and 9 columns are all still in play.
On rows: the 0 row could be LOAMS or LOAMY, both of which seem unlikely. 1 row could be a bunch of things; 2 row could be WRITE or WHITE (or WRITS or WHITS). Let’s explore that a bit further:
62, pls.
lets open up row 3 with 36
Remaining blanks: 16+2, Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1…U…………
2…W…V…I…T…*
3……O………
4……………X
Sleep beckons in my time zone, so it may be 5am EST before I next reply
In that case let’s talk strategy…
6 - could be something like ENVOY or SAVOR
2 or 5 - definitely nothing.
4 or 9 - probably nothing. I can’t think of an five letter words ending in x, all unique letters, that haven’t been ruled out elsewhere.
0,1,3 or 7 - could be nearly anything.
8 - could end in -ed but there are other valid options.
Let’s go 16
Remaining blanks: 15+2, Incorrect guesses: 0
…5…6 …7…8 …9
0…L………M…*
1…U…N………*
2…W…V…I…T…*
3……O………
4……………X
Row 1 and column 8 both seem fairly lively possibilities – so let’s try 18.