Answers for Daily #27

First moves

18 words are one letter away from COTS.

BOTS

noun plural of bot

DOTS

noun plural of dot

JOTS

noun plural of jot

LOTS

noun plural of lot

POTS

noun plural of pot

ROTS

verb third-person singular simple present indicative of rot

Also: SOTS, TOTS, CATS, CUTS, COBS, CODS, COGS, CONS, COOS, COPS, COWS, COTE

Quickest dead end

COTS → CUTS → CUSS → CUSP

Once the words before it are used, nobody can change CUSP: a dead end, worth 3 extra points.

The golden word

Every Daily hides one golden word a few moves from the start. This one was CODE.

How everyone did

2 players. Best: 104 words and 159 points. Average: 65.5 words.