7-letter words with U as the 1st letter and C as the 3rd letter

UNC- does nearly all the work here, opening 60 of the 76 words. UPC- adds 13, and only URCHINS and URCEOLI start differently, a split that leaves very few surprises on the board. Your fourth letter then sorts the list into four big clusters: O, L, A and H.

Counts for the U _ C _ _ _ _ pattern

• Collins accepts 74 of the 76, NWL2023 accepts 54 and ENABLE accepts 48.
• Three words are common: UNCANNY, UNCOVER and UNCLEAR.
• S ends 26 words and D ends 13, with E at 7.
• UNCHECK scores 18 but only Collins accepts it, and UPCYCLE (16) is an NWL2023-only entry.

Which fourth letter splits the list best?

O is the largest with 17 words, including UNCOVER, UNCOUTH, UNCOILS, UNCORKS and UPCOAST. L follows with 15: UNCLEAR, UNCLEAN, UNCLOAK, UNCLOSE and UPCLIMB.

A has 13 (UNCAGED, UNCANNY, UNCASED, UPCATCH) and H has 10 (UNCHAIN, UNCHARM, UNCHECK, UPCHEER, URCHINS). Together these four letters account for 55 of the 76 words, so one guess at the fourth square narrows things fast. After that, the fifth letter is a vowel in 38 words, which makes the middle of the word easy to fill.

What do the words end in?

26 words finish in S, mostly verb forms and plurals such as UNCLIPS, UNCLOGS, UNCURLS and UNCORDS. 11 finish in -ED, including UNCAGED, UNCODED and UNCURED.

Only three end in K: UNCLOAK, UPCHUCK and UNCHECK. If your clue puts K last, those are your whole answer set.

Y gives three more: UNCANNY, UNCHARY and UNCRAZY. All three are adjectives, and UNCANNY is the only one you will see in ordinary writing.

Best high-scoring plays