I thought the puzzle was a different idea altogether (which letters can precede these combinations to make a word - you can do it with some sets). Nice idea though

Interesting.

@ bonehead the thought did cross my mind... perhaps Next time

Unfortunately there are multiple alternative valid solutions as bonehead alludes to by creating groups starting with the same letter. For example Dock, Dumper, Docket, Drain; Coat, Cress, Carrot, Custard; Punt, Piece, Pit, Packet; Laughter, Life, Lorry, Luck. Then a different solution can be created by simply swapping it and uck to get Lit and Puck etc etc etc. When trying to add an extra layer of difficulty it is easy to miss the more obvious potential solutions. It is not easy to create a foolproof grid of this type.

Well said, Eagleeyes. I nice idea, but a lot more care needs to be taken when assembling a full grid to ensure that *your* solution is the *only* solution.

Eagleeyes: glad you went for Carrot and Punt in those groups and not the other way around!

Too many options

Yah. Made a rod for my own back by making every answer ambiguous. Apologies to all.