Is CWMS a valid word?

CWMS is the plural of CWM, a Welsh word for a bowl-shaped hollow high on a mountain, carved by a glacier. It is a four-tile play with no vowels at all, so it can clear an all-consonant rack: a C, a W, an M and an S. If CWM is already on the board, an S on the end makes CWMS and scores the word again. Players love it because it looks impossible, yet it's valid, so a challenge against it fails. Geologists elsewhere use CORRIE or CIRQUE for the same landform, and all three words are in the list. Hikers in the mountains of Wales walk past several of them in a single day.

Before any bonus squares: C 3 + W 4 + M 3 + S 1 = 11. On a double-word square that's 22, on a triple-word 33, and every letter bonus under one of these tiles is applied first.

Later in the game, put the W on a 3L square and CWMS is worth 19 before any word bonus.

Swap any one letter of CWMS and these are still words:

No other word in the list uses exactly the letters C, W, M and S.

CWMS is the plural of CWM, a Welsh mountain hollow. Four tiles, no vowels.

• Words without vowels

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