Funny thing, all 3 of us almost got it in 2. I was wavering between BEGIN and LIKEN for line 2 and chose BEGIN because of the (I thought) unlikely K. Strangely, I didnt think of using LINEN simply because it had duplicate letters, which I rarely use before line 4.

I was considering them, not because I thought they were the answer, but I was looking for the right direction by snagging at least one solid consonant given that I had none yet.

It interests me to compare strategies. Ya learn so much about people and how to strategize something that way.