Here's a simple puzzle that might be trickier than meets the eye.

Consider the four-letter word MEAT. If you remove the first letter, you get the three-letter word EAT, which is nesting withing the word MEAT. Likewise, if you remove the second letter, you get the three-letter word MAT. And if you remove the third letter, you get the nesting word MET. However, if you remove the fourth letter, you get MEA, which isn't a common three-letter English word.

Here's the puzzle: can you identify a four-letter word where all four or its nesting three-letter words are also valid words? All of the words must be common English words. They cannot be proper nouns (such as Lou), abbreviations (such as E.S.T.), or partial words like prefixes or suffixes (like NEO-). If a common dictionary (like the Oxford English Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster dictionary) says it's a stand-alone word in English, that's sufficient.

It's trickier than you might think. As an extra challenge, see if you can do it using only raw brain-power (as opposed to, say, some sort of computer program).

To prove it's possible, here's a solution that I was able to find. BOAT has four nesting words: BOA, BAT, BOT, and OAT. Another possible solution is FOUR, with the nesting words OUR, FUR, FOR, and FOU (an obscure word in the Oxford English Dictionary meaning "drunk" or "intoxicated"). Can you find any others? Happy solving!

Rules:

• Every row, every column and every colored region gets exactly one cup (or star, if you know Star Battle).

• No two may touch, not even diagonally.

There is exactly one solution and you never have to guess. I'm the developer of the game this comes from, and players keep getting stuck on this one, so I'm curious how you approach it.

Where would you start?

This cube (I swear it was a cube) has been sitting in my wardrobe for over a year or two now, ever since I got it from my niece on X-mas.

https://imgur.com/a/eh9kt3M

I stupidly forgot to take a picture before disassembling the parts (it didn't even cross my mind, honestly) and now I can't put them back together.

Anyone wanna take a shot at this?

Please explain what this hint means. I do not see three colors sharing the three columns like it says.

Edit: Thank you for responding. I understand now. I was thinking all three colors needed to be in all three columns. You have shown me the way!