This puzzle’s rules are shown via examples rather than told. Here’s what each section conveys:
Letters are placed in the grid such that there is exactly one letter per gridspace.
These letters form English words.
These words can be read in any direction, so long as the letters connect orthogonally.
Words are allowed to bend, but every straight segment must have at least three letters.
Letters which are not adjacent in the word cannot be adjacent to each other in the grid.
Exactly two letters from different words can connect orthogonally so long as there is an arrow pointing to this pair.
The endings of each word must be clearly defined (i.e. must have empty space on each end).
Each pair of letters must form a Scrabble word, from the module Scrabble Scramble, and the number on its arrow is the score. If the word can be made in multiple directions, both arrows must be present.
In the finished grid, every circle must have a letter in it.
In the finished grid, the circles, when read in reading order, form the puzzle’s answer.
The completed grids are shown below. The first grid is a “practice” grid to confirm the rules, whose circled letters form a word that means “courage”. The second grid is the real puzzle where the circled letters spell out the answer to the puzzle.