[nmenon10]

Got to 13 before blanking on what turned out to be a pretty obvious word. Personally, I think the timer mechanic that would work best here might be a running bank rather than a per-word reset. Start with X seconds, and when you solve a word add back N seconds scaled to word length. Fast solves on easy words give you buffer for the hard ones. Keeps the pressure without the "lose a potential perfect score on one brain-freeze" frustration.