this is so much fun, i was very irresponsible with my time. though my attempted chest opening did get stuck at 7/8 even though i had a letter in every ajacent spot and that ended my run
The same happened (my 2nd run). I suspect it is when too many letters are added simultaneously and the 7/8 is calculated using a value + instead of Boolean True/False of the surrounding cells to check if the chest-opening condition is fulfilled.