Man, I stared at this so long, my computer went to screen saver! First, Faldage, if I may--I would like to add my description to yours, since my first response to yours was to wonder what was on the other 3 sides of the cube. It makes more sense (ha--I first typed that as snese) to me to visualize a hollow box with 3 vertical slots: one at the front, one halfway back, and the last at the back. Then I slide "hanging file folders" into the slots with the letters as you gave them; that is, the front folder shows
ABC
DEF
GHI.

However, looking at the examples given, I don't think we have any choice but to think of them as numbers (coordinates, actually, but I don't care to expend my brain power first assigning them and then figuring out the differentials) rather than letters. This is what I was staring at for so long: in this kind of grid, I can't make it work that i, say, is "next to" s; nor can I make it work that ANY is a closed loop--that is, the fact that they say ANY is a "closed loop" tells me that I don't know what they mean by closed loop! How can something at the back (y) be "next to" something at the front (a)? However, if the coordinate for a is only one away from the coordinate for y, then that would work. (Obviously.) Ohhh, my brain is starting to hurt! Am I off the track completely now, or what?

Dody (how are your toes, Sweet Thing? Not too bad, I hope?)--I will venture to say, though, that from reading what I assume were the "rules" you posted, that you can either decide on a word and then vector it, OR plot a vector and then see if it makes a word. I would guess, though, that the letters would have to be in order, and not anagrammed; mainly because anagramming (sp?) would allow too many words.