Vowels can be used in an intersecting words, which gives you many more possibilites.
> W > > V >
L I Q U O R
> N > > D >
> E > > K >
> > > > A >
This subject was started from one of those alphabet phonics games for my 3 year old daughter. There are 27 magnets (1 is the sounding instrument) which sit on our fridge. We've been trying to connect words along a theme, i.e. liquor, vodka, wine, jag (we've been liberal regarding truncation in the interest of a good laugh). Then we began to see if we could connect any words and use up all the letters. After a dozens tries, I've left 3 letters out a few times. I'm no genius, but I'll bet there are a few visiting these boards.

Oh yeah...after a few days we realized the letters were up on the freezer section out of reach for our little one. It seemed the adults were having more fun with it than her. We have since lowered them.