Some of your theories are right on the money. Did you find any words similar to the time-based words you looked for and didn't find? Also, I wrote a post-mortem for creating this game that probably gives you a lot of help and also includes a bonus puzzle at the bottom! But, also, this game was created in 48 hours for a jam and is, as you saw, horribly unfinished. I'm working on a post-jam version with more polish and detail so it's more playable!
But in any case thanks for giving it a go, I appreciate it so much!