I chose "GREAT", hit that "A", then blanked on any word that didn't have GRET in it at all but had an A in the fourth position. I then looked up the word list

I chose "GREAT", hit that "A", then blanked on any word that didn't have GRET in it at all but had an A in the fourth position. I then looked up the word list and used the first word that fit the conditions. And that was the word.