I reached the conclusion, rightly or not, that more points apply to unusual and uncommon words. My screen pulsates in a virtual thumbs up for some short entries.I found 22 words in the SDC 9x9 word puzzle, for a total of 607 points.
My longest word:(8 letters)
I thought that with 1 x 8 letter ad 2 x 7 my score would be a bit better.