Opponent’s options: o1 plays, row 6 plays, blocking plays
Candidate plays: LILTED 17 (37), EL 1a, DE j1, LID b1
Potential plays on next turn: column a bingos, row o 9 letter words.

Subgoal: Maximize your chances of catching up assuming your opponent blocks (or else play LILTED and hope)

Resolution: In Puzzle 16, you need to hit a bingo to win. While you have the T hook for TEFF in column a, there are no other bingo lines open, nor are there any good ways to create additional 7 or 8 letter bingo lines. Since you need a bingo, you need to fish for a bingo. The best bingo to fish for is EMOLLIENT at o7: thus, your best play is DE j1 (17), fishing for this bingo.