Do the middle letters have to be next to each other?

No. They only have to appear in the given order somewhere between the first and last letter, with any number of other letters around them.

Words starting with T and ending in I

There are 54 of them. The shortest listed are taxi, teriyaki, tiki, timpani, tsunami.

54 words fit this spine. They're all listed below. They start with T and end with I, with anything in between.

A near miss

tui

tali, taxi, tiki, tipi, titi, topi, tori

tarsi, teloi, tempi, terai, thymi, tondi, tophi, topoi, torii, torsi, tragi, tsadi, tutti

tabuli, tahini, tamari, tanuki, tatami, tenuti, thalli, tholoi, thyrsi, tufoli, tuladi, tumuli

tabouli, termini, thalami, thrombi, timpani, tortoni, tripoli, tsunami, turfski, tympani

tandoori, teocalli, teriyaki, thesauri, trapezii, trochili

triumviri

tetrazzini, tortellini

tsutsugamushi

tarsometatarsi

Try today's puzzle

Every word above follows this rule — see if you can find them under a clock.