Bike Lock Word Ladders
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
$begingroup$
We are going to construct word ladders, but unlike the classic word ladders in which only one letter can change per step, you may change as many letters as you like at each step. However, each letter can only move up or down one click in the alphabet.
For example, BOOMERS changes to COOLEST in a single step. (The B moves down to a C, the first O doesn't change, the second O doesn't change, the M moves up to an L, the E doesn't change, the R moves down to an S, and the S moves down to a T.)
For added fun, let's agree that A can move "up" to Z, and Z can move "down" to A. In other words, the alphabet forms a wheel. This might remind you of a bike lock, with alphabetical wheels in place of numerical wheels.
Let's walk through an example.
Go from PUTTING to PURRING in three steps:
start: PUTTING
step 1: OUSTING
step 2: PURSING
step 3: PURRING
Obviously, each intermediate step must also form a known word.
See if you can solve these:
1. Go from ACTRESS to BARTERS in five steps or fewer
2. Go from SKINLESS to SKILLETS in five steps or fewer
3. Go from DONNING to BONKING in six steps or fewer
4. Go from EARNEST to HAULERS in nine steps or fewer
wordplay word-ladder
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
We are going to construct word ladders, but unlike the classic word ladders in which only one letter can change per step, you may change as many letters as you like at each step. However, each letter can only move up or down one click in the alphabet.
For example, BOOMERS changes to COOLEST in a single step. (The B moves down to a C, the first O doesn't change, the second O doesn't change, the M moves up to an L, the E doesn't change, the R moves down to an S, and the S moves down to a T.)
For added fun, let's agree that A can move "up" to Z, and Z can move "down" to A. In other words, the alphabet forms a wheel. This might remind you of a bike lock, with alphabetical wheels in place of numerical wheels.
Let's walk through an example.
Go from PUTTING to PURRING in three steps:
start: PUTTING
step 1: OUSTING
step 2: PURSING
step 3: PURRING
Obviously, each intermediate step must also form a known word.
See if you can solve these:
1. Go from ACTRESS to BARTERS in five steps or fewer
2. Go from SKINLESS to SKILLETS in five steps or fewer
3. Go from DONNING to BONKING in six steps or fewer
4. Go from EARNEST to HAULERS in nine steps or fewer
wordplay word-ladder
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
We are going to construct word ladders, but unlike the classic word ladders in which only one letter can change per step, you may change as many letters as you like at each step. However, each letter can only move up or down one click in the alphabet.
For example, BOOMERS changes to COOLEST in a single step. (The B moves down to a C, the first O doesn't change, the second O doesn't change, the M moves up to an L, the E doesn't change, the R moves down to an S, and the S moves down to a T.)
For added fun, let's agree that A can move "up" to Z, and Z can move "down" to A. In other words, the alphabet forms a wheel. This might remind you of a bike lock, with alphabetical wheels in place of numerical wheels.
Let's walk through an example.
Go from PUTTING to PURRING in three steps:
start: PUTTING
step 1: OUSTING
step 2: PURSING
step 3: PURRING
Obviously, each intermediate step must also form a known word.
See if you can solve these:
1. Go from ACTRESS to BARTERS in five steps or fewer
2. Go from SKINLESS to SKILLETS in five steps or fewer
3. Go from DONNING to BONKING in six steps or fewer
4. Go from EARNEST to HAULERS in nine steps or fewer
wordplay word-ladder
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
$endgroup$
We are going to construct word ladders, but unlike the classic word ladders in which only one letter can change per step, you may change as many letters as you like at each step. However, each letter can only move up or down one click in the alphabet.
For example, BOOMERS changes to COOLEST in a single step. (The B moves down to a C, the first O doesn't change, the second O doesn't change, the M moves up to an L, the E doesn't change, the R moves down to an S, and the S moves down to a T.)
For added fun, let's agree that A can move "up" to Z, and Z can move "down" to A. In other words, the alphabet forms a wheel. This might remind you of a bike lock, with alphabetical wheels in place of numerical wheels.
Let's walk through an example.
Go from PUTTING to PURRING in three steps:
start: PUTTING
step 1: OUSTING
step 2: PURSING
step 3: PURRING
Obviously, each intermediate step must also form a known word.
See if you can solve these:
1. Go from ACTRESS to BARTERS in five steps or fewer
2. Go from SKINLESS to SKILLETS in five steps or fewer
3. Go from DONNING to BONKING in six steps or fewer
4. Go from EARNEST to HAULERS in nine steps or fewer
wordplay word-ladder
wordplay word-ladder
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
asked Jan 13 at 18:56
SlowMagicSlowMagic
2455
2455
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
- Four steps:
ACTRESS
ABUSERS
BATTERS
BASTERS
BARTERS
- Three steps:
SKINLESS
SLIMMERS
SLIMMEST
SKILLETS
- Three steps:
DONNING
DOOMING
COOLING
BONKING
- Four steps:
EARNEST
FARMERS
GASLESS
HATLESS
HAULERS
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function ()
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function ()
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix)
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
);
);
, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "559"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpuzzling.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f78402%2fbike-lock-word-ladders%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
- Four steps:
ACTRESS
ABUSERS
BATTERS
BASTERS
BARTERS
- Three steps:
SKINLESS
SLIMMERS
SLIMMEST
SKILLETS
- Three steps:
DONNING
DOOMING
COOLING
BONKING
- Four steps:
EARNEST
FARMERS
GASLESS
HATLESS
HAULERS
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
add a comment |
$begingroup$
- Four steps:
ACTRESS
ABUSERS
BATTERS
BASTERS
BARTERS
- Three steps:
SKINLESS
SLIMMERS
SLIMMEST
SKILLETS
- Three steps:
DONNING
DOOMING
COOLING
BONKING
- Four steps:
EARNEST
FARMERS
GASLESS
HATLESS
HAULERS
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
add a comment |
$begingroup$
- Four steps:
ACTRESS
ABUSERS
BATTERS
BASTERS
BARTERS
- Three steps:
SKINLESS
SLIMMERS
SLIMMEST
SKILLETS
- Three steps:
DONNING
DOOMING
COOLING
BONKING
- Four steps:
EARNEST
FARMERS
GASLESS
HATLESS
HAULERS
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
$endgroup$
- Four steps:
ACTRESS
ABUSERS
BATTERS
BASTERS
BARTERS
- Three steps:
SKINLESS
SLIMMERS
SLIMMEST
SKILLETS
- Three steps:
DONNING
DOOMING
COOLING
BONKING
- Four steps:
EARNEST
FARMERS
GASLESS
HATLESS
HAULERS
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
edited Jan 13 at 20:45
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
answered Jan 13 at 20:40
Jonathan AllanJonathan Allan
17.7k14697
17.7k14697
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
Drat! The last one was giving me grief. Nicely done! But you need one more step for #1. [EDITED to add:] JA has fixed #1 now.
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:42
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
...Ah, so I do!
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:43
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
Added the missing entry.
$endgroup$
– Jonathan Allan
Jan 13 at 20:45
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
$begingroup$
I had the same solution as you (after the correction) for #1, and for #3, but an entirely different route for #2. I'd had hopes that we could get DOMMING into the solution aiming toward BONKING, but wasn't able to make that happen :-).
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
Jan 13 at 20:46
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Puzzling Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpuzzling.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f78402%2fbike-lock-word-ladders%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown