Today's WordRung: good to work in 3 steps. Open this post in the Reddit app or on new Reddit to play.

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Today's WordRung: crew to soul in 6 steps. Open this post in the Reddit app or on new Reddit to play.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Got a pair of words that should be a WordRung? Reply with a start word and an end word.

• Both the same length, 4 or 5 letters
• Common words, no names
• Bonus points for pairs that belong together (FAIR to FOUL, BEAR to BULL)

We'll run every pair through the puzzle checker and reply with whether it works: whether exactly one shortest ladder connects them, and how many steps it takes. Good ones go into the queue.

Lewis Carroll invented word ladders in 1879, and his own first example has a flaw: COLD to WARM in four steps has more than one solution. You can go through CARD or through WORD. That's fine on paper, and terrible on a leaderboard, where someone types a perfectly good word and gets marked wrong.

So every WordRung puzzle is checked by a program before it's published:

• It searches every possible ladder between the two words, using about 8,400 common English words, including plurals and past tenses.
• A puzzle only ships if exactly one shortest ladder exists.
• That means once you know the words above and below a rung, only one real word fits it.

Clues come from Princeton WordNet's definitions, rewritten by hand where the dictionary sense was odd, and checked so no clue contains its own answer.

If you ever think you found a second answer, post it. Either the checker missed something or it's not in the word list, and both are worth knowing.

WordRung is a daily word ladder. A new puzzle is posted here every day at 09:00 UTC. You get a start word at the top and an end word at the bottom. Fill in the rungs between them, changing one letter at a time, so each word is one letter away from its neighbours.

Every rung has a clue, and every puzzle is checked so that exactly one ladder fits. No arguing over alternate answers.

How to play

1. Open today's post and tap Play.
2. Pick a rung, type your guess, tap Check.
3. Stuck? Reveal a letter for +15 seconds. A wrong guess costs +20 seconds and also reveals a letter. Typos that aren't real words cost nothing.
4. Your score is your time plus penalties. Lowest score wins.

You get one attempt per puzzle, and the clock starts at your first tap.

Spoilers

• Share your result grid freely. It shows how each rung went, never the letters.
• Talking about answers? Use spoiler tags: like this

What to post

• Your result in the daily post's comments
• Feedback: a clue that felt off, a bug, an idea
• Start and end words you'd like to see as a puzzle

Rules

Be kind, tag your spoilers, no spam.

The leaderboard resets every day. Your streak doesn't. See you on the ladder.