I did this one -- only to come on the board and find that Hab had done it more quickly. So with further effort:

sword
swore
shore
shote
shots
shops
whops
woops
woods
words

quote:

---

This man is serious; he has a _worksheet_!

---

It's not so much having a worksheet as having a dialup connection and not wanting to tie up the telephone by composing online if it can be done beforehand... Someday I'll get a DSL line and not have to worry. Maybe.

quote:

---

It's not so much having a worksheet as having a dialup connection

---

Yeah, yeah, and the pope is Jewish! I live with someone who has words, etymologies, figures, etc., written on numerous worksheets, napkins, envelopes, whatever. How often have I heard, "Hon, do you know where that napkin is where I jotted down those words?"

He is cute, though!

And now, m'Lords, to the business of the day...(That's Iolanthe, Act I)

all four-letter words:
word --> line -- four steps
line --> poem -- six steps (but it looks as though it should be do-able in fewer, even without invoking the French "pont")

wore
wire
lire
line

Optime ! Four changes accomplished in four steps.

Now to assemble the lines into a poem!

line
lint
list
lost
post
poem

"Lint" makes me wonder if we could go from "clean" to "dirty," preferably all in 5-letter words. It seems difficult. Perhaps hab can propound a more feasible one?

Edit: oops! Thanks for the catch, Jerry!

[This message was edited by Hic et ubique on Thu Aug 14th, 2003 at 16:02.]

post
poet
poem


(without a poet, there is no poem)

While we think about making dirty into clean with five-letter words, how about turning your
lint into wool with fours?

DINT
DONT
WONT
WOOT
WOOL

'Tis the best I could do. Woot, according to Onelook, is a slang interjection to express happiness. Is there a way in only 4 steps?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kalleh:
DINT
DONT
WONT
WOOT
_WOOL_
.... Is there a way in only 4 steps?

---

'Fraid not. As soon as you introduce a letter in your ladder that isn't in the goal word, you have to have another step to get it out. Since there's no word LINT --> wint or lont or liot or linl, the project is doomed. At least with common words.

Not to worry. Five steps is nothing to be ashamed of!

Lessee now. Can we RING the BELL? Seven steps or fewer.

RING
Bing
Binge
Bilge
Bile
Bill
BELL

Who can go from BAD to WORSE in five or fewer steps?

[This message was edited by jerry thomas on Fri Aug 15th, 2003 at 18:05.]

Ah, Haberdasher, that's exactly what I thought! However, you seemed so sure... It all goes to show, trust your own instincts!

ring
bing
bine
bile
bill
bell

Nice sequence, Jerry!

bad
bade
bare
ware
worse
worse

this to that in three steps ?


less to more ? I don't have an efficient one for that but I didn't work on it very much.

BAD
Wad
War
Ware
Wore
WORSE
Gorse
Goose
Goosy
Goody
GOOD
God
Got
Get
Let
Lett
Lette
Letter
BETTER
Letter
Lette
Lett
Lest
BEST

LESS
Mess
Moss
Mops
Mope
MORE

MANY
Mane
Mare
Fare
Fere
Fer
FEW

Question...I thought we were keeping the same number of letters in the words. For example, we would use 2 four-lettered words and in between only use four-lettered words. Perhaps I misunderstood....

How about lord to king, using only 4-lettered words all the way through?

LORD
lorn
born
bore
borg
bong
bing
KING

NEXT======== TIME

next
text
tent
tint
tine
time



heavy --> light (I think it will take a lot of steps!)

I've been trying sooooo long. I've found a lot of good words along the way, like leany, ligny, leary, lerve, ligne, lieve, liane, but I just can't do it!

Darn right it will take a lot of steps, hab. This does it in 21 steps, but have no clue whether this is optimal.

heavy
heady
ready
reads
reeds
reels
peels
peens
teens
terns
tarns
barns
burns
burnt
burst
buret
beret
beget
begot
bigot
bight
light

heavy
heady
heads
heals
teals
tells
bells
balls
bales
sales
sates
sites
siths
sighs
sight
light

{I'm sure this can be improved further. "Sith" is the weak rung on the ladder and I'd be happier with a less marginal word. Even if it puts a few steps back in...)

I really liked your "burst - buret - beret - beget" sequence !

Wow! I am duly impressed! Do you guys think it has to be started with "heady" (I did try that as well.)? I was mostly trying with "l" words, such as: heavy, leavy, leany, etc. I did have my "worksheets" this time, and I was trying to get to "ligny" or "leggy", but frankly now I can't even remember why!

'Twas frustrating, to be sure, but I learned some great new words in the process!

...and I thought you were a beer afficionado! Oh well, If you don't like "heady," there's also "heavy - heave" but I couldn't take that any further.

Addendum:
heavy
heave
leave
lease
least
...
OK, take it away!

Haberdasher, I will try another, but not this one again. I cannot tell you the time I spent....! Not again!

It's laborious, and I'm not happy with Paree (no matter how Gay it may be), and I'm sure it can be done more efficiently, but here it is finally:

dirty
dirts
darts
parts
pares
Paree
parse
purse
nurse
Norse
gorse
gorge
gouge
rouge
rough
tough
touch
torch
porch
perch
peach
leach
leash
least
beast
blast
blest
bleat
cleat
clean

You are a genius! For all that work (and I know how long that takes, though Shufitz did show me a trick that I haven't used yet; he thinks you use it), I am up to your challenge. What are your next words?

No trick, just brute force. I'm curious to know what he has in mind.

Is brute ==> force doable?

I'm coming to the conclusion that four-letter words are more flexible. If b-->f is to formidable (haven't tried it yet) how about
golf-->club-->ball-->fore, the order being relatively unimportant ? [No, I don't play, myself.]

dirty
dirts
darts
parts
pares
parcs (replaces Paree/parse/purse/nurse/Norse/gorse/gorge/gouge/rouge/rough/touch/torch/porch)

parch
perch
peach
leach
leash
least
beast
blast
blest
bleat
cleat
clean

quote:

---

Is brute ==> force doable?

---

Answer: Yes. So are the "golf" variations. golf-->ball-->fore-->club seems to be the shortest.

Stealing the beginning and end of habs, but changing the middle (italicized). 15 steps. This is particularly useful if you find his Gaulism galling.

dirty
dirts
darts
parts
pasts
pests
bests
beats
beaus
beaut
beast
blast
blest
bleat
cleat
clean

It's a beaut. I'm in no position to quibble about "beaus" (beaux"?).

Down to 14:

dirty
dirts
darts
farts
fasts
fests
feats
frats
frets
frees
freer
fleer (one who flees an accident; see also next line)
flear (alternate form of this "fleer")
clear
clean

dolf
dalf
calf
call
ball
bale
bare
fare
fore
ford
food
flod
flob
blob
blub
club

I have trouble with the 5-lettered words; I've been working on brute force, but so far, no luck.

I found a four-step golf==>ball and a ten-step fore==>club sequence. It's longer but the words are all unassailable...

And I have a forced brute in twelve steps but with one questionable word in it (a proper noun). And an even shorter one if we'll accept some champagnes as "secs" and some as "bruts" :-) )

I'll post these toward the weekend if no one has gotten them sooner.

(Wha' happened? The "edit message" icon didn't appear when I tried to correct a typo earllier this morning!?)

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Wed Aug 27th, 2003 at 8:08.]

Haberdasher, I had the same editing problem in a post the other day. In fact, I was never able to edit it.

Now, which of my words (from "fore" to "club") would you call assailable? They all appeared in Dictionary.com (I believe). Changing vowel sequences seems to be a problem (i.e. "fore" to "club"). Let's see yours, at any rate! I love seeing the different thought processes. I did one once, only to see that Jerry had done the same one, and our methods were very similar.

brute
brite
brits (not just a proper noun)
brats
boats
borts
forts
forte
force

Well done!
If you go from brite to trite and then on, you can eliminate a couple of esoteric words. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not.

My versions are

brute
bruce - derogatory term referring to an effeminate male, or else a kind of exercise test protocol
truce
trice
trite
write
writs
waits
warts
worts
forts
force

and the shorter

brute
bruts
bouts
touts
torts
forts
forte
force

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Wed Aug 27th, 2003 at 20:26.]

Hab, you can shorten that last one by stealing from shu (as he stole from you). Instead of your
bouts -> touts -> torts -> forts, substitute
bouts -> borts -> forts.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kalleh:

Now, _which_ of my words (from "fore" to "club") would you call assailable? They all appeared in Dictionary.com (I believe). Changing vowel sequences seems to be a problem (i.e. "fore" to "club"). Let's see yours, at any rate!

---

My shortest was

golf
gold
bold
bald
ball
bale
bare
fare
fore
ford
fond
fend
feed <--> fees <--> tees (gratuitous !)
fled
flee
glee
glue
clue
club

Not as short as some of your sequences, but all quite common words.

I tend to be of the school that says these things should be done from one's working vocabulary, so that using a reference book (let alone fishing in OneLook.com) is sort of cheating*. By that criterion flod, flob, and blub are all "assailable," even though they can be substantiated. Don't take it personally; it goes along with my being a prescriptivist. It's part of that (perhaps somewhat arrogant, though I prefer to think of it as "self-confident") "whom-are-you-going-to-believe-me-or-some-strange-dictionary" mentality, and I recognize it as such.

*(even when I do it myself)

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Fri Aug 29th, 2003 at 18:19.]

There's gotta be a better way, but here goes:

drink --> lager --> beers


(Edit: I took it out and put one possible ladder in the "Answer" thread in Q and A, so as not to spoil it if someone should still want to work on it. Unikely though that seems.)

[This message was edited by haberdasher on Sat Sep 6th, 2003 at 12:27.]