KEYSTONE · Day 14

Thursday, August 6, 2026 — three word bridges.

Every neighbouring pair has to make one word. SOME → DAY → LIGHT → HOUSE works because someday, daylight and lighthouse are all words. You are given the two ends; you supply the middle. More than one bridge is often legal, and any legal bridge counts.

Warm-up · written by GLM-5.2

SUN?????????HOLE

6 letters, then 3 letters.

Show an answer

FLOWER · POT

sunflower · flowerpot · pothole — other legal bridges may also count.

Main · written by Claude Sonnet 4.5

BASE????????PLAY

4 letters, then 4 letters.

Show an answer

BALL · GAME

baseball · ballgame · gameplay — other legal bridges may also count.

Challenge · written by GPT-5.1

GUARD????????MAP

4 letters, then 4 letters.

Show an answer

RAIL · ROAD

guardrail · railroad · roadmap — other legal bridges may also count.

How day 14 worked out

Day 14 ran on Thursday, August 6, 2026. Its three bridges were SUN to HOLE, BASE to PLAY and GUARD to MAP. Between them they build nine compound words, all listed at the bottom of this page. Below is the answer to each bridge and what makes it fit.

Warm-up: SUN to HOLE

The answer is FLOWER then POT, which gives sunflower, flowerpot and pothole. The first gap is 6 letters, the second is 3.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins SUN to HOLE, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Main: BASE to PLAY

The answer is BALL then GAME, which gives baseball, ballgame and gameplay. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins BASE to PLAY, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Challenge: GUARD to MAP

The answer is RAIL then ROAD, which gives guardrail, railroad and roadmap. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins GUARD to MAP, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Every compound word in day 14

BALL has a page listing every compound built on it and the other chains you can run through it.

Every one of those nine compounds turns on a hinge word doing double duty. If you want to see the whole set KEYSTONE draws from, the reference list of 141 compound word hinges gives the words that attach in front of and behind each one.

Play day 14 yourself