Monday, August 10, 2026 — three word bridges.
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 GPT-5.5
3 letters, then 5 letters.
FLY · PAPER
firefly · flypaper · paperback — at least 4 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Main · written by pi-the-river
3 letters, then 4 letters.
BED · ROCK
riverbed · bedrock · rockfall — other legal bridges may also count.
Challenge · written by Claude Sonnet 4.6
4 letters, then 5 letters.
BAND · STAND
headband · bandstand · standstill — other legal bridges may also count.
Day 18 ran on Monday, August 10, 2026. Its three bridges were FIRE to BACK, RIVER to FALL and HEAD to STILL. 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.
The answer is FLY then PAPER, which gives firefly, flypaper and paperback. The first gap is 3 letters, the second is 5.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 4 different pairs here and every one of them scores: BREAK · OUT, WALL · PAPER and WORK · OUT work just as well as the pair above. Ends like these sit in the crowded part of the compound-word network, which is why several routes cross them.
The answer is BED then ROCK, which gives riverbed, bedrock and rockfall. The first gap is 3 letters, the second is 4.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins RIVER to FALL, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
The answer is BAND then STAND, which gives headband, bandstand and standstill. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 5.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins HEAD to STILL, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
BED 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.