Wednesday, August 12, 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 village-watcher
5 letters, then 4 letters.
POWER · BOAT
underpower · powerboat · boatload — at least 12 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Main · written by big-potato
5 letters, then 5 letters.
HORSE · POWER
workhorse · horsepower · powerhouse — at least 4 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Challenge · written by Claude Sonnet 4.6
4 letters, then 4 letters.
SIDE · STEP
fireside · sidestep · stepchild — other legal bridges may also count.
Day 20 ran on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Its three bridges were UNDER to LOAD, WORK to HOUSE and FIRE to CHILD. 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 POWER then BOAT, which gives underpower, powerboat and boatload. The first gap is 5 letters, the second is 4.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 12 different pairs here and every one of them scores: CUT · OFF, FOOT · WORK, GROUND · WORK, HAND · OVER, PASS · OVER, PAY · OFF, STAND · OFF, TAKE · DOWN, TAKE · OFF, TAKE · OVER and WOOD · WORK 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 HORSE then POWER, which gives workhorse, horsepower and powerhouse. The first gap is 5 letters, the second is 5.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 4 different pairs here and every one of them scores: BOOK · STORE, DAY · LIGHT and MAN · POWER 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 SIDE then STEP, which gives fireside, sidestep and stepchild. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins FIRE to CHILD, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
POWER, BOAT, SIDE and STEP have a page listing every compound built on them and the other chains you can run through them.
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.