Monday, September 14, 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
5 letters, then 3 letters.
HOUSE · BOY
firehouse · houseboy · boyhood — at least 4 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Main
5 letters, then 4 letters.
NIGHT · CLUB
goodnight · nightclub · clubhouse — at least 2 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Challenge
4 letters, then 4 letters.
OVER · STEP
takeover · overstep · stepson — other legal bridges may also count.
Day 53 ran on Monday, September 14, 2026. Its three bridges were FIRE to HOOD, GOOD to HOUSE and TAKE to SON. 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 HOUSE then BOY, which gives firehouse, houseboy and boyhood. The first gap is 5 letters, the second is 3.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 4 different pairs here and every one of them scores: HOUSE · MAN, WOOD · MAN and WORK · MAN 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 NIGHT then CLUB, which gives goodnight, nightclub and clubhouse. The first gap is 5 letters, the second is 4.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 2 different pairs here and every one of them scores: WILL · POWER works 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 OVER then STEP, which gives takeover, overstep and stepson. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins TAKE to SON, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
HOUSE, BOY, NIGHT, OVER 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.