Thursday, September 17, 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 4 letters.
AFTER · LIFE
hereafter · afterlife · lifestyle — other legal bridges may also count.
Main
4 letters, then 4 letters.
OVER · STEP
leftover · overstep · stepbrother — other legal bridges may also count.
Challenge
4 letters, then 3 letters.
DOOR · MAN
outdoor · doorman · manhunt — at least 4 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Day 56 ran on Thursday, September 17, 2026. Its three bridges were HERE to STYLE, LEFT to BROTHER and OUT to HUNT. 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 AFTER then LIFE, which gives hereafter, afterlife and lifestyle. The first gap is 5 letters, the second is 4.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins HERE to STYLE, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
The answer is OVER then STEP, which gives leftover, overstep and stepbrother. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins LEFT to BROTHER, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
The answer is DOOR then MAN, which gives outdoor, doorman and manhunt. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 3.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 4 different pairs here and every one of them scores: HOUSE · MAN, LAW · MAN and POST · 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.
LIFE, OVER, STEP, DOOR and MAN 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.