Wednesday, October 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
4 letters, then 3 letters.
FREE · MAN
carefree · freeman · manpower — other legal bridges may also count.
Main
3 letters, then 5 letters.
DAY · BREAK
sunday · daybreak · breakaway — other legal bridges may also count.
Challenge
4 letters, then 4 letters.
OVER · WORK
crossover · overwork · workman — at least 4 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Day 83 ran on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Its three bridges were CARE to POWER, SUN to AWAY and CROSS to MAN. 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 FREE then MAN, which gives carefree, freeman and manpower. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 3.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins CARE to POWER, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
The answer is DAY then BREAK, which gives sunday, daybreak and breakaway. The first gap is 3 letters, the second is 5.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins SUN to AWAY, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
The answer is OVER then WORK, which gives crossover, overwork and workman. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 4 different pairs here and every one of them scores: FIRE · WOOD, FIRE · WORK and OVER · HEAD 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.
MAN, DAY, BREAK, OVER and WORK 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.