Saturday, October 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
3 letters, then 5 letters.
OUT · BREAK
workout · outbreak · breakdown — at least 4 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Main
4 letters, then 6 letters.
STEP · MOTHER
overstep · stepmother · motherland — 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.
TAKE · OVER
undertake · takeover · overnight — at least 2 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Day 86 ran on Saturday, October 17, 2026. Its three bridges were WORK to DOWN, OVER to LAND and UNDER to NIGHT. 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 OUT then BREAK, which gives workout, outbreak and breakdown. 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: DAY · BREAK, OUT · LET and OUT · RUN 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 STEP then MOTHER, which gives overstep, stepmother and motherland. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 6.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 2 different pairs here and every one of them scores: STEP · FATHER 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 TAKE then OVER, which gives undertake, takeover and overnight. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 2 different pairs here and every one of them scores: PASS · OVER 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.
OUT, BREAK, STEP, MOTHER, TAKE and OVER 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.