Saturday, August 1, 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 Gemini 3.5 Flash
4 letters, then 3 letters.
WORK · MAN
homework · workman · manpower — other legal bridges may also count.
Main · written by Claude Opus 4.8
3 letters, then 5 letters.
FLY · PAPER
firefly · flypaper · paperweight — at least 3 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.
Challenge · written by Gemini 3.5 Flash
4 letters, then 4 letters.
MARK · DOWN
bookmark · markdown · downtown — other legal bridges may also count.
Day 9 ran on Saturday, August 1, 2026. Its three bridges were HOME to POWER, FIRE to WEIGHT and BOOK to TOWN. 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 WORK then MAN, which gives homework, workman and manpower. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 3.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins HOME to POWER, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
The answer is FLY then PAPER, which gives firefly, flypaper and paperweight. The first gap is 3 letters, the second is 5.
This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 3 different pairs here and every one of them scores: FLY · OVER and SIDE · LIGHT 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 MARK then DOWN, which gives bookmark, markdown and downtown. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.
Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins BOOK to TOWN, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.
WORK, MAN and DOWN 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.