#24 Word ladder

April 21 is the traditional date of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus, raised by a she-wolf. This constricted word ladder commemorates that mythic event.

From WOLF to ROME (5 rungs)

Competition closed. Winner:
soonerfan645

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#19 Word ladder

Today's puzzle is a constricted word ladder. Change one letter at a time; each intermediate word (rung) must be a common word itself. I found two slightly different solutions to this puzzle; either will win.

From HELLO to BAITS (5 rungs)

Competition closed. Winners:

I Was Just Thinking (2 points for solving it with four rungs!)
soonerfan645
Celia

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How to solve a Word Ladder

In a word ladder, a start and an end word are provided, and the solution consists of the steps or rungs between the words. Each step is itself a common, non-capitalized word, formed by changing the previous word according to a set of rules. Plurals and other forms of words are acceptable. There are several possible rule sets for changing words.

A Lewis Carroll word ladder is named for its inventor. To change each rung of the ladder, one can add a letter, remove a letter, change a letter, or anagram the word.

Example: From GO to STOP (3 rungs)
GO
1. GOT (added a letter)
2. POT (changed a letter)
3. POTS (added a letter)
STOP (anagrammed)

In a constricted word ladder, the only legal change is to change a letter of the word.

Example: From EASY to HARD (4 rungs)
EASY
1. EAST
2. CAST
3. CART
4. CARD
HARD
Example taken from Wikipedia

Although technically these are open solution puzzles, since there may be more than one series of rungs, ordinarily there is a single solution. If you find a solution with fewer rungs than specified, you will get an additional win point for beating the puzzle-maker.