A word ladder puzzle starts with a word at the bottom of the ladder and ends with a word at the top. Or, in this case, vice versa. You must form a sequence of words (a word ladder). On every rung of the ladder you must place a new word that only differs from the previous word by a single letter.
Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with today's puzzle by Bruce Venzke. The Xwordinfo site lists nineteen puzzles attributed to him and he had an LAT puzzle reviewed here on January 3rd of this recently-commenced year. Boomer refers to him as "the legend" and today's word ladder construction does not diminish his reputation in any manner.
A couple of preliminary thoughts: GOAT is old-time slang for the person who messes up and thereby costs the team a win. These days, though, it also has another, almost opposite meaning as the acronym for Greatest Of All Time. Of course it can also mean, well, a goat. This might have been a bit confusing theme-wise if, as I did, you solved 17 Across first among the #'ed clues having, at that point, no idea of where this was all headed. Also confusing is the fact that, other than that they are all "marked" with the # sign (suggesting that they are related to each other in some way) there are no clues for the answers on the eight rungs of the ladder. We are forced to "perp" one or more of those answers and then we must also recognize what it going on - i.e. that we are in the midst of solving a Word Ladder Puzzle. Those unfamiliar with this type of construction may have felt like our friends above . . . or below. Here are the steps on the ladder:
17 Across: #1: GOAT Commence at rung #1
20 Across: #2: GOAD Change the T to a D
26 Across: #3: LOAD Change the G to an L
30 Across: #4: LORD Change the A to an R
44 Across: #5: LARD Change the O to an A
51 Across: #6: HARD Change the L to an H
55 Across: #7: HERD Change the A to an E
58 Across: #8: HERO Change the D to an O, et voila! You've gone from being a GOAT to being a HERO in eight easy steps
The "reveal" comes at 36 Across: What takes place in eight puzzle answers when read in sequence: CHANGE OF FORTUNE.
. . . and now for the rest of the story:
Across:
1. "The Divine Comedy," e.g.: EPIC. In the traditional sense.
5. Bubbly brand: ASTI. Franciacorta è superiore. How does a manatee know this, I hear you ask? Our resident sommelier.
13. Robusto! sauce maker: RAGU.
22. Common lot size: ONE ACRE. 1/640 of a square mile.
23. Go up: ASCEND.
27. __ & Perrins: Worcestershire sauce brand: LEA.
Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen - 1974
62. Barbershop accessory: STROP.
64. Jump that's often a triple: AXEL. Not to be confused with AXLE.
65. Farm females: SOWS. Often, EWES. Sometimes HENS.
66. Comic book shrieks: EEKS. Not to be confused with EKES.
67. Take care of: TEND.
1. Bit of work: ERG. Equal to the work done by a force of one dyne acting through a distance of one centimetre. Got it?
2. Kung __ chicken: PAO.
37. Doze: NOD. This mindless marine mammal first tried to make NAP work.
38. Devotee: FAN.
39. Negative words of agreement?: NOR I. What to reply when asked if you, also, do not want some dried edible seaweed.
40. Biblical plot: EDEN. Ah, a parcel of land rather than a conspiracy.
44. Long rides?: LIMOS. Nice word play.
47. Bearish: URSINE. Tautological.
49. Cardinal's headgear: RED HAT. Not a reference to the College of Cardinals. Or, perhaps, it is.
51. A lot more than a little: HEAPS. Slang.
52. Classroom furniture: DESKS.
54. Sweat spot: BROW. "By the sweat of your brow you will produce food to eat . . ." Genesis 3:19
57. Compete: VIE. Solver: "What's a three-letter word for compete?" Dracula: "VIE" Solver: "It's for a crossword."
59. Application file suffix: EXE. Another computer reference.
60. Cartoon canine: REN.
DNF. Had only 1 white cell left when I hit check all, and about a dozen scattered squares went red.
ReplyDeleteA SOLDIER of FORTUNE, NICK called himself.
An EPIC story, and ending in wealth!
Well, that was the plan,
But there was no demand,
So he plays vid-games he bought off the shelf.
{B+.}
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteFigured out that it was a word ladder early on. Still, it took a while to put this one in the record books. Thanx, Bruce and MalMan.
STROP: Thursday is geezer day at the local tonsorial shop. I've delayed as long as I can.
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
Thank you, Bruce, and thank you MM.
Your commentary is as fun as the puzzle. I especially liked "Solver: "What's a three-letter word for compete?" Dracula: "VIE" Solver: "It's for a crossword."
Enjoyed this word ladder. As is somewhat normal for me, I start somewhere near the middle, and branch out, bouncing around to wherever the clues take me.
Couldn't think of LAWFORD for a bit, but later after realizing the puzzle was a word ladder, I got LOAD and the L jogged my memory. The kicker was that I'd just watched a few scenes of some British movie the other day that starred Lawford and Sammy Davis, Jr. No other Rat Pack MEMBERS were involved.
Tense - Repeatedly read it as terse.
Fall before TURN.
NOt I before NOR I.
Nap before NOD.
Cardinal's headgear - Thought of the Pope's mitre, then of the red skullcaps that the church cardinals wear. D'oh ! Could be either that or the STL Cardinals, as MM pointed out.
Long rides - I read the clue and entered limousines at 56A. It fit nicely, and seemed to be fine with pore as sweat spot, URSINE, VIE, HECK and DESKS, so the SW corner gave me fits until I finally remembered ROMERO, and then it all came together. That's when I saw that "Long rides" was the clue for 44D. Double D'OH !
"Hot ROD Lincoln" - For some reason that story song always reminded me of The Battle of New Orleans story song. "They ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles. They ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go. We fired our guns and they kept a coming." Ring a bell ?
FIR in an agonizing 28 minute struggle. Figured out it was a word ladder very early, but 17A clue #1 solve GOAT led me to look for acronyms for #2, etc., and didn’t see how GOAD was an acronym for someone who finished second. And so on throughout the word ladder. I eventually gave up on trying to make sense of it as anything but “the next word in the word ladder”, but that V-8 moment took a while arriving. W/Os NAP:NOD, COWS:SOWS. Very clever CW, thanx, BV. I can’t even imagine having the skill to construct this CW with the words in the word ladder arranged as they are in the grid. Amazing! Thanx too to MalMan for the outstanding write-up. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteTTP, yup, Johnny Horton's star burned brightly, though briefly. He took the storm by country in '59 with Jimmy Driftwood's Battle of New Orleans. He followed it up in '60, singing the title songs for John Wayne's North to Alaska as well as Sink the Bismarck. In November of '60 he was killed in an automobile accident while driving from gigs in Austin to Shreveport. He was only 35.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, Crossword friends.
ReplyDeleteJust a comment on Clue 14. The answer is applicable only on dreidels outside of Israel. The Hebrew letter Shin is found not on dreidels in Israel. In Israel, the Shin is replaced with a Peh (פ), and the letters for the first words of the phrase: Nes Gadol Haya Poh, or A Great Miracle Happened Here.
QOD: Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it. ~ Lewis Carroll (né Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; Jan. 27, 1832 ~ Jan. 14, 1898), British author
FIR, somehow. Erased moon for MARS, cows for SOWS, and red cap for RED HAT. I thought that RED HATs were members of a social club, and that a dreidel was a Jewish top toy. Also DNK PAO or SETA. I had E_I_ until I took Zoe for her walk, and while picking up her #2 it hit me: EPIC!
ReplyDeleteThe reason many houses are on an acre lot is because that's about the minimum size for a septic system to be safely used. There are many very nice homes in the Ocala area that are on such systems. My friend says he has his system serviced every five years, and has never had a problem.
Bonding and binding (and other adult fun) often ends with the words I DO. We also got ROD, but SNORER was called for where Viagra would have fit.
Thanks to Bruce for the creativity. I didn't know about ladder puzzles, which cut into the fun quotient, but I'll enjoy the next one more. And thanks to the MalMan, especially for the history lesson on Rabbi Palmer.
Hola!
ReplyDeleteIs this the first time a word ladder has been applied in CWD puzzle? I can't recall ever doing one like this. But it was fun and added an extra layer to the solve. Thank you, Bruce Venzke.
As is my style if I can't solve methodically, I jumped around until it all made sense.
SEE ME is something I often wrote with red pen on certain students' papers.
Archeological motto: My life is in RUINS
My father had a double STROP and would use it not only for sharpening his razor but also to discipline his children. My legs met it once and only once.
DISCLAIMERS changed to DISCLOSURES.
Isn't NORI some kind of sushi ingredient?
FRERE is part of a song that I learned long, long ago.
Time to return to bed. Thank you, MalMan and Bruce! Owen, I don't thank you enough for the clever openings to the dialog.
Twasn't easy, but I got it: FIR! I gradually caught onto the theme though at first I thought it was the same word repeated. Then I saw one letter changed. I knew about this but couldn't remember the name "word ladder." Something new to give us a fun challenge today. Thanks, Bruce.
ReplyDeleteThanks, MalMan, for your entertaining review. I had some WOs: Nap/NOD, rte/LAT, and Roan/ROES, but perps were helpful. The longer fills took some time, until enough perps filled in. I liked the idea of SOLDIERS ON. It's what we've been doing during COVID.
Hope you all have an excellent Thursday!
I fell into the trap that MM alluded to when GOAT was #1 - thinking of Greatest Of All Time - so #2 was 4 letters thought it might be AVIS (we try harder) Once I realized that it was a word ladder the solve sped up considerably. I do a Word Ladder every day on the Sporcle trivia website. Here's yesterday's:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sporcle.com/games/justindi01/word-ladder-wyoming-national-park
Tricky but fun cluing for NICK.
Nice double meaning for cardinal hat https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/catholic-cardinal-hat
both Catholic clergy and STL baseball team!
Thanks MM and Bruce!
From yesterday: Thanks to Picard (my old friend!) and Waseely for clueing me in on the meaning of "WAG." Waseely, would a "wild ass" be an onager? Just a thought. Now, on to the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a long time to get "cut gem.". I kept trying to make "toad" instead of "goad.". But I finally got it right. And I remembered "Cesar Romero" (I am pretty well aged, after all) but not exactly how to spell his name, but the perps made it clear. FIR, at the last.
ReplyDeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-One sticking point was NAP not NOD but I SOLDIERED ON and it took care of itself
-Thinking of Greatest Of All Time and not a failure obscured the theme for a while
-In this picture the astronauts are ASCENDING off the Moon leaving the Descend part of the LEM behind
-Gravity on Phobos is so little that walking over 3 mph could send you off into space
-Sing along: Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez vous?, Dormez vous?…
-Arriving just in the NICK of time is a trope of TV police dramas
-An erg is equal to a fly doing one pushup
-ROMERO played LAWFORD’s prospective father-in-law in Ocean’s 11
-I RESTARTED my hearing aids by opening and shutting the battery compartment and VOILA, I can hear!
CUT GEM never occurred to me so I was hung up in the NW. I was in a hurry so I resorted to solving it with red letters on. I love word ladders and getting CUT GEM tipped me off. I didn't think of computers at restart either. I loved the theme and the solve. It was fun, regardless. Off to the dentist.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a challenge when 8 words have to be entirely perped, slogged through for over 33 minutes for a FIR, as far as difficulty it seemed that this puzzle could have had a Friday slot and not a Thursday. Not complaining, just commenting as I tend to like the harder solves. Thanks Bruce for your very creative grid. I never really did see the word ladder or how it connected to CHANGE OF FORTUNE till I had it completed, my last fill the same as Subgenius with CUT GEM. DNK SETH or SHIN and it took me a while to remember Peter LAWFORD was a rat packer, although I remembered the others. And I first had BURN, cuz that’s what I do with leaves here after they TURN and fall. Also thought of cardinal as a religious figure but mitre didn’t fit, then I thought bird and they do sorts have a red hat which I filled correctly, then I saw the baseball hat if the expo, duh, that never occurred to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you MM for another illustrative expo, always look forward to your Thursday write-ups as I know they will be informative and entertaining! Especially liked the pic of them flashy brown wingtips and the golf joke 🤣.
Thank you Bruce for a tricky, but FIRable Thursday word DESCENT from GOAT to HERO. Are you sure you intended ASCEND for 23A?
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you MalMan for an illuminating and informative review. When I got to the reveal at 36A I initially thought that GOAT was Greatest of All Time, something I learned in these grids.
A few favs:
14A SHIN. Thanks for this one MM. You just quadrupled my knowledge of Hebrew letters.
15A RUINS. I friend of mine recently sent me this NATGEO article on the RUINS of Scottish CRANNOGS (artificial islands), which based on dating of Neolithic CERAMICS found at the sites, are now thought be 3000 years older than previous estimates.
27A LEA & Perrins Worcestershire sauce. There's another brand?
65A SOWS. According to the Swine Production and Management Home Study Course "A SOW is a female pig that has already had a litter and a GILT is a female pig that has not had a litter. Therefore, a gilt can be a pregnant animal (up until its first litter)". As COWS are defined as female CATTLE, could the ones who haven't strayed yet are call KILTS?
16D SNEAD. Great dad joke MM. ROTFL! 🤣
29D MAO. Also the name of a condiment used in making sandwiches and salads. Here's a recipe.
49D RED HAT. Actually members of the College of Cardinals DO wear a brimless RED HAT underneath their MITERS called a ZUCHETTO.
61 OLD. Hope I haven't "Overdone it" today.
Cheers,
Bill
65A Cows without having birthed calves are called heifers.
DeleteWord of the Day: piebald
ReplyDeletePronunciation: pai-bawld
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Spotted with at least two colors, calico, multicolored, varicolored. 2. (Derogatory) Motley, blotched or composed of incongruous parts.
Notes: No, this word doesn't mean "bald as a pie"; that's another word. It does come with an adverb used only with adjectives, piebaldly, as 'a straw hat, piebaldly decorated with flowers', and a more frequently used noun, piebaldness. Don't confuse this word with skewbald, associated with animals, spotted in colors other than black.
In Play: This word is preeminently used to describe varicolored animals, especially paint horses: "Mildred loved to ride her piebald pony around the estate every morning." However, as the second sense indicates, it may be used to describe a motley mixture of anything: "Harvey Milquetoast exuded a piebald mixture of hesitancy, willingness, and enthusiasm at the invitation to play Bottom in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'."
See Alpha Dictionary for more info.
ReplyDeleteThanks, D-O. I wouldn't have known the song from when it was released, but I could remember it being played on the country stations for years. My nephew knew the song word by word and would sing it when he was a little one.
I also knew North to Alaska, but today was the first time I've heard Sink the Bismarck.
I also read the Wikipedia article on Johnny Horton. When you said that he was driving from Austin to Shreveport, I wondered where the accident was, and if he was driving on US 79, which would have been the most direct route. Considering it now, I-35 would not have been anywhere near completed in 1960. Sure enough, on 79 near Milano. Been on the roads there many times, but never knew that's where Johnny Horton lost his life.
Lucina, yes, NORI, the seafood often used as a wrap in sushi (learned from doing crosswords).
Waseeley, thanks. I did not know those little red skullcaps were called Zuchettos. I'll probably forget that by tomorrow morning, but at least now I know there's a name for them.
ReplyDeleteOops, seaweed, not seafood.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and MalMan. I FIRed and got the theme (but not until my Aha moment just before I arrived here).
ReplyDeleteHand up for Fall before TURN, Not I before NOR I, needing perps for PAO, SHIN, and those three-in-a-row names (Sinatra would have fit too ).
I wanted Reboot before RESTART.
I still don’t get Masters=ADEPTS (as a noun??). I needed perp to decide the vowel between A,E,O.
Wishing you all a great day.
Learning moment: I LIUed, and Merriam-Webster-Webster says that Adept as a noun means Expert. New one for me.
ReplyDeleteC E @ 10:19
ReplyDeleteAdept definition:
Adjective: Very skilled or accomplished. synonym: proficient.
Noun: A highly skilled person; an expert
In my experience the latter is usually pronounced starting with a long A as in
able or ace or aim.
In all my reading experience I've never come across ADEPT either in that meaning or pronunciation. I only know it as a-DEPT.
ReplyDeleteDental appointment today at noon to finish the crown. January has been a challenging month to my car and to my teeth!
Didn't walk under the word "ladder" so no real bad luck with the puzzle.😁 Couldn't see the words' connection but apparently there is none. Don't see the CHANGE OF FORTUNE in the theme either. IMHO...The word ladder would have been more fun if the words were relatable. (BTW..I believe we have had ADEPT as a noun B 4.)🤔
ReplyDeleteHeld off on opus with perps for "La Commedia Divina" EPIC. Had end instead of VIE cuz I thought the clue was "Complete". Then misread "Robusto! sauce maker" as Robustol. What's Robustol? 🙄
Shoulders on?, no, SOLDIERS ON. Had alef (I think it's aleph) for the dreidel letter. Also Hassan for Syrian leader. (more of an ass-Syrian). "Billiards backspin", English wouldn't fit.
See Me
Thought STROP was a verb. STROP the razor on the barber's strap. . Mom used Gramp's thick old barber strap when she had a mind to whallop me, hanging on the cellar door as a dire warning 🥵..Trouble was it was so heavy she only could manage a couple swings, then give up.🤭
Persevere....INDOOR
Squalid....SEEME
RUINS....MARS
CD jewel cases....DISCLOSURES
One more day then my "remedy for a freeze"...🌴 2 weeks on Sanibel Island, FL😁...with DW's sibs 😲...
Didn't like this one. I'll say its a Shakespearean play, "Much Ado About Nothing".
ReplyDeleteLearning moment: crannogs
ReplyDeleteAnother learning moment: Flies do push ups?
I hate it when I have agonized to FIR only to find I have no idea as to the Theme. "Goat" in this context has no meaning for me, and Google is not being helpful. Is this an Americanism? Perhaps Yellowrocks will help me out.
Also, ladders are difficult enough to use without introducing words...
And, as for change of fortune, I haven't had much luck with that either...
Very impressive ladder layout though, did not see that either...
Thursday puzzles are toughies for me, but this one was still fun--many thanks, Bruce.
ReplyDeleteHelpful commentary, thanks for that too, MalMan.
I started out with all the small ones, like ETS and my favorite, I DO--yes, they are bonding and binding words, aren't they?
I must be getting better with foreign figures: got both Syrian ASSAD and Chinese MAO.
Not only did I get REN, but remembered his partner STIMPY.
Favorite funny clue: one might keep you up: SNORER.
Can't remember ever riding a LIMO, but I must have, surely.
Are those shoes really WINGTIPS, MalMan?
Anyway, fun puzzle experience. Have a great day, everybody.
Puzzling thoughts:
ReplyDelete(or should I start today's with "Full DISCLOSURES")
FIR with a couple of w/o's: MOON/MARS; RED/ROD
Thanks Bruce for the clever puzzle, and thanks MM for all of the entertainment this morning. As others said, I learned four new words in Hebrew today; they'll probably be forgotten by tomorrow! ;^)
One major "nit to pick": ASTI is NOT a brand; it's a region/appellation in Italy. No one (to my knowledge) has branded a sparkling wine "ASTI". Other minor "nits" are not that egregious
It took me awhile to see the ladder form as I also got caught in the "numbers game". GOAT = #1, so what four-letter word would refer to #2?? Hmm. Bruce had his chance with this in 14-Across, but used an N at the end rather than a T; plus, the clue was all wrong. But I digress ... once I knew which letter to change the puzzle (and reveal) solved itself. How clever to be able to go from GOAT to HERO in such a symmetrical pattern?!
Subgenius Glad to help with WAG. You will quickly catch on to the TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms) used here.
ReplyDeleteThis was a brilliant construction and definitely a challenge for me. DRAW/LAWFORD was the final WAG but I also was not 100% confident that it was LEA/SNEAD and not LEE/SNEED. Got both to FIR.
Here is one short video of a delightful GOAT adventure that DW and I had two weeks ago on a local rock formation in our mountains.
DW used to be a GOAT herder and this was such a wonderful opportunity. I am not fond of dogs, but I love GOATs. This woman Laura Dookie has two GOATs Jack and Jeff and loves hiking with them and sharing their love with others.
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeleteTTP, Yellowrocks, Bill Seeley, CanadianEh, Jayce, Jinx, PK, LEO III, AnonT Thank you for the good wishes for DW's father. His name is Merlin like the magician. She was first born and named Merlie.
Word today is that he was able to stand a bit, but wobbly. And he can speak a bit, though difficult to understand. They also sent us a CAT scan image showing a nasty spot in his brain that has been destroyed.
Yes, there indeed is a new drug and technique to reduce damage from a clot type STROKE. But it is infuriating how rarely this is used. The medical profession is still back in the time of Aristotle where the seat of consciousness and cognition is in the heart. Brains are disposable. They don't seem to get it that you have to do this treatment immediately.
I made the parallel: Someone is falling from a tall building. You want to catch them in a net. The net is of no value once the person has hit the ground.
The damaged tissue will never heal. The only "recovery" is using neural plasticity to retrain other brain regions to take over partial function. Very frustrating.
Yes, increased risk of STROKE is indeed a risk factor from COVID. The biggest risk factor in this case may be the fact that the hospitals are overloaded with people doing stupid things and getting COVID. Meaning that it took a full day before he even got the CAT scan. But, in all honesty, I put him in the category of those causing the problem, as I mentioned yesterday.
Bill Seeley, Wilbur Charles, CanadianEh Thanks for the further comments on RECKLESS DRIVER, my "DRAB" shirts and my NICE EAU photo. The French get so much bad press and I really wanted to give positive credit to the French for offering free drinking water in every town square.
From Sunday:
RayOSunshine Thanks for the learning moment about CYNDI LAUPER and her SHE BOP song! Fascinating that this double meaning led to the entire rating system for music. Yet we now have "musicians" like CARDI B using language that would make a sailor blush!
Bruce clearly is very good at this constructing game, quite adept, though in our modern world this felt like an extruded version of WORDL.
ReplyDeleteIs seaweed animal or vegetable? THE ANSWER .
Hahtoolah and MalMan, thanking you for sharing your dreidel knowledge on this Holocaust Remebrance Day when we also remember all the Christian Clergy, the gypsies, the lame, the mentally challenged and otherwised damaged who were also systematically killed by an evil that is still frightening to Jews. As Bill G. would say, watch how you go.
Ray, welcome to sunshine and balmy weather. Low Saturday night / Sunday morning will be 37 F in Sanibel. Also, I see your confustion with STROP. I knew it from the famous song by the Supremes, "STROP! In The Name Of Love". As the old saying goes, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me."
ReplyDeleteSo an ERG isn't very much energy. But the 300,000,000 x 300,000,000 ergs in Einstein's Theory are HEAPS of energy. Those can create a lot of RUINS.
C-Moe, from Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete"Asti it the center of production for the sparkling Asti (DOCG), often known as Asti Spumante. Asti is typically sweet and low alcohol (often below 8%)." FYI
Like others, figured out is was a word ladder, but never got the theme. All correct except 4D, CUxxEM. A good change of pace, without being over the top.
ReplyDeleteFor those who are wondering, a word ladder takes a word and changes it in a set pattern to a word of the opposite meaning The goat has a change of fortune to become the hero. The pattern is that the letter order is not changed, but one letter at a time is changed for a different one..
ReplyDeletegoa(t)
goa(d)
(l)oad
lo(r)d
l(a)rd
(h)ard
h(e)rd
her(o)
The intervening words have no significance other than their letters.
ADEPT- I pronounce the noun and the adjective the same way. See dictionary.ˈadept,əˈdept
Either short a with accent on the first syllable (like add), usually for the noun, or schwa with accent on the second syllable for the adjective. The noun is mostly used in writing rather than speaking.
ReplyDeleteCross Eyed Dave, most often, sports slang. For example in team sports, GOAT was traditionally the slang term that might be given to a player that caused a team to lose a game.
Later, Muhammad Ali redefined the word as an initialism for Greatest Of All Time. But in today's puzzle, it is used in the more derogatory sense.
R.O.S., I never know when you are being serious or if you are still kidding. So if you were kidding, ignore this.
You might read about Word Ladder on Wikipedia to understand the concept. They've been around for a long time. Lewis Carroll invented the game. The "in-between" words don't have to tie to the beginning and ending words. And they normally don't, but there is always some kind of relationship between the first and last words.
Suppose it was a baseball doubleheader. In game 1, the shortstop had a throwing error and the team lost the game because of his error. He was the GOAT. In game 2, the same shortstop he hit the game winning home run. He was the HERO.
That's a CHANGE OF FORTUNE. The player went (figuratively speaking) from the doghouse to the penthouse.
In this Word Ladder crossword puzzle, how does Bruce get a GOAT to become a HERO ? By changing one letter at a time.
I did some poking around in the archives. It may be that the most recent Word Ladder we had before this one was on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 by Bruce Haight that Hahtoolah blogged. In that one, the starting word was Bread and the ending word was TOAST. Bruce took us from bread to toast by only changing one letter at a time:
1-Across. * Dough (and start of a word ladder): BREAD.
15-Across. * Bit of luck: BREAK.
16-Across. * Dismal: BLEAK.
22-Across. * Sheepish remark?: BLEAT.
57-Across. * Made holy: BLEST.
64-Across. * Fabulous time: BLAST.
66-Across. * Dispense with modesty: BOAST.
71-Across. * Doomed, slangily (and end of the ladder): TOAST.
And the unifier:
37-Across. Apt description of the sequence suggested by the answers to starred clues?: FOOD CHAIN.
YR...appreciate your explanations of the ladder's progression. I didn't initially see GOAT and HERO as opposites. (Don't remember the BREAD to TOAST ladder.) Of course I'll forget all this in a day or two.
ReplyDeleteBefore my Gramp caught on to safety razors When I was a tyke I was fascinated watching him strop then shave slowly and meticulously with a straight razor.
Jinx...AWARE of the frosty nighttime Sanibel lows in the 30's forecast for next Thursday but highs will be in the low 70's for most of the 2 weeks. Don't Jinx it...😉
Right now it's 1 degree F in downtown Utica😱
TTP - Thanks for the explanation for CHANGE OF FORTUNE. Makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteLemony - BLEST? I would have hated that one. Don't remember it, but I've only fairly recently been trying Saturday puzzles, so that might explain it. Could also be my minuscule memory for trivial stuff.
ReplyDeleteROS, you are welcome and glad you now understand why the theme makes sense.
BTW, I looked for your comments on the BREAD to TOAST puzzle and you wrote that you didn't understand that one either, so I thought a bit of a more detailed explanation might help. For the next time one is published here...
And here I put in goat for the first clue because I thought it referred to "greatest of all time" which would be #1.
ReplyDeleteDespite the lack of diagonals--and the weird word ladder--Mr. Venzke's PZL was fun to do.
ReplyDeleteBut even after completing it, I failed to see the word ladder from start to finish. I had to turn to MalM's Corner write-up to read the ladder from GOAT through to HERO. For some unknown reason, I only read the theme fills in pairs: GOAT to GOAD (?), LOAD to LORD, LARD to HARD, and HERD to HERO.
My parallel-track brain didn't make the 8-track connection on its own.
The Peanuts cartoon helped me to un-think the contemporary usage of GOAT.
On another track altogether, I wonder who will be the GOAT and who the HERO of Sunday's championship game, 49ers vs Rams?!
~ OMK
"Not ricey or wheaty." Nor Nut(t)y. I could see soeur wasn't going to work. Maman was another possibility
ReplyDeleteJust enough LHF* to provide perps. 35 minutes online.
Like yesterday with ARAFAT I had trouble dredging up ASSAD
DISCLOSURES not disclaimers(Hi Lucina- and… Nori was a Dwarf; his brothers? Ori and Dori
It should have been Rabbi Hogan. I recall betting a nickel with my brother on 53/54 Masters. I liked the name SNEAD. I lost.
During WWII a group of GIs were visiting the Pope. One of them mentioned that he was a Cardinal. Stan Musial . Pope was impressed.
EXE not Nee. I don't get the Drac joke
I had to erase perseveres/SOLDIERS ON
Saw the ladder but missed Change of fortune
Any of you gals out there RED HATs?
Nice job maloman and Bruce
WC
** Low Hanging Fruit. Not in glossary yet
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteTough puzzle, Bruce but I (nearly) got 'er done. Unfortunately, a FIWx2 [LAnFORD & NOtI (39d)] for me. Regardless, a good bit of fun to brighten up a most boring meeting.
Theme: Hand-up: #1 = Greatest Of All Time made perfect sense. So, #2 must be 'runner-up'?, 'bronze'?, 'turd', or 'poop'?
Then, with 36a filled - could the CHANGE be from GOAT to HEel / Great to maligned?
What I'm saying is: figuring out it was a word-ladder took a bit of time.
Thanks for the expo, MManatee. I enjoyed the Hot ROD song and your vampire quip.
WO: poOr [sic - wrong one!] == sweat spot
ESPs: SHIN, SETH, and most of the #x clues
Fav: I enjoyed the phrase 'IN A SPOT'
I have no idea how I recalled (nor where I learned of) CESAR ROMERO.
REDHAT? That's a Linux distro...
{B+}
Lucina - I know I've seen a word-ladder in the LAT before; that's how I learned about them. Oooh, see TTP @1:41
Misty - yes, those are really wingtips shoes.
Ray-O: Nice SEE ME link.
Back to work. Cheers, -T
Well, when I first looked at this puzzle early, early this morning, I thought NO WAY! Worked on it for a little while, and then I went to bed. Surprisingly, when I picked it up again after breakfast, I managed to FIR in rather good time, at least for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bruce and MalMan! I really enjoyed it (since I don’t often complete Thursday, or later in the week, puzzles.)
Filling in the long clues rather quickly helped immensely, as did the absence of a bunch of unknown names. I didn’t know SHIN, SETH, ROES, FRETE or REN, but perps got them for me. Yes, I also saw that we were going from GOAT to HERO.
MASTERS/ADEPTS – I kinda thought we were dealing with VERBS here, but I couldn’t find anything online to support that explanation.
My not knowing anything about wine made ASTI a gimme.
Yes, there are other brands of Worcestershire (Heinz and French’s, among others), but I’ve never used anything but L&P.
I liked this puzzle. Since, like many of you, I took GOAT, clued as #1, to be the greatest, I couldn't stop expecting the last word in the ladder to be ZERO, as in "nothing."
ReplyDeleteExcellent write-up and comments from you all.
TTP..Thanks for your detailed explanation of the word ladder..Believe it or not going back and reading comments now after a hectic day I just realized ROS was me...🙄
ReplyDeleteI'm in the minority but enjoyed puzzles with a hidden phrase or quote. Haven't seen one in A Dog's Age, eons or even æons...assume extinct or banned by the CW police 👮♂️. Maybe "Rich" don' like 'em..😳
Anon t...One of my fav songs from one of my fav productions "Tommy"
ReplyDeleteThank you Bruce Venzke for a challenging puzzle, with a word ladder theme. I got the idea of a 'word ladder' early on, but didn't know the followups, without hints.
I also have a bunch of toys called the 'Jacob's Ladder', the concept of which keeps me and my grandkids amused. The ladder keeps falling, and falling and fallin' ...
Thank you MalMan for an interesting review.
Late to post because of car problems - my car battery died. Had to rush to the dealer, but fortunately the alternator was in good shape.
Its all this darned snow and wind chill thats reducing the battery power.
All set now.
Have a nice evening, you all, and a nice day tomorraw.
Waseeley @ 10:00 --
ReplyDeleteYes, I've seen Heinz 57 what's-this-here sauce, but rarely and not recently.
It's interesting to note how many prehistoric sites are elevated; it's almost as if they were defensive structures, originally built tp be hard to get to. Mean sea level was around 20+ meters lower in that era.