About room #109
- Ladder
- CUBE → CAGE
- Word length
- 4
- Par (fewest steps)
- 3
- Letters that differ
- 2
Room #109 climbs from CUBE to CAGE. Of their 4 letters, 2 differ (positions 2, 3); each of those needs a rung of its own, so the shortest imaginable ladder has 2 rungs — par here is 3.
So 1 rung is a sidestep: somewhere a correct letter gets spoiled for a moment, or a letter from neither word is borrowed.
Try changing the vowel first; short words tolerate vowel swaps well.
Four-letter words and short ladders of three or four steps.
Stuck? Open a hint
Hint: the first step
Change letter 3 to R: CURE.
Show one shortest ladder
CUBE → CURE → CARE → CAGE
Rules of Word Ladder · One letter at a time: planning ladders and guesses