About room #309
- Ladder
- CLOSE → STALE
- Word length
- 5
- Par (fewest steps)
- 6
- Letters that differ
- 4
Room #309 climbs from CLOSE to STALE. Of their 5 letters, 4 differ (positions 1, 2, 3, 4); each of those needs a rung of its own, so the shortest imaginable ladder has 4 rungs — par here is 6.
So 2 rungs are sidesteps: somewhere a correct letter gets spoiled for a moment, or a letter from neither word is borrowed.
Five-letter words have few neighbours, so plan the last rungs first: which words could sit just below the target?
Five-letter words and ladders of six to nine steps.
Stuck? Open a hint
Hint: the first step
Change letter 2 to H: CHOSE.
Show one shortest ladder
CLOSE → CHOSE → WHOSE → WHOLE → WHALE → SHALE → STALE
Rules of Word Ladder · One letter at a time: planning ladders and guesses