Word ladder answers for September 29, 2026
The daily ladder for Tuesday, September 29, 2026 had 5 puzzles. The quickest was DUETS to DUCES, solvable in 2 steps, and the longest was CONGO to DARNS, which needs at least 6.
Each solution below is hidden until you open it, so you can try the puzzle first. A shortest solution is shown for every puzzle; many ladders have more than one path of the same length, so yours may differ and still be optimal.
Puzzle 1: DUETS to DUCES
Show the solution
- E becomes C
- T becomes E
Words in this ladder
- DUETS noun
- two items of the same kind
- DUCTS noun
- a bodily passage or tube lined with epithelial cells and conveying a secretion or other substance
- DUCES noun
- leader
Puzzle 2: PRIM to TRAP
Show the solution
- P becomes T
- M becomes P
- I becomes A
Words in this ladder
- PRIM verb
- assume a prim appearance
- TRIM noun
- a state of arrangement or appearance
- TRIP noun
- a journey for some purpose (usually including the return)
- TRAP noun
- a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned
Puzzle 3: SIEVES to MINTERS
Show the solution
- V becomes G
- E becomes N
- add R
- G becomes T
- S becomes M
Words in this ladder
- SIEVES noun
- a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles
- SIEGES noun
- the action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place and isolates it while continuing to attack
- SINGES noun
- a surface burn
- SINGERS noun
- a person who sings
- SINTERS verb
- cause (ores or powdery metals) to become a coherent mass by heating without melting
- MINTERS noun
- a skilled worker who coins or stamps money
Puzzle 4: LIENS to SINGES
Show the solution
- E becomes M
- N becomes E
- M becomes N
- L becomes S
- add G
Words in this ladder
- LIENS noun
- the right to take another's property if an obligation is not discharged
- LIMNS verb
- trace the shape of
- LIMES noun
- a caustic substance produced by heating limestone
- LINES noun
- a formation of people or things one beside another
- SINES noun
- ratio of the length of the side opposite the given angle to the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle
- SINGES noun
- a surface burn
Puzzle 5: CONGO to DARNS
Show the solution
- C becomes B
- O becomes S
- G becomes N
- N becomes R
- O becomes A
- B becomes D
Words in this ladder
- CONGO noun
- a republic in central Africa; achieved independence from Belgium in 1960
- BONGO noun
- a small drum; played with the hands
- BONGS noun
- a dull resonant sound as of a bell
- BONNS noun
- a city in western Germany on the Rhine River; was the capital of West Germany between 1949 and 1989
- BORNS noun
- British nuclear physicist (born in Germany) honored for his contributions to quantum mechanics (1882-1970)
- BARNS noun
- an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals
- DARNS noun
- something of little value
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