Solutions

The order of the words in a doublet is irrelevant, as a chain in reverse is also a chain. The words used in my solutions are listed in the OALDCE or are directly derived from words there by forming plurals and regular verb forms.

For solutions that are not my own, the author of the solution is given. Solutions from ladders, a program in the Stanford Graph Base, are marked SGB.

Vanity Fair problems:

1.   pig - sty, 4: pin, pan, pay, say
2.   four - five, 10: foul, fool, food, fond, find, fine
3.   wheat - bread, 5: [SGB] cheat, cleat, bleat, bleak, break [previous one: cheat, chest, crest, cress, tress, trees, treed, tread]
4.   pen - ink, 4: ten, ton, ion, inn
5.   chin - nose, 7: coin, loin, loon, loot, lost, rost, rose
6.   smile - tears, 5: [SGB] stile, stale, stare, stars, sears [previous one: smite, spite, spire, spare, spark, spank, spans, spats, seats, seals, sears]
7.   wet - dry, 5: set, sat, say, way, wry
8.   hare - soup, 7: care, core, corn, coin, coil, soil, soul
9.   pitch - tents, 5: [SGB] pinch, winch, wench, tench, tenth [previous one: pinch, punch, bunch, bench, tench, tenth]
10.   eye - lid, 2: lye, lie
11.   pity - good, 8: pits, bits, bins, bind, bond, bold, fold, food
12.   steal - coins, 7: [SGB] stead, steed, stied, sties, shies, shins, chins [previous one: steak, speak, speck, spick, spice, slice, slime, slims, slits, slots, blots, boots, coots, cools, coils]
13.   eel - pie, 4: gel, get, pet, pit
14.   poor - rich, 7: moor, mood, mold, mild, mile, mice, rice
15.   raven - miser, 3: [SGB] raver, river, riser [previous one: raves, caves, canes, lanes, lines, mines, miner]
16.   oat - rye, 7: sat, sit, sin, tin, tie, lie, lye
17.   wood - tree, 9: good, goad, glad, clad, claw, flaw, flew, flee, free
18.   grass - green, 6: [SGB] crass, cress, tress, trees, treed, greed [previous one: gross, cross, cress, crews, brews, brows, grows, grown, groan, groat, great, greet]
19.   man - ape, 7: mad, had, hid, him, aim, arm, are
20.   Cain - Abel, 6: gain, grin, grid, arid, abid, abed
21.   flour - bread, 5: [SGB] floor, flood, blood, brood, broad [previous one: floor, flood, blood, blond, blend, bleed, breed]
22.   tea - hot, 4: sea, set, sit, hit
23.   comb - hair, 8: come, some, same, lame, lane, land, laid, lair
24.   rogue - beast, 10: vogue, vague, value, valve, halve, helve, heave, leave, lease, least
25.   elm - oak, 9: elk, ilk, ink, inn, ion, ton, tan, tat, oat
26.   army - navy, 10: arms, aims, aids, bids, bide, tide, time, tame, name, nave
27.   bears - shelf, 7: [SGB] sears, seams, shams, shame, shale, shall, shell [previous one: beats, beams, seams, shams, shame, shale, shall, shell]
28.   hook - fish, 6: look, loot, lost, last, fast, fist
29.   quell - bravo, 10: quill, quilt, guilt, guile, guide, glide, glade, grade, grave, brave
30.   furies - barrel, 5: buries, buried, burned, burred, barred
31.   buy - ass, 9: bud, bid, aid, aim, arm, are, ale, alp, asp
32.   coal - mine, 6: coat, cost, cast, mast, mist, mint
33.   costs - pence, 7: [SGB] coots, clots, plots, plats, plate, place, peace [previous one: coats, boats, brats, brays, prays, plays, plans, plane, place, peace]
34.   one - two, 9: ode, odd, add, aid, lid, lie, tie, toe, too
35.   blue - pink, 10: glue, glut, gout, bout, bolt, bold, wold, wild, wind, wink
36.   black - white, 8: slack, shack, shark, share, shore, shone, shine, whine
37.   fish - bird, 6: fist, list, lint, hint, hind, bind
38.   shoes - crust, 6: [SGB] shops, chops, crops, cross, cress, crest [previous one: shows, slows, blows, brows, brews, crews, cress, crest]
39.   kettle - holder, 12: settle, settee, setter, better, batter, fatter, falter, filter, filler, miller, milder, molder

Other problems:

1.   two - six, 4: [sent by Diogo Bastos, 2004.03.25] tod, ton, son, sin [previous one: too, woo, won, win, sin]
2.   six - ten, 2: sin, tin
3.   zero - four, 8: hero, herd, held, hold, hood, food, fool, foul
4.   five - nine, 1: fine(!)
5.   three - seven, 9: [SGB] threw, shrew, shred, shoed, shoer, shyer, sayer, saver, sever [previous one: threw, shrew, shred, sired, fired, fared, cared, cares, caves, saves, saver, sever]
6.   forty - fifty, 3: [SGB] forth, firth, fifth
7.   fifty - sixty, 5: [SGB] nifty, nitty, kitty, kilty, silty

Other information available includes some computer tools that can help in solving these problems.