FILL 'ER UP IV
Credit: GAMES Magazine
June, 1998
Stephen Sniderman

Each word below can be expanded into a new one by inserting two or three letters. That expanded word can be expanded yet again into another new word by inserting two or three more letters. The letter pairs and trios are shown below, and each one will be used only once. They may be inserted anywhere in the shorter words, but the letters stay together and in the same order.

For example, given the clue

STY     S _ _ _ Y      S _ _ _ _ _ _ Y,

and the letter choices RA and TEG were listed, the answer words would be

STY     STRAY       STRATEGY    (stRAy - straTEGy) -

the letters RA being inserted in STY forming STRAY, and the letters TEG being inserted in STRAY forming STRATEGY.

Puzzle 1
1. OR       O _ _ _ R        O _ _ _ _ _ R
2. SUE     S _ _ _ E         S _ _ _ _ _ _ E
3. CAR    C _ _ _ _ R     C _ _ _ _ _ _ R
4. SUM    S _ _ _ M       S _ _ _ _ _ _ M

BME   ELL   FFE   IC
PEC    RG     TR     UL

Answers:

1. oFFEr - offICer
2. suRGe - suBMErge
3. cELLar - cellULar
4. sTRum - sPECtrum 

Puzzle 2
1. BET      B _ _ _ T          B_ _ _ _ _ T
2. VIA      V _ _ _ A          V _ _ _ _ _ A
3. TALE    T _ _ _ _ E       T _ _ _ _ _ _ E
4. REST    R _ _ _ _ T       R _ _ _ _ _ _ T
5. FORT    F _ _ _ _ T        F _ _ _ _ _ _ T
6. FLIES   F _ _ _ _ _ S     F _ _ _ _ _ _ _ S

AN   CA    CL   EN    ES   FI
ID     LL    NE   NG   OL   RI

Answers:

1. beFIt - bENefit
2. viLLa - vANilla
3. taNGle - tRIangle
4. resENt - resIDent
5. forESt - foreCAst
6. fOLlies - folliCLes