RUNG ANSWERS II
Credit: GAMES Magazine - Aug. 1995
Stephen Sniderman

Each set of blanks below represents a word ladder. The first rung and the last rung in each puzzle are opposites (such as MORE and LESS) or words commonly associated with each other in some other way (like HOPE and PRAY). Each word in the ladder is the result of changing a single letter in the preceding word without re-arranging the letters. As a solving aid, each word in the ladder appears intact in a longer word whose extra letters have been provided. Can you figure out the first and last words and fill in all the rung answers?

1)
        _ _ _ _
     P _ _ _ _ CUTE
PET _ _ _ _ UM
        _ _ _ _ CULE
     S_ _ _ _ N
 EX _ _ _ _ ING
ME _ _ _ _ IC
       _ _ _ _

2)
       _ _ _ _
       _ _ _ _ SCREW
       _ _ _ _ IES
    S _ _ _ _ ER
CY _ _ _ _ RON
    S _ _ _ _ CHY
EM _ _ _ _ EE
       _ _ _ _

3)
          _ _ _ _  _
          _ _ _ _ _ RIGHT
    EF _ _ _ _ _
  DIS _ _ _ _ _
         _ _ _ _ _ IES
         _ _ _ _ _ PICK
FOR _ _ _ _ _
         _ _ _ _ _

Answers:

1)
      RISE
    pROSEcute
 petROLEum
     MOLEcule
    sTOLEn
  exTOLLing
meTALLic
     FALL

2)
     WORK 
     CORKscrew
     COOKies
   sCOOTer
 cyCLOTron
    sPLOTchy
emPLOYee
     PLAY 

3)
      NORTH
      FORTHright
   efFORTS
disTORTS
     TOOTSies
     TOOTHpick
forSOOTH
     SOUTH