RUNG ANSWERS III
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)
             _ _ _ _
  CROS_ _ _ _ N
            _ _ _ _ ARD
      SY _ _ _ _ ATIC
     UN _ _ _ _ LY
      IN _ _ _ _
           _ _ _ _ ANT
BEST _ _ _ _ ER
           _ _ _ _

2)
             _ _ _ _
             _ _ _ _ ROOM
             _ _ _ _ ARD
 THER _ _ _ _ AT
         A _ _ _ _ LE
    PUR _ _ _ _
    TAD _ _ _ _
             _ _ _ _ UTE
             _ _ _ _

3)
              _ _ _ _
        AF _ _ _ _
AFORE _ _ _ _
  LAND _ _ _ _ E
        MI _ _ _ _
     CRE _ _ _ _
              _ _ _ _ DY
    SIDE _ _ _ _
              _ _ _ _

Answers:

1)
        SHOW
crosSTOWn
       STEWard
    sySTEMatic
   unSEEMly
    inSEAM
       SEALant
bestSELLer
      TELL 

2)
        PUSH
       MUSHroom
       MUSTard
therMOSTat
      aPOSTle
  purPOSE
   tadPOLE
        POLLute
        PULL

3)
          RAIN
       afRAID
  aforeSAID
   landSLIDe
      miSLED
     craSHED
          SHODdy 
   sideSHOW
          SNOW