RUNG ANSWERS IV
Credit: GAMES Magagzine - Aug. 1995
Stephen Sniderman

Each set of blanks below represents a word ladder. The first rung and the last rung of 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)
        _ _ _
    G _ _ _ ESS
STR _ _ _ LE
 ME _ _ _ ER
   PL _ _ _
   PE _ _ _ OT
SAC _ _ _
          _ _ _ ORA
CUR _ _ _
         _ _ _

2)
              _ _ _ _
           F _ _ _ _ ANCE
       UN _ _ _ _ ING
     BED _ _ _ _ OW
HEART _ _ _ _
           S _ _ _ _ ER
              _ _ _ _ REAT
        TA _ _ _ _
              _ _ _ _ SHIFT
              _ _ _ _

3)
          _ _ _ _
 CAP _ _ _ _
 TER _ _ _ _
      S _ _ _ _ SUIT
   AP _ _ _ _ NT
   RE _ _ _ _ EE
RAP _ _ _ _
DRO _ _ _ _
 POT _ _ _ _ RI
         _ _ _ _

Answers: 

1)
       OLD
     gODDess
  strADDle
 meANDer
   plAID
  peRIDot
 sacRED
      FEDora
curFEW
     NEW 

2)
         REAL
        fREELance
     unFEELing
heartFELT
       sMELTer
         MALTreat
      taMALE
         MAKEshift
         FAKE 

3)
       RICH
 capRICE
  terRACE
     sPACEsuit
  apPAREnt
   rePARTee
rapPORT
droPOUT
potPOURri
     POOR