Wizard Woods
by Asher Walkover
Answer: BUREAU
The wizards of Wizard Woods have been working on transfiguration spells lately, which change one word into another through a word ladder process. Six sets of ladder tracks can be found in the woods, winding through a series of clearings—these represent some past word ladder transfigurations that have been conducted. Each clearing's text clues that clearing's items. Solve the clues to determine the items. Then you can determine the word ladders that join them.
The six ladder tracks (in no particular order, and equally valid in reverse):
Beverage, east to Bird Part, north to Jewelry, southeast to Fruit Waste, northeast to Animal, southeast to Unit Of Length
WINE → WING → RING → RIND → HIND → HAND
Unit Of Length, southwest to Animal, west to Fish, northwest to Actor Rehearsing, south to Clothing, west to Color
MILE → MOLE → SOLE → ROLE → ROBE → ROSE
Color, west to Tree, northwest to Bird Part, east to Jewelry, north to Animal, north to Beverage, north to Crop
TEAL → TEAK → BEAK → BEAD → BEAR → BEER → BEET
Thin Dough, west to Animal, northwest to Fish, south to Tree, south to Color, southeast to Jewelry, east to Fish
PITA → PIKA → PIKE → PINE → PINK → LINK → LING
Clothing, east to Unit Of Length, north to Thin Dough, northeast to Actor Rehearsing, west to Company, northwest to Crop
KILT → KILO → FILO → FILM → FIRM → FARM
Fish, north to Company, west to Fruit Waste, southeast to Crop, west to Thin Dough, southeast to Clothing
CARP → CORP → CORE → CORN → COIN → COIF
These complete ladders let us understand each transformation that happens in the forest—the single letter change associated with each pathway (and whose reversal would be associated with going the other way along that path).
We can now help the six wizards we met in the woods in performing their transformations, by constructing paths that make word ladders. The wizards are described with words that start with the letters A through F, giving an ordering. The sequence of directions that needs to be walked to complete these transformations form letter shapes.
Apprentice Wizard (starts at Company): RANK into some rice wine
RANK (east, R → L) LANK (south, L → B) BANK (west, B → S) SANK (north, K → E) SANE (north, N → K) SAKE
Bespectacled Wizard (starts at Beverage): MEWS into female farm animals
MEWS (south, E → A) MAWS (west, M → S) SAWS (north, A → O) SOWS
Chilly Wizard (starts at Actor Rehearsing): COLD into a joker
COLD (west, L → R) CORD (south, O → A) CARD
Daft Wizard (starts at Crop): TINS into Eminem songs
TINS (northwest, N → E) TIES (east, E → P) TIPS (northwest, I → A) TAPS (south, T → R) RAPS
Elder Wizard (starts at Clothing): RAFT into foreign currency.
RAFT (northwest, F → N) RANT (west, T → K) RANK (south, R → D) DANK (east, K → G) DANG (north, A → O) DONG
Fledgling Wizard (starts at Animal): WARE into a gardening tool.
WARE (south, R → D) WADE (west, D → K) WAKE (north, W → R) RAKE
The six paths travelled through the woods for the wizards to complete their spells all have the shapes of lower-case letters, spelling BUREAU.
The complete set of paths in the woods, with their corresponding letter transformation:
Bird Part | north | Jewelry | wing→ring | w→r |
east | Jewelry | beak→bead | k→d | |
southeast | Tree | beak→teak | b→t | |
west | Alcoholic Beverage | wing→wine | g→e | |
Fruit Waste | northeast | Animal | rind→hind | r→h |
east | Company | core→corp | e→p | |
southeast | Crop | core→corn | e→n | |
northwest | Jewelry | rind→ring | d→g | |
Company | east | Actor Rehearsing | firm→film | r→l |
south | Fish | corp→carp | o→a | |
west | Fruit Waste | corp→core | p→e | |
northwest | Crop | firm→farm | i→a | |
Tree | north | Fish | pine→pike | n→k |
east | Color | teak→teal | k→l | |
south | Color | pine→pink | e→k | |
northwest | Bird Part | teak→beak | t→b | |
Color | north | Tree | pink→pine | k→e |
east | Article Of Clothing | rose→robe | s→b | |
southeast | Jewelry | pink→link | p→l | |
west | Tree | teal→teak | l→k | |
Article Of Clothing | north | Actor Rehearsing | robe→role | b→l |
east | Unit Of Length | kilt→kilo | t→o | |
west | Color | robe→rose | b→s | |
northwest | Thin Bit Of Dough | coif→coin | f→n | |
Thin Bit Of Dough | northeast | Actor Rehearsing | filo→film | o→m |
east | Crop | coin→corn | i→r | |
southeast | Article Of Clothing | coin→coif | n→f | |
south | Unit Of Length | filo→kilo | f→k | |
west | Animal | pita→pika | t→k | |
Fish | north | Company | carp→corp | a→o |
east | Animal | sole→mole | s→m | |
southeast | Animal | pike→pika | e→a | |
south | Tree | pike→pine | k→n | |
west | Jewelry | ling→link | g→k | |
northwest | Actor Rehearsing | sole→role | s→r | |
Alcoholic Beverage | north | Crop | beer→beet | r→t |
east | Bird Part | wine→wing | e→g | |
south | Animal | beer→bear | e→a | |
Unit Of Length | north | Thin Bit Of Dough | kilo→filo | k→f |
southwest | Animal | mile→mole | i→o | |
west | Article Of Clothing | kilo→kilt | o→t | |
northwest | Animal | hand→hind | a→i | |
Jewelry | north | Animal | bead→bear | d→r |
east | Fish | link→ling | k→g | |
southeast | Fruit Waste | ring→rind | g→d | |
south | Bird Part | ring→wing | r→w | |
west | Bird Part | bead→beak | d→k | |
northwest | Color | link→pink | l→p | |
Actor Rehearsing | southeast | Fish | role→sole | r→s |
south | Article Of Clothing | role→robe | l→b | |
southwest | Thin Bit Of Dough | film→filo | m→o | |
west | Company | film→firm | l→r | |
Crop | southeast | Company | farm→firm | a→i |
south | Alcoholic Beverage | beet→beer | t→r | |
west | Thin Bit Of Dough | corn→coin | r→i | |
northwest | Fruit Waste | corn→core | n→e | |
Animal | north | Alcoholic Beverage | bear→beer | a→e |
northeast | Unit Of Length | mole→mile | o→i | |
east | Thin Bit Of Dough | pika→pita | k→t | |
southeast | Unit Of Length | hind→hand | i→a | |
south | Jewelry | bear→bead | r→d | |
southwest | Fruit Waste | hind→rind | h→r | |
west | Fish | mole→sole | m→s | |
northwest | Fish | pika→pike | a→e |