Snakes and Ladders

Question

Things are getting a bit puzzly...

Reveal the Ladder and solve the clues to form a Word Ladder.

Find the word that fits in the clue “???”.

One fake clue is here to ruin your day [laughs wickedly]

$\color{white}{\textsf{3}}$S$\color{white}{\textsf{1}}$N$\color{white}{\textsf{T}}$A$\color{white}{\textsf{a}}$K$\color{white}{\textsf{9}}$E$\color{white}{\textsf{6}}$S$\color{white}{\textsf{Z}}$

Note:

All words are of the same length and the altered letter in each round is different.

Hint:

All clues are given with the correct form/ tense as the intended answer

_{This puzzle is a part of Ooohh, it all makes sense now! :D}

I don't know word ladders. They're one letter different at each step? Does that include the three operations, ADD, REMOVE, CHANGE? (Yes I have the clues) — LeppyR64, Jun 28 '19 at 02:40
@LeppyR64 I think it's "change" only, since the note says all words are the same length. — Jafe, Jun 28 '19 at 02:52

score 7 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 28 '19 at 05:40

7

Partial Answer:

The fake clue is:

SNAKES - It's actually 3S1NTAaK9E6SZ

bit puzzly...

bit.ly\31Ta96Z

Clues:

"???" - This is the answer

LEAD

"a pod of seeds"

bean

"ask for permission or help"

seek? plea?

"gave them instructions or information"

load

"route"

road

"study for a specialised qualification"

?

"unpleasant man"

toad

"visited, travelled"

been

"with little fat"

lean

edited Jun 28 '19 at 05:40

JMP

35,612
7
78
151

answered Jun 28 '19 at 03:20

LeppyR64

13,501
2
48
68

I think the one you are missing is simply READ. – Sid Jun 28 '19 at 05:18
congrats on the steganography part! yet the fake clue is in the ladder. keep it up! – Omega Krypton Jun 29 '19 at 09:40

SeaMonkey · Answer 2 · 2019-07-03T09:29:35.107

3

To build on @LeppyR64's answer...

BEEN Visited, travelled.
BEAN A pod of seeds.
LEAN With little fat.
LEAD - Fake clue (Ask for permission or help).
READ Study for specialised qualification.
ROAD Route.
TOAD Unpleasant man.
TOLD Gave them instructions or information.

edited Jul 03 '19 at 09:29

answered Jul 02 '19 at 17:22

SeaMonkey

182
1
5

which clue does each word refer to? – Omega Krypton Jul 02 '19 at 23:19

JS1 · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-04T09:37:15.777

3

The word is LEAD.

LeppyR64 found the secret ladder using bit.ly\31Ta96Z.
SeaMonkey basically solved the ladder, but did not deal with the ??? And fake clue.

Given the comment that the fake clue does not lead to word, here is the ladder and explanation I arrived at:

BEEN - visited, travelled
BEAN - a pod of seeds
LEAN - with little fat
LEAD - ??? (the answer)
READ - study for a specialized qualification
ROAD - route
TOAD - unpleasant man
TOLD - gave them instructions or information

Fake clue = ask for permission or help

edited Jul 04 '19 at 09:37

answered Jul 03 '19 at 22:57

JS1

17,874
3
52
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fake clue means a clue that does not lead to a word, not one that leads to a wrong word. – Omega Krypton Jul 03 '19 at 23:11
in other words no BEAD. keep it up! – Omega Krypton Jul 03 '19 at 23:11
@OmegaKrypton Do I need to use all the words in the ladder? For example I can get from word #1 to word #5 in my answer already, if I can discard three words. – JS1 Jul 03 '19 at 23:36
yes, all including ??? and except one fake clue – Omega Krypton Jul 03 '19 at 23:46
@OmegaKrypton Is this now correct? – JS1 Jul 04 '19 at 09:37
yep, well done! will accept later ;) – Omega Krypton Jul 05 '19 at 06:54
@LeppyR64 you basically solved this one. Out of interest, you gave the answer '??? = LEAD', how did you get it without building the ladder? – SeaMonkey Jul 05 '19 at 08:15
1

@seamonkey it followed the theme of the other answers in the metapuzzle – LeppyR64 Jul 05 '19 at 14:07

Snakes and Ladders

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