Doublets was the name given by Lewis Carroll to a word puzzle of his own invention. It made its first appearance in 1879, in the pages of a magazine called Vanity Fair, and it has been a popular form of Word Puzzle ever since. I will let Lewis Carroll describe the puzzle in his own words:
"The rules of the Puzzle are simple enough. Two words are proposed, of the same length; and the Puzzle consists in linking these together by interposing other words, each of which shall differ from the next word in one letter only. That is to say, one letter may be changed in one of the given words, then one letter in the word so obtained, and so on, till we arrive at the other given word. The letters must not be interchanged among themselves, but each must keep to its own place. As an example, the word 'head' may be changed into 'tail' by interposing the words 'heal, teal, tell, tall'. I call the given words 'a Doublet', the interposed words 'Links', and the entire series 'a Chain', of which I here append an example:
| H |
E |
A |
D |
h |
e |
a |
l |
t |
e |
a |
l |
t |
e |
l |
l |
t |
a |
l |
l |
T |
A |
I |
L |
It is, perhaps, needless to state that it is de rigueur that the links should be English words, such as might be used in good society."
It is to be understood, also, that the links should be words that can be found in a standard English dictionary, and that proper nouns are not admissible. Here are a few more examples:
Make DOOR LOCK (3 links)
| D |
O |
O |
R |
b |
o |
o |
r |
b |
o |
o |
k |
l |
o |
o |
k |
L |
O |
C |
K |
Obtain LOAN from BANK (4 links)
| B |
A |
N |
K |
b |
o |
n |
k |
b |
o |
o |
k |
l |
o |
o |
k |
l |
o |
o |
n |
L |
O |
A |
N |
Turn WHEAT into BREAD (6 links)
| W |
H |
E |
A |
T |
c |
h |
e |
a |
t |
c |
h |
e |
a |
p |
c |
h |
e |
e |
p |
c |
r |
e |
e |
p |
c |
r |
e |
e |
d |
b |
r |
e |
e |
d |
B |
R |
E |
A |
D |