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Wizard's Hollow

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 PartnorthJewelrywing→ringw→r
eastJewelrybeak→beadk→d
southeastTreebeak→teakb→t
westAlcoholic Beveragewing→wineg→e
Fruit WastenortheastAnimalrind→hindr→h
eastCompanycore→corpe→p
southeastCropcore→corne→n
northwestJewelryrind→ringd→g
CompanyeastActor Rehearsingfirm→filmr→l
southFishcorp→carpo→a
westFruit Wastecorp→corep→e
northwestCropfirm→farmi→a
TreenorthFishpine→piken→k
eastColorteak→tealk→l
southColorpine→pinke→k
northwestBird Partteak→beakt→b
ColornorthTreepink→pinek→e
eastArticle Of Clothingrose→robes→b
southeastJewelrypink→linkp→l
westTreeteal→teakl→k
Article Of ClothingnorthActor Rehearsingrobe→roleb→l
eastUnit Of Lengthkilt→kilot→o
westColorrobe→roseb→s
northwestThin Bit Of Doughcoif→coinf→n
Thin Bit Of DoughnortheastActor Rehearsingfilo→filmo→m
eastCropcoin→corni→r
southeastArticle Of Clothingcoin→coifn→f
southUnit Of Lengthfilo→kilof→k
westAnimalpita→pikat→k
FishnorthCompanycarp→corpa→o
eastAnimalsole→moles→m
southeastAnimalpike→pikae→a
southTreepike→pinek→n
westJewelryling→linkg→k
northwestActor Rehearsingsole→roles→r
Alcoholic BeveragenorthCropbeer→beetr→t
eastBird Partwine→winge→g
southAnimalbeer→beare→a
Unit Of LengthnorthThin Bit Of Doughkilo→filok→f
southwestAnimalmile→molei→o
westArticle Of Clothingkilo→kilto→t
northwestAnimalhand→hinda→i
JewelrynorthAnimalbead→beard→r
eastFishlink→lingk→g
southeastFruit Wastering→rindg→d
southBird Partring→wingr→w
westBird Partbead→beakd→k
northwestColorlink→pinkl→p
Actor RehearsingsoutheastFishrole→soler→s
southArticle Of Clothingrole→robel→b
southwestThin Bit Of Doughfilm→filom→o
westCompanyfilm→firml→r
CropsoutheastCompanyfarm→firma→i
southAlcoholic Beveragebeet→beert→r
westThin Bit Of Doughcorn→coinr→i
northwestFruit Wastecorn→coren→e
AnimalnorthAlcoholic Beveragebear→beera→e
northeastUnit Of Lengthmole→mileo→i
eastThin Bit Of Doughpika→pitak→t
southeastUnit Of Lengthhind→handi→a
southJewelrybear→beadr→d
southwestFruit Wastehind→rindh→r
westFishmole→solem→s
northwestFishpika→pikea→e