Fork, an anagram chain that splits in two

Fork is a short chain that splits. From the first answer two arms go off in different directions, each a chain of its own, and they meet again at the same last answer. There are six answers in all, each with a crossword-style clue.

How it plays

Each answer is an anagram of those next to it with a letter added or removed. Steps that only add or drop a letter don't count, so REVEAL to LEAVE is a step and LEAVER to LEVER is not.

The two arms share only their first and last words. In between, each arm takes its own route, so the same letters arrive and go in a different order on each side.

Solving either end helps both arms at once. Fork's clues, like Fold's, are the gentlest written for each answer.

A worked example

This fork was made up for this page and comes from no day's puzzle. Both arms start at SEAT and end at PASTE, and they take different routes to get there.

One arm goes down first: SEAT loses its S for TEA, gains a P for TAPE, and gains an S again for PASTE. The other goes up first: SEAT gains an H for HASTE, loses it again for EAST, and gains a P for PASTE. The two arms pass through different words and different letters on the way to the same answer.

Tips

• The first and last answers belong to both arms, so they are worth solving early.
• Compare the ends. Whatever is in the first answer and not the last has to go on both arms, and whatever is in the last and not the first has to arrive.
• The two arms often use the same letters in a different order, so an answer on one side can suggest its partner on the other.
• The keyboard counts the neighbours on both sides of an answer, whichever arm they are on.

Fork in the day's four

Omeletter sets four puzzles a day, chosen from its nine games, and every game comes round at least once in any three days. New puzzles appear at 05:00 UTC, which is mid-afternoon in Sydney and early morning in London.

You start with fifty hints in the app and five on the website, and you earn another for every puzzle you solve. On this website you can play today and the two days before it. The app keeps every day you open while it is free.

Play today's puzzles

On the App Store and Google Play.

The other games

• Fold
• Soufflé
• Flip
• Roux
• Reduction
• Double Yolk
• Scratch
• Lattice

All nine are explained side by side on How to play, and every answer comes from the word list.