You solve Word Ladders by changing one letter in the first word to form a new word and then change one letter in that new word to form another new word and keep repeating the process until you spell the final target word.

The number of letter-change moves it took me follows each Word Ladder pair below.

...I'll bet some of you can build a [i]Word Ladder[/i in less moves.

Example: To change Mice into Rats I made 4 moves...
miCe -1-> miTe -2-> mAte -3-> matS -4-> Rats



= 1. base - ball [2]
= 2. far - out [3]
= 3. dark - side [4]
= 4. fall - down [5]
= 5. dark - room [6] ... Michele did it in '4'
= 6. that - side [6]

5. dark - dork - dorm - doom - room

1. Bale ball (I've taken the hard one)

Bernie

2. far, oar, our, out

3. dark dare dire sire side hi soot

4. fall - fail - fain - fawn - dawn - down

Michele beat the house

there's nothing wrong with low hanging fruit Bernie

Yes to all!

Be kind - give us the first move for #6, soot

Sorry for the delayed response ... just back from a no-notice roadtrip.

First move added.

Hints added to aid in the solution solving...

6. teat - tent - tint - tine - tide - side

OldBroad ... most excellent work!