The M.T.A. is behind on its construction schedule and needs your help laying new subway tracks. On each of the tracks in the grid, running across and down, two pairs of letters are provided to get you started. Fill in the missing letters so that each track spells out two words, which differ only by the provided letter pairs.
Example:
Every word in the puzzle will be a common, lowercase vocabulary word. (In the example above, the blank spaces on the track are filled in with the letters S, T, and P, to create the words STUMP and STRAP.) There may be multiple ways to fill in a given track, but only one option will make the entire subway system run smoothly.
Published in the print edition of the December 25, 2023, issue.