Can you name the rungs in this letter-shift-based word ladder?

Clue	Rung	#
►Flightless birds◄		1
They're trained in CPR		2
Consumes		3
Derbies and sombreros		4
Abhor		5
It may end a chess game		6
Turn off the sound		7
►Inspirational figure (or rung 1, with the first letter at the end)◄		8
Is required to		9
Sculpted head		10

Clue	Rung	#
Word before ''man'' or ''seller''		11
A drummer might keep it		12
[See Rung 15]		13
◄Listen to (or rung 20, with the first letter at the end)►		14
Apply [Rung 13] to		15
Crystal ball user		16
It may be planted		17
Tool storage area		18
Former home of the Mets		19
◄Flightless bird►		20

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There are 25 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Word Ladder: Very Shifty Quiz

by Tahnan

Created May 18, 2011 in Just For Fun
Featured May 1, 2012
Game Plays 25,107

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	MaxMallanite:	May 1st, 2012 at 05:43 GMT		18 points
	Can't say I'm crazy about the reflexive clues.

	Cleverfield:	May 1st, 2012 at 07:26 GMT		-1 points
	Surprised so many more people got rung 14 than rung 20, since if you know 14 you also know 20. Gotta pay attention to the clue.

	dandeli0ns:	May 1st, 2012 at 08:16 GMT		20 points
	ehhh, not too fond of 13 & 15 =___=

	hibernia:	May 1st, 2012 at 11:05 GMT		8 points
	I'm actually shocked that this made the front page. The inclusion of two clues which simply reference each other should never have made it past the Sporcle Admins.

	mustango:	May 1st, 2012 at 12:50 GMT		5 points
	Now I want there to be a verb that meant "to apply bear to"

	Mimbleton:	May 1st, 2012 at 13:18 GMT		2 points
	C'mon people! ... It begins and ends with a flightless bird!

	ezois:	May 1st, 2012 at 13:21 GMT		7 points
	I did the words I knew and used the others to find the ones with confusing clues. 20 and 14 I had to do backward. (I didn't have 15 yet) Not the best I've seen.

	MaxMallanite:	May 1st, 2012 at 13:22 GMT		3 points
	@mimbleton - is that supposed to be 'fitting' or 'ironic'?

	TAR2:	May 1st, 2012 at 13:40 GMT		8 points
	I thought this was going to be some kind of new word ladder format, based on the title. What does letter-shift-based mean?

	sproutcm:	May 1st, 2012 at 14:37 GMT		1 point
	@All. This is actually a fun and innovative take on word ladders. Many word ladders reference other clues and it is quite standard in crossword puzzles to have self referential clues. Also the shift refers to the fact that the two flightless birds are linked to another word in the ladder when one of its letters has been shifted over such as in HART and THAR.

	tonguetied:	May 1st, 2012 at 14:56 GMT		-3 points
	#20 required a lucky guess for me. Never heard of one of those. Still, nice job.

	ChileNoseJam:	May 1st, 2012 at 17:32 GMT		1 point
	I had no problem with the self-referential clues; I often get the correct answer for a WL clue which I would have had no idea about as a stand-alone question, by working it out from the words above and below it - you can do exactly the same with this. 14 is fairly straightforward (and if not, you can still work it out from 20), and if you can't figure out 13 and 15 from that, then try 12 and 16. And on a completely different note (no pun intended) - you're being hopelessly optimistic if you expect a drummer to keep the beat.

	MaxMallanite:	May 1st, 2012 at 21:19 GMT		4 points
	@sproutcm - the problem isn't reflexive clues in general, the problem is that 13 and 15 have no other context at all other than a relationship between the two. I would be surprised if anyone got 13 or 15 without having 14 and 12/16 first. The clues were meaningless... you just had to find the word that fits in the middle.

	KansasJayhawk:	May 1st, 2012 at 22:37 GMT		1 point
	Not the smoothest execution, but I always like to see innovation rewarded on Sporcle, and I did like the concept.

	RonB:	May 1st, 2012 at 23:04 GMT		-1 points
	1.Former prisoner 2. Tennessee player 3.21st letter 4. Combine stringed instrument with the protagonist of "How I Met Your Mother". Oh, and put Too in front of it.

	Tahnan:	May 2nd, 2012 at 05:43 GMT		4 points
	I'm sorry to see that so many people disliked the quiz. I figured I'd try something a little different; you win some, you lose some. As for the inter-referential clues, that's the sort of thing you often see in crosswords ("32A: Summer, in 40D / 40D: See 32A", that sort of thing). It's true that they "have no other context at all"--but then again, I didn't think clue 14 was that hard, so I thought that would be enough to go on. Eh, well, maybe the next one will be better.