(A la Pandora) Join these 13 words into a chain. Pick one word to start. The word that follows will do at least one of the following: (a) rhyme with it, (b) be an anagram of it, (c) have the same meaning, or (d) have one letter different. Work forward and backward to complete the chain. The first and last words will not connect. For example: state, great, large, lager, later

alarm, bread, break, dread, fakes, hakes, malar, molar, polar, quake, shake, shams, smash

Very good, michele! Not my solution, but it works.

Since you put your answer in spoilers, I'm going to leave the puzzle open for a few days in case anyone else wants to try.

The first time I did tried, I got the same solution as Michele. But looking at it another way gave me this:

Thanks, Sherlock - that's my solution.

There are always 2 answers to these - a solution and its reversed order (which I consider the same solution).

I think this is the first time I've created one of these where there are 2 different solutions, and then, of course, their reversals.

Since your and michelle's replies are in spoilers, I'll leave it open a couple more days in case anyone else wants to try.