Poople #181: QUAY to POOP

Path analysis

This route reaches POOP in 9 moves. Breadth-first search reaches every route with fewer moves first, so POOP cannot be reached in fewer than 9 moves from QUAY.

Moves

9

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

3

The dictionary has 3 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: QUAY → QUAD — change the 4th letter from Y to D.
2. Move 2: QUAD → QUID — change the 3rd letter from A to I.
3. Move 3: QUID → QUIT — change the 4th letter from D to T.
4. Move 4: QUIT → SUIT — change the 1st letter from Q to S.
5. Move 5: SUIT → SLIT — change the 2nd letter from U to L.
6. Move 6: SLIT → SLOT — change the 3rd letter from I to O.
7. Move 7: SLOT → PLOT — change the 1st letter from S to P.
8. Move 8: PLOT → PLOP — change the 4th letter from T to P.
9. Move 9: PLOP → POOP — change the 2nd letter from L to O.