Poople #197: OWNS 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 OWNS.

Moves

9

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

15

The dictionary has 15 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: OWNS → AWNS — change the 1st letter from O to A.
2. Move 2: AWNS → AWLS — change the 3rd letter from N to L.
3. Move 3: AWLS → AILS — change the 2nd letter from W to I.
4. Move 4: AILS → AIDS — change the 3rd letter from L to D.
5. Move 5: AIDS → BIDS — change the 1st letter from A to B.
6. Move 6: BIDS → BODS — change the 2nd letter from I to O.
7. Move 7: BODS → BOOS — change the 3rd letter from D to O.
8. Move 8: BOOS → BOOP — change the 4th letter from S to P.
9. Move 9: BOOP → POOP — change the 1st letter from B to P.