Poople #244: JAVA to POOP

Path analysis

This route reaches POOP in 7 moves. Breadth-first search reaches every route with fewer moves first, so POOP cannot be reached in fewer than 7 moves from JAVA.

Moves

7

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

8

The dictionary has 8 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: JAVA → LAVA — change the 1st letter from J to L.
2. Move 2: LAVA → LAMA — change the 3rd letter from V to M.
3. Move 3: LAMA → LIMA — change the 2nd letter from A to I.
4. Move 4: LIMA → LIMP — change the 4th letter from A to P.
5. Move 5: LIMP → PIMP — change the 1st letter from L to P.
6. Move 6: PIMP → POMP — change the 2nd letter from I to O.
7. Move 7: POMP → POOP — change the 3rd letter from M to O.