Poople #246: ALES to POOP

Path analysis

This route reaches POOP in 8 moves. Breadth-first search reaches every route with fewer moves first, so POOP cannot be reached in fewer than 8 moves from ALES.

Moves

8

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

7

The dictionary has 7 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: ALES → APES — change the 2nd letter from L to P.
2. Move 2: APES → APED — change the 4th letter from S to D.
3. Move 3: APED → SPED — change the 1st letter from A to S.
4. Move 4: SPED → SLED — change the 2nd letter from P to L.
5. Move 5: SLED → PLED — change the 1st letter from S to P.
6. Move 6: PLED → PLOD — change the 3rd letter from E to O.
7. Move 7: PLOD → PLOP — change the 4th letter from D to P.
8. Move 8: PLOP → POOP — change the 2nd letter from L to O.