Poople #284: VIAL to POOP

Path analysis

This route reaches POOP in 6 moves. Breadth-first search reaches every route with fewer moves first, so POOP cannot be reached in fewer than 6 moves from VIAL.

Moves

6

Difficulty

Hard

Shortest paths

4

The dictionary has 4 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: VIAL → DIAL — change the 1st letter from V to D.
2. Move 2: DIAL → DILL — change the 3rd letter from A to L.
3. Move 3: DILL → PILL — change the 1st letter from D to P.
4. Move 4: PILL → POLL — change the 2nd letter from I to O.
5. Move 5: POLL → POOL — change the 3rd letter from L to O.
6. Move 6: POOL → POOP — change the 4th letter from L to P.