Poople #338: TECH 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 TECH.

Moves

8

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

31

The dictionary has 31 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: TECH → MECH — change the 1st letter from T to M.
2. Move 2: MECH → MUCH — change the 2nd letter from E to U.
3. Move 3: MUCH → MUCK — change the 4th letter from H to K.
4. Move 4: MUCK → BUCK — change the 1st letter from M to B.
5. Move 5: BUCK → BOCK — change the 2nd letter from U to O.
6. Move 6: BOCK → BOOK — change the 3rd letter from C to O.
7. Move 7: BOOK → BOOP — change the 4th letter from K to P.
8. Move 8: BOOP → POOP — change the 1st letter from B to P.