Poople #351: BUZZ 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 BUZZ.

Moves

9

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

21

The dictionary has 21 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: BUZZ → FUZZ — change the 1st letter from B to F.
2. Move 2: FUZZ → FUZE — change the 4th letter from Z to E.
3. Move 3: FUZE → FAZE — change the 2nd letter from U to A.
4. Move 4: FAZE → DAZE — change the 1st letter from F to D.
5. Move 5: DAZE → DOZE — change the 2nd letter from A to O.
6. Move 6: DOZE → DOME — change the 3rd letter from Z to M.
7. Move 7: DOME → POME — change the 1st letter from D to P.
8. Move 8: POME → POMP — change the 4th letter from E to P.
9. Move 9: POMP → POOP — change the 3rd letter from M to O.