Poople #420: OMEN 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 OMEN.

Moves

9

Difficulty

Brutal

Shortest paths

4

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

1. Move 1: OMEN → OPEN — change the 2nd letter from M to P.
2. Move 2: OPEN → OPES — change the 4th letter from N to S.
3. Move 3: OPES → OPTS — change the 3rd letter from E to T.
4. Move 4: OPTS → OATS — change the 2nd letter from P to A.
5. Move 5: OATS → BATS — change the 1st letter from O to B.
6. Move 6: BATS → BOTS — change the 2nd letter from A to O.
7. Move 7: BOTS → BOOS — change the 3rd letter from T to O.
8. Move 8: BOOS → BOOP — change the 4th letter from S to P.
9. Move 9: BOOP → POOP — change the 1st letter from B to P.