Poople #422: GEMS 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 GEMS.

Moves

6

Difficulty

Hard

Shortest paths

14

The dictionary has 14 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: GEMS → HEMS — change the 1st letter from G to H.
2. Move 2: HEMS → HUMS — change the 2nd letter from E to U.
3. Move 3: HUMS → HUMP — change the 4th letter from S to P.
4. Move 4: HUMP → PUMP — change the 1st letter from H to P.
5. Move 5: PUMP → POMP — change the 2nd letter from U to O.
6. Move 6: POMP → POOP — change the 3rd letter from M to O.