Poople #98: DUCT 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 DUCT.

Moves

6

Difficulty

Hard

Shortest paths

8

The dictionary has 8 equally short routes; the route below is one of them.

1. Move 1: DUCT → DUST — change the 3rd letter from C to S.
2. Move 2: DUST → LUST — change the 1st letter from D to L.
3. Move 3: LUST → LOST — change the 2nd letter from U to O.
4. Move 4: LOST → LOOT — change the 3rd letter from S to O.
5. Move 5: LOOT → LOOP — change the 4th letter from T to P.
6. Move 6: LOOP → POOP — change the 1st letter from L to P.