What is the fewest number of steps (changing one letter at a time, with each step yielding a common English word) that you can change "SOFT" into "HARD" and then "HARD" into "EASY"?

S O F T
. . . .
. . . .
H A R D
. . . .
. . . .
E A S Y

(In reply to New Challenge by DJ)

Starting with SOFT:
sort
fort
fart
hart
hard
-------
sort
port
part
hart
hard
-------
sort
tort
tart
hart
hard
-------
sort
wort
wart
hart
hard
-------
sort
wort
wart
ward
hard
-------
sort
wort
word
ward
hard

... and from there:
bard
bare
base
ease
easy
-------
card
care
case
ease
easy
-------
card
cart
cast
east
easy
-------
hare
bare
base
ease
easy
-------
hare
care
case
ease
easy
-------
hart
cart
cast
east
easy
-------
hart
fart
fast
east
easy
-------
hart
mart
mast
east
easy
-------
hart
part
past
east
easy

Reductions to 4 steps in each part would require using SORD, SARD on the one hand and HAST (as in "thou hast") on the other.

I've considered wort ok because of the recent popularity of the supplement St. John's wort.

Posted by Charlie on 2003-07-30 02:50:51