Usually, a word meld requires changing one common English word into another, using steps that change any single letter and yield another common word.

In this word meld, your task is to change the word "PASSER" into the word "SPARSE." However, for this problem, each step consists of switching the position of any two adjacent letters (without regard, obviously, for whether they form a word or not).

P A S S E R
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
S P A R S E

How can you do this in five moves?

(Not less than five)

I can do it in four moves
PASSER
PSASER
SPASER
SPASRE
SPARSE

I guess I can also do it in five moves
PASSER
PASSER (with "s"s reversed
PSASER
SPASER
SPASRE
SPARSE

is this what you were after or am I not getting it?

Posted by FatBoy on 2003-08-13 08:23:24