In a word meld, you are given one word to try to change into another, one step at a time. Each step consists of changing one letter of the word into another while still having a common* English word. For example, one step would be to change the word "PIE" to "PIT." Another step could change "PIT" to "POT," and so on.

What is the fewest number of steps in which you can change "BUZZ" into "WORD"?

B U Z Z
. . . .
. . . .
W O R D

* "Common" words are to be determined at the discretion of the author

I'd say the solution is 7. (So I don't put it in the header.)

But if the solution is the actual list of words, fwaff's list can be modified by replacing fore and wore with ware and ward, or just replacing fore with ware or wore with ford:
After buzz come:

fuzz
fuze
faze
fare
fore
ford
word
-------
fuzz
fuze
faze
fare
ware
ward
word
-------
fuzz
fuze
faze
fare
ware
wore
word

Posted by Charlie on 2003-07-04 08:03:58