Word transformation 2 2

[ESquared]

Who can

Change A to SPATTER

in the least number of steps?

When responding, display the number of steps visible to everyone, but hide the answer like

[ignore]

[white]Answer Here[/white]

[/ignore]

--------------------------------------

Rules for this transformation only:
• At each step you may change or add one letter.
• You may not remove a letter.
• No anagrams.
• Each word must be in an online dictionary.

Rules for in an online dictionary:
• Entering the word must result in a valid entry being displayed.
• For example, at m-w.com, whap is listed as a variant of whop. The noun whopper is also listed. But even though whop is also a verb, and one could argue that whopper also means "one who whops," entering whapper yields no valid entry. You'd have to find some other dictionary which gave a valid entry for this word.

Note: For some background guidelines, examples, and general rules, see thread1322-877571. Especially note how to hide your answers so they are not immediately visible to everyone, and how to view other people's hidden answers. If it's totally unclear to you, just post, and I'll hide your answer for you.

 

[sleipnir214]

add one letter".....

One may add one letter where in the word?


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[ESquared]

Anywhere!

Here's an example, I to PAINT in 5 steps.

I
IN
PIN
PAN
PANT
PAINT

 

[strongm]

Here's a twelve move solution:

[COLOR=white white]
A
AT
ATE 
ACE
ACES
ACHES
ASHES
LASHES
LATHES
LATHER
LATTER
PATTER
SPATTER
[/color]

 

[rosieb]

6 steps

[WHITE]
A
AT
ATE 
PATE
PATER
PATTER
SPATTER
[/WHITE]

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)

 

[strongm]

Now the wierd thing is that I initially went down almost exactly that route, Rosie, and then obviously had a brain crash since for some reason I decided that the 5th word in your list didn't exist, when obviously it does.

 

[rosieb]

I thought twice about it, then checked the dictionary.

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)

 

[mbarron]

One more

 [COLOR=white]
A
AT
SAT
SPAT
SPATE
PASTER
SPATTER

[/COLOR]

Mike

 

[CajunCenturion]

[COLOR=white]Is the move from SPATE -> PASTER legal?[/color]

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[mbarron]

The rules make no mention about rearranging, only adding letters changing letters and no subtraction of letter. I used a method that I've seen in word puzzle books.

Mike

 

[ESquared]

rosieb: Good work! My own answer was 9 steps. How long did it take you? I was inventing the first and last words based on transformations I already had in mind, and not solving between them. Next time I will try to solve my own puzzle before posting it!

mbarron: The step SPATE to PASTER is illegal. Please refer to the rule, "no anagrams." Thanks for playing.

everyone: Thanks for participating! I don't have a lot of experience in creating puzzles of this type, but I am enjoying myself. I hope you are, too. I also hope that as I get more experience I can make the puzzles harder.

I am becoming more and more keen on writing a VB word engine which can help me solve (and of course, design) word puzzles. It will do anagrams, transformations, palindromes, sounds-like, prefixes, suffixes, and probably a few more things. I will use it to create an anagram explorer, and a palindrome maker. I have very specific ideas how I want the anagram explorer to work, and I have never seen anything like it.

Regards,

E²

--------

9 steps

[white]A
AT
BAT
BUT
BUTT
BUTTE
BUTTER
PUTTER
PATTER
SPATTER[/white]

 

[CajunCenturion]

What about no anagrams?

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[mbarron]

Must remember to turn on brain. I was thinking acronyms.

seeesh




Mike

 

[ESquared]

It's funny how context can mess up perception. I was staring at strongm's 'latter' for a few seconds, trying to figure out what word it was. if I had seen it in another context, I would have known it instantly.

 

[chrissie1]

building on strongm's solution

[white]
A
AT
ATE 
ACE
ape
apes
ACES
ACHES
ASHES
LASHES
LATHES
LATHER
LATTER
PATTER
SPATTER
[/white]

Christiaan Baes
Belgium

What a wonderfull world - Louis armstrong

 

[ESquared]

Hi chrissie1! Welcome to the Wordplay forum.

I think I forgot to mention that the goal of the puzzle is to achieve the transformation in as few steps as possible! Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

[strongm]

Christiaan's post suggests an interesting variant - who can use the most steps (with the additional rule that a word cannot be repeated)?

 

[ESquared]

That could be an exceptionally long list, strongm! Lol!

 

[chrissie1]

whoooooooooooooops

me and my big keyboard.

Christiaan Baes
Belgium

What a wonderfull world - Louis armstrong