Sandy Wood
Brain Game: Gettin’ Yer Mind Right
by Sandy Wood - September 29, 2008 - 6:30 AM

bloghead_braingames.jpg

This weekend, I watched one of my favorite films – Cool Hand Luke - in remembrance of the late, great Paul Newman. Today’s Brain Game involves the film as well.

Your job is to transform the word COOL into the word HAND, and then HAND into LUKE, using as few steps as possible. Change one letter at a time, leaving the other letters in their original positions. We were able to do it in nine steps… can you do better?

C O O L
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
H A N D
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
L U K E

HERE is one solution… if you find another, feel free to post it in the comments.

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Comments (13)

  1. Cool
    Wool
    Woot
    Wont
    Want
    Wand
    Hand
    Land
    Lane
    Lake
    Luke

    posted by Mortal Light on 9-29-2008 at 8:15 am

  2. nowhere in the question did it say you had to make actual words when you changed a letter, so I was wondering how this was going to stretch my brain at all…

    posted by catherine ann on 9-29-2008 at 8:27 am

  3. Catherine Ann? I know our team lost Saturday – I grew up only a few miles from Sanford Stadium – but don’t take it out on the Brain Game! :)

    posted by Sandy on 9-29-2008 at 8:30 am

  4. Not sure about ‘woot’ up there, Mortal Light ;)

    I wasn’t too sure about ‘hank’, then recalled my sailing lessons when I was 12. See, mom, they’re really paying off now!

    posted by Joshua on 9-29-2008 at 8:50 am

  5. My answers are a tad bit different; however, they are same amount of steps.

    Answer:

    C O O L
    C O O S
    C O N S
    C A N S
    H A N S
    H A N D
    L A N D
    L A N E
    L U N E
    L U K E

    posted by Robert on 9-29-2008 at 10:08 am

  6. Mine’s insanely long:
    cool
    cowl
    bowl
    bawl
    ball
    bale
    bane
    band
    hand
    land
    lane
    lake
    luke

    posted by Aemi on 9-29-2008 at 10:32 am

  7. cool
    cook
    hook
    honk
    hank
    hand
    land
    lane
    lake
    luke

    posted by PuzzleScott on 9-29-2008 at 10:41 am

  8. cool
    fool
    food
    ford
    fard (face paint)
    hard
    hand
    land
    lane
    lake or lune
    luke

    I don’t think the first chain can be done direct; it needs at least one sidestep.

    posted by Leadhyena on 9-29-2008 at 10:46 am

  9. Cool
    Cook
    Book
    Bonk
    Bond
    Band
    Hand
    Land
    Lane
    Lake
    Luke

    posted by Adam O on 9-29-2008 at 12:00 pm

  10. One more step from Cool to Hand…

    Cool
    Coon
    Corn
    Cord
    Card
    Hard
    Hand
    Land
    Lane
    Lune
    Luke

    posted by Steve-O on 9-29-2008 at 12:48 pm

  11. COOL
    FOOL
    FOOD
    FOND
    BOND
    BAND
    HAND
    LAND
    LANE
    LAKE
    LUKE

    posted by Elenea on 9-29-2008 at 3:28 pm

  12. COOL
    COOK
    CONK
    HONK
    HANK
    HAND
    LAND
    LANE
    LAKE
    LUKE

    posted by CapnSquint on 9-29-2008 at 4:45 pm

  13. COOL
    FOOL
    FOOD
    FORD
    CORD
    CARD
    HARD
    HAND
    LAND
    LANE
    LAKE
    LUKE

    posted by ROB on 10-1-2008 at 5:56 pm

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