Water Drops

By Sandy Wood

Can you solve the Word Ladder in today's mentalfloss.com Brain Game Wednesday Wordplay challenge in eight steps or fewer? Prove it!
By changing one letter in each step to form English words, and leaving all other letters in their original positions, convert WATER into DROPS in the fewest possible steps.
W A T E R _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _D R O P S Here is an 8-step SOLUTION.
AN 8-STEP SOLUTION:
W A T E R
C A T E R
C A R E R
C A R E S
C A R P S
C O R P S
C O O P S
C R O P S
D R O P S
Did you come up with a different sequence of words (shorter, longer, or the same length)? Feel free to share it with us in the comments below. Thanks for playing!