You are given a $0$ indexed array of strings words.

Define a function join(s1, s2) that concatenates two strings s1 and s2 in the following manner:

• If the last character of s1 is identical to the first character of s2, the two overlapping characters merge into one.

• Otherwise, s1 and s2 are simply concatenated together.

Starting with str$_0 =$ words$[0]$, you must perform $n - 1$ steps, where $n$ is the length of words. For each index i from $1$ to $n - 1$, you can set str$_i$ to either:

• join(str$_{i - 1}$, words[i])

• join(words[i], str$_{i - 1}$)

Return the minimum possible length of str$_{n - 1}$ after completing all operations.

Constraints:

• $1 \leq$ words.length $\leq 1000$

• $1 \leq$ words[i].length $\leq 50$

• Each character in words[i] is a lowercase English letter.

Now, let’s take a moment to make sure you’ve correctly understood the problem. The quiz below helps you check if you’re solving the correct problem:

We have a game for you to play. Rearrange the logical building blocks to develop a clearer understanding of how to solve this problem.

Implement your solution in the following coding playground.