Today's route

Poople Answer Today #392 RACE

Today's RACE board has a par of 6. Try it first, then use the directional hint, route reveal, calculated branch table, or live community result only as needed.

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Play before revealing: try today's shared board first, then return to compare your route or open only the hint you need.

Calculated from the current word graph

RACE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes22Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves155 keep par

Opening shapeflexible openingDetailed route analysis is inside the full reveal

Spoiler controls

Choose how much to reveal

The direction names no answer word. Next word reveals one move. Full answer opens the route and every branch analysis. Close a panel to hide it again.

Reveal a direction, not a word

The current row reads R-A-C-E. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 5 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal only the next word

RACE → LACE. Change tile 1. The remaining route stays inside the full reveal.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

RACE -> LACE -> LACK -> LOCK -> LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0RACEStart

Step 1LACEBridge

Step 2LACKBridge

Step 3LOCKBridge

Step 4LOOKBridge

Step 5LOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Letter positions: 1-4-2-3-4-1. Letter changes: R>L, E>K, A>O, C>O, K>P, L>P.

Step 1RACE -> LACE

Tile 1 changes R to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LACE has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RACE include PACE, RACK, RAPE, RATE.
Step 2LACE -> LACK

Tile 4 changes E to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. LACK has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LACE include LACY, LAME, LATE, LICE.
Step 3LACK -> LOCK

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOCK has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LACK include HACK, LICK, LUCK, BACK.
Step 4LOCK -> LOOK

Tile 3 changes C to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOK has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOCK include COCK, HOCK, DOCK, JOCK.
Step 5LOOK -> LOOP

Tile 4 changes K to P; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from LOOK include COOK, HOOK, LOOM, LOON.
Step 6LOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 changes L to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 12 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOOP include COOP, HOOP, GOOP, LOOM.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

RACE has 15 legal one-letter neighbors. LACE, PACE, RACK, RAPE, RATE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin FACE (+1), MACE (+1), RACY (+1), RAGE (+1).

Compare 9 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
LACE	1: R -> L	6	Keeps par	1
PACE	1: R -> P	6	Keeps par	5
RACK	4: E -> K	6	Keeps par	10
RAPE	3: C -> P	6	Keeps par	2
RATE	3: C -> T	6	Keeps par	4
FACE	1: R -> F	7	Adds 1 move	14
MACE	1: R -> M	7	Adds 1 move	44
RACY	4: E -> Y	7	Adds 1 move	11
RAGE	3: C -> G	7	Adds 1 move	26

RACE opening fingerprint

RACE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: LACE, PACE, FACE, MACE, DACE; tile 2: RICE; tile 3: RAPE, RATE, RAGE, RAKE, RARE, RAVE, RAZE; tile 4: RACK, RACY. Two moves from the start, 121 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is HACK, PALE, PATE, RAPS, RATS, ROCK, ROPE, ROTE, BACK, BARE, BATE, CAGE, CAKE, CAPE, CARE, CAVE, DALE, DAME, DATE, FADE, FAME, FARE, FATE, GAPE.

Your route

Compare a path you played

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After LOOK becomes LOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as COOK, HOOK, LOOM, LOON show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 2
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 3

How these figures were calculated

Poople recomputes adjacency and distance from the accepted 2,506-word graph. "Shortest routes" counts every path that lowers the remaining distance by one at each move; it is not a guess based on page text or player scores.

The displayed answer is one shortest route selected from that graph. Community scores and notes are kept separate because they describe player activity, not the mathematical route.

Counts use the full accepted graph, including uncommon words and words with sensitive meanings. The first-move groups list every legal opening. The comparison table, alternative exits, and two-move frontier show samples, not every possible continuation.

Data mode: live Graph synced: 2026-09-10 14:17 UTC Puzzle date: September 10, 2026