Poople #338 started at TECH on July 18, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence T>M, E>U, H>K, M>L, U>O, C>O, K>P, L>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.
The hint describes the move without naming the word. The full route stays closed until you ask for it.
Reveal a direction, not a word
The current row reads T-E-C-H. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 1 changes T to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. MECH has 5 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 7 moves remaining. TECH has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.
Step 2MECH -> MUCH
Tile 2 changes E to U; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUCH has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MECH include MESH, METH, MACH.
Step 3MUCH -> MUCK
Tile 4 changes H to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUCK has 11 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUCH include SUCH, MUSH, MACH, OUCH.
Step 4MUCK -> LUCK
Tile 1 changes M to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LUCK has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUCK include BUCK, MOCK, HUCK, SUCK.
Step 5LUCK -> LOCK
Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOCK has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LUCK include LACK, BUCK, LICK, HUCK.
Step 6LOCK -> LOOK
Tile 3 changes C to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOK has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOCK include COCK, BOCK, HOCK, ROCK.
Step 7LOOK -> 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 BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM.
Step 8LOOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes L to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOOP include COOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
TECH has 1 legal one-letter neighbors, but only MECH keeps the route at 8 moves. Nearby detours begin outside the sampled opening set.
Compare 1 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
MECH
1: T -> M
8
Keeps par
31
TECH opening fingerprint
TECH groups its legal first moves as tile 1: MECH. Two moves from the start, 3 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is MESH, METH, MACH.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
MUCH is the narrowest displayed bridge
After MECH becomes MUCH, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as MESH, METH, MACH show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
4
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
3
How these figures were calculated
Poople recomputes adjacency and distance from the accepted 2,398-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.
Data mode: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-14 06:09 UTCPuzzle date: July 18, 2026