Historical route lab

Poople #340 WASH Answer

Poople #340 started at WASH on July 20, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence W>L, H>T, A>O, S>O, T>P, L>P, with 6 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for WASH, including 11 legal openings and route signature 1-4-2-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

WASH route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves116 keep par

Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 1-4-2-3-4-1

Spoiler controls

Choose how much to reveal

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 W-A-S-H. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 6 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

WASH -> LASH -> LAST -> LOST -> LOOT -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0WASHStart

Step 1LASHBridge

Step 2LASTBridge

Step 3LOSTBridge

Step 4LOOTBridge

Step 5LOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1WASH -> LASH

Tile 1 changes W to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LASH has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WASH include CASH, WISH, BASH, RASH.
Step 2LASH -> LAST

Tile 4 changes H to T; the move is sideways by letter shape. LAST has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LASH include CASH, BASH, LUSH, RASH.
Step 3LAST -> LOST

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOST has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LAST include LIST, CAST, LUST, LEST.
Step 4LOST -> LOOT

Tile 3 changes S to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOT has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOST include COST, HOST, LOFT, LOUT.
Step 5LOOT -> LOOP

Tile 4 changes T 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 LOOT include LOOK, BOOT, LOOM, LOON.
Step 6LOOP -> 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?

WASH has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. CASH, WISH, BASH, RASH, WASP, LASH keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin DASH (+1), HASH (+1), MASH (+1), SASH (+1).

Compare 10 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
CASH	1: W -> C	6	Keeps par	2
WISH	2: A -> I	6	Keeps par	1
BASH	1: W -> B	6	Keeps par	1
RASH	1: W -> R	6	Keeps par	1
WASP	4: H -> P	6	Keeps par	2
LASH	1: W -> L	6	Keeps par	1
DASH	1: W -> D	7	Adds 1 move	9
HASH	1: W -> H	7	Adds 1 move	6
MASH	1: W -> M	7	Adds 1 move	34
SASH	1: W -> S	7	Adds 1 move	6

WASH opening fingerprint

WASH groups its legal first moves as tile 1: CASH, BASH, RASH, LASH, DASH, HASH, MASH, SASH, GASH; tile 2: WISH; tile 4: WASP. Two moves from the start, 47 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BASS, CAST, COSH, RASP, WISP, BASE, BASH, BASK, BAST, BATH, CASE, CASH, CASK, DOSH, GASP, GOSH, HASP, LASS, LUSH, MASS, MAST, MOSH, PISH, RASE.

Your route

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

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

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

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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-14 06:34 UTC Puzzle date: July 20, 2026