Poople #345 started at HUGE on July 25, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence E>S, H>B, U>O, G>O, S>P, B>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 H-U-G-E. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 4 changes E to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. HUGS has 14 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HUGE include LUGE.
Step 2HUGS -> BUGS
Tile 1 changes H to B; the move is sideways by letter shape. BUGS has 17 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HUGS include HOGS, HUMS, RUGS, MUGS.
Step 3BUGS -> BOGS
Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOGS has 19 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BUGS include BAGS, BUYS, BUDS, BEGS.
Step 4BOGS -> BOOS
Tile 3 changes G to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOS has 21 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOGS include BOYS, BOSS, BOTS, BOWS.
Step 5BOOS -> BOOP
Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOP has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from BOOS include BOOK, BOOT, BOOB, BOOM.
Step 6BOOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes B to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOOP include LOOP, COOP, HOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
HUGE has 2 legal one-letter neighbors, but only HUGS keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin LUGE (+1).
Compare 2 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
HUGS
4: E -> S
6
Keeps par
4
LUGE
1: H -> L
7
Adds 1 move
5
HUGE opening fingerprint
HUGE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: LUGE; tile 4: HUGS. Two moves from the start, 16 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is HOGS, HUMS, HAGS, HUBS, HUES, HUTS, JUGS, LUGS, LURE, MUGS, PUGS, RUGS, TUGS, LUBE, LUNE, LUTE.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
BOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge
After BOOS becomes BOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BOOK, BOOT, BOOB, BOOM 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 2,398-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 05:45 UTCPuzzle date: July 25, 2026