Poople #351 started at BUZZ on July 31, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence B>F, Z>E, Z>M, U>A, F>C, A>O, E>P, M>O, C>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 B-U-Z-Z. 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.
Reveal the complete 9-move answer
BUZZ -> FUZZ -> FUZE -> FUME -> FAME -> CAME -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP
Step 0BUZZStart
Step 1FUZZBridge
Step 2FUZEBridge
Step 3FUMEBridge
Step 4FAMEBridge
Step 5CAMEBridge
Step 6COMEBridge
Step 7COMPBridge
Step 8COOPBridge
Step 9POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1BUZZ -> FUZZ
Tile 1 changes B to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FUZZ has 3 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 8 moves remaining. BUZZ has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.
Step 2FUZZ -> FUZE
Tile 4 changes Z to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. FUZE has 4 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 7 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FUZZ include FIZZ.
Step 3FUZE -> FUME
Tile 3 changes Z to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. FUME has 3 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FUZE include FUSE, FAZE.
Step 4FUME -> FAME
Tile 2 changes U to A; the move is sideways by letter shape. FAME has 15 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FUME include FUSE.
Step 5FAME -> CAME
Tile 1 changes F to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAME has 20 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FAME include SAME, DAME, TAME, NAME.
Step 6CAME -> COME
Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAME include CAMP, SAME, CAMS, DAME.
Step 7COME -> COMP
Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.
Step 8COMP -> COOP
Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.
Step 9COOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COOP include LOOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
BUZZ has 1 legal one-letter neighbors, but only FUZZ keeps the route at 9 moves. Nearby detours begin outside the sampled opening set.
Compare 1 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
FUZZ
1: B -> F
9
Keeps par
21
BUZZ opening fingerprint
BUZZ groups its legal first moves as tile 1: FUZZ. Two moves from the start, 1 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is FIZZ.
Your route
Compare a path you played
Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading
FUZZ is the narrowest displayed bridge
After BUZZ becomes FUZZ, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as no sampled off-route word show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
5
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
5
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 06:20 UTCPuzzle date: July 31, 2026