Historical route lab

Poople #370 SUES Answer

Poople #370 started at SUES on August 19, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence E>M, S>P, S>P, U>O, M>O, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for SUES, including 14 legal openings and route signature 3-4-1-2-3.

Calculated from the current word graph

SUES route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes1Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves141 keep par

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

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 S-U-E-S. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

SUES -> SUMS -> SUMP -> PUMP -> POMP -> POOP

Step 0SUESStart

Step 1SUMSBridge

Step 2SUMPBridge

Step 3PUMPBridge

Step 4POMPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1SUES -> SUMS

Tile 3 changes E to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. SUMS has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from SUES include SEES, DUES, CUES, SUED.
Step 2SUMS -> SUMP

Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. SUMP has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from SUMS include SUMO, BUMS, HUMS, RUMS.
Step 3SUMP -> PUMP

Tile 1 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PUMP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from SUMP include JUMP, DUMP, BUMP, LUMP.
Step 4PUMP -> POMP

Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POMP has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from PUMP include PIMP, JUMP, DUMP, BUMP.
Step 5POMP -> POOP

Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POMP include COMP, PIMP, ROMP, POME.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

SUES has 14 legal one-letter neighbors, but only SUMS keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin SEES (+1), DUES (+1), CUES (+1), SUED (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
SUMS	3: E -> M	5	Keeps par	1
SEES	2: U -> E	6	Adds 1 move	2
DUES	1: S -> D	6	Adds 1 move	1
CUES	1: S -> C	6	Adds 1 move	3
SUED	4: S -> D	6	Adds 1 move	2
SUBS	3: E -> B	6	Adds 1 move	5
SUNS	3: E -> N	6	Adds 1 move	2
HUES	1: S -> H	6	Adds 1 move	3

SUES opening fingerprint

SUES groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DUES, CUES, HUES, RUES; tile 2: SEES, SHES; tile 3: SUMS, SUBS, SUNS, SUDS, SUSS, SUPS; tile 4: SUED, SUET. Two moves from the start, 97 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BUBS, BUDS, BUMS, CUBS, CUPS, CUTS, DOES, HOES, HUED, HUMS, PEES, RUMS, SEEP, SLED, SOBS, SODS, SONS, SOPS, SUMO, BEES, BUNS, CUED, CUES, CUMS.

Your route

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Graph reading

POMP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After PUMP becomes POMP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as PIMP, JUMP, DUMP, BUMP show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-14 22:52 UTC Puzzle date: August 19, 2026