Historical route lab

Poople #377 TINT Answer

Poople #377 started at TINT on August 26, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence N>L, T>L, I>O, L>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 TINT, including 12 legal openings and route signature 3-4-2-3-1-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

TINT route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes18Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves126 keep par

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

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 T-I-N-T. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 6 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

TINT -> TILT -> TILL -> TOLL -> TOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0TINTStart

Step 1TILTBridge

Step 2TILLBridge

Step 3TOLLBridge

Step 4TOOLBridge

Step 5POOLBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1TINT -> TILT

Tile 3 changes N to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. TILT has 9 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TINT include HINT, TINS, LINT, TINE.
Step 2TILT -> TILL

Tile 4 changes T to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. TILL has 16 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TILT include HILT, TILE, WILT, GILT.
Step 3TILL -> TOLL

Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. TOLL has 12 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TILL include PILL, WILL, TELL, BILL.
Step 4TOLL -> TOOL

Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. TOOL has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TOLL include POLL, ROLL, DOLL, TOIL.
Step 5TOOL -> POOL

Tile 1 changes T to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from TOOL include COOL, WOOL, FOOL, TOOK.
Step 6POOL -> POOP

Tile 4 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 POOL include POOR, POOF, COOL, POLL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

TINT has 12 legal one-letter neighbors. HINT, TILT, TINS, LINT, TINE, TINK keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin TINY (+1), MINT (+1), TENT (+1), PINT (+1).

Compare 10 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
HINT	1: T -> H	6	Keeps par	1
TILT	3: N -> L	6	Keeps par	4
TINS	4: T -> S	6	Keeps par	1
LINT	1: T -> L	6	Keeps par	2
TINE	4: T -> E	6	Keeps par	2
TINK	4: T -> K	6	Keeps par	8
TINY	4: T -> Y	7	Adds 1 move	11
MINT	1: T -> M	7	Adds 1 move	20
TENT	2: I -> E	7	Adds 1 move	12
PINT	1: T -> P	7	Adds 1 move	11

TINT opening fingerprint

TINT groups its legal first moves as tile 1: HINT, LINT, MINT, PINT, DINT; tile 2: TENT; tile 3: TILT; tile 4: TINS, TINE, TINK, TINY, TING. Two moves from the start, 98 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is HILT, LIFT, LIST, TIME, TONE, TONK, TONS, BENT, BINS, DINE, GILT, HINT, HUNT, KILT, LENT, LILT, LINE, LINK, LINT, MINK, MIST, PENT, PINE, PINS.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After TOOL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as COOL, WOOL, FOOL, TOOK 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: 2026-08-15 04:36 UTC Puzzle date: August 26, 2026