Poople #381 started at ANON on August 30, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence N>E, A>N, E>O, N>L, N>P, L>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 A-N-O-N. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 2 changes N to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. AEON has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ANON include AXON.
Step 2AEON -> NEON
Tile 1 changes A to N; the move is sideways by letter shape. NEON has 3 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from AEON include PEON, AXON.
Step 3NEON -> NOON
Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. NOON has 10 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NEON include PEON.
Step 4NOON -> LOON
Tile 1 changes N to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LOON has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NOON include BOON, GOON, SOON, MOON.
Step 5LOON -> LOOP
Tile 4 changes N 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 LOON include LOOK, LOOM, BOON, LOOT.
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?
ANON has 2 legal one-letter neighbors, but only AEON keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin AXON (+1).
Compare 2 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
AEON
2: N -> E
6
Keeps par
3
AXON
2: N -> X
7
Adds 1 move
3
ANON opening fingerprint
ANON groups its legal first moves as tile 2: AEON, AXON. Two moves from the start, 2 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is PEON, AXON.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
NEON is the narrowest displayed bridge
After AEON becomes NEON, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as PEON, AXON show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
3
Sideways steps
3
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: 2026-08-15 07:58 UTCPuzzle date: August 30, 2026