Historical route lab

Poople #382 WATT Answer

Poople #382 started at WATT on August 31, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence T>N, A>O, W>F, N>O, T>L, F>P, L>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for WATT, including 4 legal openings and route signature 3-2-1-3-4-1-4.
Calculated from the current word graph

WATT route profile

Par7 moves8 words including start and target
Shortest routes67Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves44 keep par
Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 3-2-1-3-4-1-4
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 W-A-T-T. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 4 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 7-move answer

WATT -> WANT -> WONT -> FONT -> FOOT -> FOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0WATTStart
Step 1WANTBridge
Step 2WONTBridge
Step 3FONTBridge
Step 4FOOTBridge
Step 5FOOLBridge
Step 6POOLBridge
Step 7POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1WATT -> WANT

    Tile 3 changes T to N; the move is sideways by letter shape. WANT has 13 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WATT include WAIT, WART, WAFT.

  2. Step 2WANT -> WONT

    Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. WONT has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WANT include CANT, WANK, WENT, WAIT.

  3. Step 3WONT -> FONT

    Tile 1 changes W to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FONT has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WONT include WORT, WENT.

  4. Step 4FONT -> FOOT

    Tile 3 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOOT has 13 legal neighbors, 5 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FONT include FORT, FOND.

  5. Step 5FOOT -> FOOL

    Tile 4 changes T to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FOOL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOOT include BOOT, LOOT, HOOT, COOT.

  6. Step 6FOOL -> POOL

    Tile 1 changes F 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 FOOL include TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOD.

  7. Step 7POOL -> 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, TOOL, COOL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

WATT has 4 legal one-letter neighbors. WANT, WAIT, WART, WAFT keep the route at 7 moves, while sampled detours begin outside the displayed set.

Compare 4 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
WANT3: T -> N7Keeps par9
WAIT3: T -> I7Keeps par6
WART3: T -> R7Keeps par50
WAFT3: T -> F7Keeps par2

WATT opening fingerprint

WATT groups its legal first moves as tile 3: WANT, WAIT, WART, WAFT. Two moves from the start, 37 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CANT, CART, FART, HAFT, HART, PART, TART, WAIL, WANK, WARD, WARE, WARN, WARP, WEFT, WHIT, WORT, BAIT, DAFT, DART, GAIT, GANT, KART, MART, PANT.

Your route

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Graph reading

WONT is the narrowest displayed bridge

After WANT becomes WONT, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as CANT, WANK, WENT, WAIT show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
3
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 08:50 UTC Puzzle date: August 31, 2026