Historical route lab

Poople #390 NEWS Answer

Poople #390 started at NEWS on September 8, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence W>T, N>B, E>O, T>O, S>P, B>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 NEWS, including 8 legal openings and route signature 3-1-2-3-4-1.
Calculated from the current word graph

NEWS route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target
Shortest routes9Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves84 keep par
Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 3-1-2-3-4-1
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 N-E-W-S. 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 6-move answer

NEWS -> NETS -> BETS -> BOTS -> BOOS -> BOOP -> POOP

Step 0NEWSStart
Step 1NETSBridge
Step 2BETSBridge
Step 3BOTSBridge
Step 4BOOSBridge
Step 5BOOPBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1NEWS -> NETS

    Tile 3 changes W to T; the move is sideways by letter shape. NETS has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NEWS include MEWS, PEWS, SEWS, NEWT.

  2. Step 2NETS -> BETS

    Tile 1 changes N to B; the move is sideways by letter shape. BETS has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NETS include SETS, GETS, PETS, LETS.

  3. Step 3BETS -> BOTS

    Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOTS has 22 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BETS include BITS, BEDS, BATS, BEGS.

  4. Step 4BOTS -> BOOS

    Tile 3 changes T to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOS has 21 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOTS include BOYS, BOSS, BOWS, COTS.

  5. Step 5BOOS -> BOOP

    Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOP has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from BOOS include BOOK, BOOT, BOOB, BOOM.

  6. Step 6BOOP -> POOP

    Tile 1 changes B to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOOP include LOOP, COOP, HOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

NEWS has 8 legal one-letter neighbors. NETS, MEWS, PEWS, SEWS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin NEWT (+1), DEWS (+1), HEWS (+1), YEWS (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
NETS3: W -> T6Keeps par1
MEWS1: N -> M6Keeps par5
PEWS1: N -> P6Keeps par1
SEWS1: N -> S6Keeps par2
NEWT4: S -> T7Adds 1 move5
DEWS1: N -> D7Adds 1 move9
HEWS1: N -> H7Adds 1 move14
YEWS1: N -> Y7Adds 1 move9

NEWS opening fingerprint

NEWS groups its legal first moves as tile 1: MEWS, PEWS, SEWS, DEWS, HEWS, YEWS; tile 3: NETS; tile 4: NEWT. Two moves from the start, 47 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is MOWS, PEES, SOWS, DENS, GETS, HAWS, HEMS, HENS, JETS, LETS, MAWS, MEDS, MESS, MEWS, NEAT, NEST, NITS, NUTS, PAWS, PEAS, PECS, PEGS, PENS, PEPS.

Your route

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Graph reading

NETS is the narrowest displayed bridge

After NEWS becomes NETS, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as MEWS, PEWS, SEWS, NEWT 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 16:25 UTC Puzzle date: September 8, 2026