Poople #394 started at AHEM on September 12, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence A>T, M>N, E>I, T>C, N>P, I>O, H>O, C>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-H-E-M. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 8-move answer
AHEM -> THEM -> THEN -> THIN -> CHIN -> CHIP -> CHOP -> COOP -> POOP
Step 0AHEMStart
Step 1THEMBridge
Step 2THENBridge
Step 3THINBridge
Step 4CHINBridge
Step 5CHIPBridge
Step 6CHOPBridge
Step 7COOPBridge
Step 8POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1AHEM -> THEM
Tile 1 changes A to T; the move is sideways by letter shape. THEM has 5 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 7 moves remaining. AHEM has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.
Step 2THEM -> THEN
Tile 4 changes M to N; the move is sideways by letter shape. THEN has 7 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from THEM include TEEM, THEY, THEE.
Step 3THEN -> THIN
Tile 3 changes E to I; the move is sideways by letter shape. THIN has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from THEN include TEEN, WHEN, THAN, THEY.
Step 4THIN -> CHIN
Tile 1 changes T to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CHIN has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from THIN include SHIN, THIS, THAN, TWIN.
Step 5CHIN -> CHIP
Tile 4 changes N to P; the move is closer by letter shape. CHIP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHIN include COIN, CHIC, CHIT, CHIA.
Step 6CHIP -> CHOP
Tile 3 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. CHOP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHIP include CLIP, CHAP, SHIP, CHIC.
Step 7CHOP -> COOP
Tile 2 changes H to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from CHOP include CROP, CLOP, SHOP, CHAP.
Step 8COOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COOP include LOOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
AHEM has 1 legal one-letter neighbors, but only THEM keeps the route at 8 moves. Nearby detours begin outside the sampled opening set.
Compare 1 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
THEM
1: A -> T
8
Keeps par
13
AHEM opening fingerprint
AHEM groups its legal first moves as tile 1: THEM. Two moves from the start, 3 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is TEEM, THEE, THEY.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
THIN is the narrowest displayed bridge
After THEN becomes THIN, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as TEEN, WHEN, THAN, THEY show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
4
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
4
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 20:20 UTCPuzzle date: September 12, 2026