Poople #404 started at WHEN on September 22, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence N>W, W>C, E>O, W>P, 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 W-H-E-N. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 6-move answer
WHEN -> WHEW -> CHEW -> CHOW -> CHOP -> COOP -> POOP
Step 0WHENStart
Step 1WHEWBridge
Step 2CHEWBridge
Step 3CHOWBridge
Step 4CHOPBridge
Step 5COOPBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1WHEN -> WHEW
Tile 4 changes N to W; the move is sideways by letter shape. WHEW has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHEN include THEN, WHEY, WHET, WHEE.
Step 2WHEW -> CHEW
Tile 1 changes W to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CHEW has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHEW include PHEW, WHEY, WHET, WHEE.
Step 3CHEW -> CHOW
Tile 3 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. CHOW has 5 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHEW include CREW, CHAW, CHEF, PHEW.
Step 4CHOW -> CHOP
Tile 4 changes W to P; the move is closer by letter shape. CHOP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHOW include CROW, SHOW, CHAW.
Step 5CHOP -> 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, CHIP.
Step 6COOP -> 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?
WHEN has 6 legal one-letter neighbors, but only WHEW keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin THEN (+1), WHEY (+1), WHET (+1), WHEE (+1).
Compare 6 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
WHEW
4: N -> W
6
Keeps par
1
THEN
1: W -> T
7
Adds 1 move
2
WHEY
4: N -> Y
7
Adds 1 move
1
WHET
4: N -> T
7
Adds 1 move
8
WHEE
4: N -> E
7
Adds 1 move
1
WREN
2: H -> R
8
Adds 2 moves
1
WHEN opening fingerprint
WHEN groups its legal first moves as tile 1: THEN; tile 2: WREN; tile 4: WHEW, WHEY, WHET, WHEE. Two moves from the start, 13 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is PHEW, TEEN, THIN, WHAT, WHIT, GHEE, THAN, WHEE, WHET, WHEY, THEE, THEM, THEY.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
CHOW is the narrowest displayed bridge
After CHEW becomes CHOW, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as CREW, CHAW, CHEF, PHEW 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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-16 04:26 UTCPuzzle date: September 22, 2026