Historical route lab

Poople #406 TRAY Answer

Poople #406 started at TRAY on September 24, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence Y>P, T>C, A>O, C>P, R>O, with 5 par-preserving first moves.

Replay TRAY Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for TRAY, including 9 legal openings and route signature 4-1-3-1-2.

Calculated from the current word graph

TRAY route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes10Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves95 keep par

Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 4-1-3-1-2

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 T-R-A-Y. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 5 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

TRAY -> TRAP -> CRAP -> CROP -> PROP -> POOP

Step 0TRAYStart

Step 1TRAPBridge

Step 2CRAPBridge

Step 3CROPBridge

Step 4PROPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1TRAY -> TRAP

Tile 4 changes Y to P; the move is closer by letter shape. TRAP has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TRAY include PRAY, TRAM, TRAD, CRAY.
Step 2TRAP -> CRAP

Tile 1 changes T to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CRAP has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TRAP include TRIP, WRAP, TRAM, TRAD.
Step 3CRAP -> CROP

Tile 3 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. CROP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CRAP include CHAP, CLAP, WRAP, CRAB.
Step 4CROP -> PROP

Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PROP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from CROP include COOP, DROP, CHOP, CLOP.
Step 5PROP -> POOP

Tile 2 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PROP include PLOP, DROP, PREP, PROS.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

TRAY has 9 legal one-letter neighbors. PRAY, TRAP, TRAM, TRAD, CRAY keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin GRAY (+1), BRAY (+1), FRAY (+1), XRAY (+1).

Compare 9 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
PRAY	1: T -> P	5	Keeps par	4
TRAP	4: Y -> P	5	Keeps par	2
TRAM	4: Y -> M	5	Keeps par	1
TRAD	4: Y -> D	5	Keeps par	1
CRAY	1: T -> C	5	Keeps par	2
GRAY	1: T -> G	6	Adds 1 move	9
BRAY	1: T -> B	6	Adds 1 move	10
FRAY	1: T -> F	6	Adds 1 move	11
XRAY	1: T -> X	6	Adds 1 move	6

TRAY opening fingerprint

TRAY groups its legal first moves as tile 1: PRAY, CRAY, GRAY, BRAY, FRAY, XRAY; tile 4: TRAP, TRAM, TRAD. Two moves from the start, 36 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is PLAY, PRAM, PREY, TROD, BRAS, BRAT, CLAY, CRAB, CRAG, CRAM, CRAW, CRAY, DRAM, FLAY, FRAG, GRAD, GRAM, GREY, PRAT, PRAY, TOAD, TRAD, TRAM, TRIM.

Your route

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Graph reading

TRAP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After TRAY becomes TRAP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as PRAY, TRAM, TRAD, CRAY show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
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: 2026-08-16 06:01 UTC Puzzle date: September 24, 2026