Historical route lab

Poople #408 YARD Answer

Poople #408 started at YARD on September 26, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence Y>W, A>O, R>O, D>L, W>P, L>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

Replay YARD Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for YARD, including 6 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-4-1-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

YARD route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes9Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves64 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

YARD -> WARD -> WORD -> WOOD -> WOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0YARDStart

Step 1WARDBridge

Step 2WORDBridge

Step 3WOODBridge

Step 4WOOLBridge

Step 5POOLBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1YARD -> WARD

Tile 1 changes Y to W; the move is sideways by letter shape. WARD has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from YARD include CARD, YARN, BARD, HARD.
Step 2WARD -> WORD

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. WORD has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WARD include CARD, WARE, WARN, WARP.
Step 3WORD -> WOOD

Tile 3 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. WOOD has 10 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WORD include WORK, FORD, CORD, WORN.
Step 4WOOD -> WOOL

Tile 4 changes D to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. WOOL has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WOOD include GOOD, HOOD, WOOF, FOOD.
Step 5WOOL -> POOL

Tile 1 changes W 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 WOOL include TOOL, COOL, FOOL, WOOF.
Step 6POOL -> 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?

YARD has 6 legal one-letter neighbors. CARD, WARD, YARN, BARD keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin HARD (+1), LARD (+1).

Compare 6 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
CARD	1: Y -> C	6	Keeps par	3
WARD	1: Y -> W	6	Keeps par	4
YARN	4: D -> N	6	Keeps par	1
BARD	1: Y -> B	6	Keeps par	1
HARD	1: Y -> H	7	Adds 1 move	17
LARD	1: Y -> L	7	Adds 1 move	26

YARD opening fingerprint

YARD groups its legal first moves as tile 1: CARD, WARD, BARD, HARD, LARD; tile 4: YARN. Two moves from the start, 44 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BARN, CARP, CORD, BALD, BAND, BARB, BARD, BARE, BARF, BARK, BARS, CARB, CARD, CARE, CARS, CART, CURD, DARN, EARN, HAND, HARE, HARK, HARP, HART.

Your route

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Graph reading

WOOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After WOOD becomes WOOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as GOOD, HOOD, WOOF, FOOD 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: 2026-08-16 07:37 UTC Puzzle date: September 26, 2026