Poople #414 started at ICED on October 2, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence I>A, C>P, A>S, P>L, S>P, E>O, D>P, L>O, 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 I-C-E-D. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 1 changes I to A; the move is sideways by letter shape. ACED has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 7 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ICED include ICES, ICER.
Step 2ACED -> APED
Tile 2 changes C to P; the move is sideways by letter shape. APED has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ACED include ACID, AGED, AWED, AXED.
Step 3APED -> SPED
Tile 1 changes A to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. SPED has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from APED include AGED, APEX, APES, AWED.
Step 4SPED -> SLED
Tile 2 changes P to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. SLED has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from SPED include SEED, SHED, SUED, SPUD.
Step 5SLED -> PLED
Tile 1 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLED has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from SLED include FLED, SLID, SLEW, BLED.
Step 6PLED -> PLOD
Tile 3 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. PLOD has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PLED include PLEA, FLED, PIED, BLED.
Step 7PLOD -> PLOP
Tile 4 changes D to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLOP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from PLOD include PLOT, PROD, PLOW, PLOY.
Step 8PLOP -> POOP
Tile 2 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PLOP include PROP, PLOT, FLOP, PLOW.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
ICED has 3 legal one-letter neighbors, but only ACED keeps the route at 8 moves. Nearby detours begin ICES (+2), ICER (+2).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
ACED
1: I -> A
8
Keeps par
1
ICES
4: D -> S
10
Adds 2 moves
4
ICER
4: D -> R
10
Adds 2 moves
2
ICED opening fingerprint
ICED groups its legal first moves as tile 1: ACED; tile 4: ICES, ICER. Two moves from the start, 10 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is ABED, ACID, AGED, AWED, AXED, ACER, ACES, IDES, ICER, ICES.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
PLED is the narrowest displayed bridge
After SLED becomes PLED, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as FLED, SLID, SLEW, BLED 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: 2026-08-16 12:42 UTCPuzzle date: October 2, 2026