Historical route lab

Poople #420 OMEN Answer

Poople #420 started at OMEN on October 8, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence M>P, N>S, E>T, P>U, O>C, U>O, T>O, S>P, C>P, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for OMEN, including 4 legal openings and route signature 2-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-1.
Calculated from the current word graph

OMEN route profile

Par9 moves10 words including start and target
Shortest routes4Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves41 keep par
Route shapenarrow openingLetter positions 2-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-1
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 O-M-E-N. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 9-move answer

OMEN -> OPEN -> OPES -> OPTS -> OUTS -> CUTS -> COTS -> COOS -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0OMENStart
Step 1OPENBridge
Step 2OPESBridge
Step 3OPTSBridge
Step 4OUTSBridge
Step 5CUTSBridge
Step 6COTSBridge
Step 7COOSBridge
Step 8COOPBridge
Step 9POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1OMEN -> OPEN

    Tile 2 changes M to P; the move is sideways by letter shape. OPEN has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 8 moves remaining. Other legal exits from OMEN include OVEN, OXEN, AMEN.

  2. Step 2OPEN -> OPES

    Tile 4 changes N to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. OPES has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 7 moves remaining. Other legal exits from OPEN include OVEN, OXEN.

  3. Step 3OPES -> OPTS

    Tile 3 changes E to T; the move is sideways by letter shape. OPTS has 5 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from OPES include OPUS, APES, ONES, OWES.

  4. Step 4OPTS -> OUTS

    Tile 2 changes P to U; the move is sideways by letter shape. OUTS has 12 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from OPTS include OATS, OPUS, APTS.

  5. Step 5OUTS -> CUTS

    Tile 1 changes O to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CUTS has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from OUTS include BUTS, PUTS, NUTS, GUTS.

  6. Step 6CUTS -> COTS

    Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COTS has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CUTS include CATS, CUPS, CUBS, BUTS.

  7. Step 7COTS -> COOS

    Tile 3 changes T to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOS has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COTS include CONS, COPS, COWS, BOTS.

  8. Step 8COOS -> COOP

    Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COOS include COOL, COOK, BOOS, COOT.

  9. Step 9COOP -> 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?

OMEN has 4 legal one-letter neighbors, but only OPEN keeps the route at 9 moves. Nearby detours begin OVEN (+1), OXEN (+1), AMEN (+2).

Compare 4 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
OPEN2: M -> P9Keeps par4
OVEN2: M -> V10Adds 1 move6
OXEN2: M -> X10Adds 1 move4
AMEN1: O -> A11Adds 2 moves4

OMEN opening fingerprint

OMEN groups its legal first moves as tile 1: AMEN; tile 2: OPEN, OVEN, OXEN. Two moves from the start, 5 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is EVEN, OVEN, OVER, OXEN, OXER.

Your route

Compare a path you played

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Graph reading

OPEN is the narrowest displayed bridge

After OMEN becomes OPEN, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as OVEN, OXEN, AMEN show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
5
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
5

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 18:01 UTC Puzzle date: October 8, 2026