Historical route lab

Poople #424 WAVY Answer

Poople #424 started at WAVY on October 12, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence Y>E, W>C, V>M, A>O, E>P, M>O, C>P, with 2 par-preserving first moves.

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

WAVY route profile

Par7 moves8 words including start and target
Shortest routes36Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves42 keep par
Route shapeselective openingLetter positions 4-1-3-2-4-3-1
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 W-A-V-Y. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-vowel change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 7-move answer

WAVY -> WAVE -> CAVE -> CAME -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0WAVYStart
Step 1WAVEBridge
Step 2CAVEBridge
Step 3CAMEBridge
Step 4COMEBridge
Step 5COMPBridge
Step 6COOPBridge
Step 7POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1WAVY -> WAVE

    Tile 4 changes Y to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. WAVE has 18 legal neighbors, 7 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WAVY include WARY, NAVY, WAXY.

  2. Step 2WAVE -> CAVE

    Tile 1 changes W to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAVE has 19 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WAVE include SAVE, WAKE, WARE, PAVE.

  3. Step 3CAVE -> CAME

    Tile 3 changes V to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAME has 20 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAVE include COVE, CASE, CARE, SAVE.

  4. Step 4CAME -> COME

    Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAME include CAMP, SAME, CAMS, DAME.

  5. Step 5COME -> COMP

    Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.

  6. Step 6COMP -> COOP

    Tile 3 changes M 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 COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.

  7. Step 7COOP -> 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?

WAVY has 4 legal one-letter neighbors. WAVE, WARY keep the route at 7 moves, while sampled detours begin NAVY (+1), WAXY (+1).

Compare 4 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
WAVE4: Y -> E7Keeps par26
WARY3: V -> R7Keeps par10
NAVY1: W -> N8Adds 1 move22
WAXY3: V -> X8Adds 1 move10

WAVY opening fingerprint

WAVY groups its legal first moves as tile 1: NAVY; tile 3: WARY, WAXY; tile 4: WAVE. Two moves from the start, 27 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is PAVE, SAVE, WAKE, WALE, WARD, WARE, WARN, WARP, WOVE, EAVE, FAVE, GAVE, HAVE, LAVE, NAVE, RAVE, WADE, WAGE, WANE, WARM, WARS, WART, WARY, WIRY.

Your route

Compare a path you played

Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading

COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After COMP becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
3
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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-16 21:31 UTC Puzzle date: October 12, 2026