Historical route lab

Poople #431 PEST Answer

Poople #431 started at PEST on October 19, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence E>O, P>L, S>O, T>P, L>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for PEST, including 18 legal openings and route signature 2-1-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

PEST route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes9Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves184 keep par

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

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 P-E-S-T. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. 4 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

PEST -> POST -> LOST -> LOOT -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0PESTStart

Step 1POSTBridge

Step 2LOSTBridge

Step 3LOOTBridge

Step 4LOOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1PEST -> POST

Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POST has 12 legal neighbors, 5 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PEST include LEST, PEAT, HEST, BEST.
Step 2POST -> LOST

Tile 1 changes P to L; the move is temporarily farther by letter shape. LOST has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POST include COST, HOST, POSE, POUT.
Step 3LOST -> LOOT

Tile 3 changes S to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOT has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOST include COST, HOST, LOFT, LOUT.
Step 4LOOT -> LOOP

Tile 4 changes T to P; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from LOOT include LOOK, BOOT, LOOM, LOON.
Step 5LOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 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 LOOP include COOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

PEST has 18 legal one-letter neighbors. POST, LEST, PEAT, HEST keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin BEST (+1), WEST (+1), TEST (+1), PAST (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
POST	2: E -> O	5	Keeps par	5
LEST	1: P -> L	5	Keeps par	1
PEAT	3: S -> A	5	Keeps par	2
HEST	1: P -> H	5	Keeps par	1
BEST	1: P -> B	6	Adds 1 move	4
WEST	1: P -> W	6	Adds 1 move	2
TEST	1: P -> T	6	Adds 1 move	2
PAST	2: E -> A	6	Adds 1 move	7

PEST opening fingerprint

PEST groups its legal first moves as tile 1: LEST, HEST, BEST, WEST, TEST, REST, NEST, FEST, VEST, JEST, ZEST; tile 2: POST, PAST; tile 3: PEAT, PERT, PENT, PELT; tile 4: PESO. Two moves from the start, 92 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COST, HOST, PLAT, POSE, POUT, BEAT, BELT, CAST, HEST, LAST, LEFT, LEST, LIST, LUST, MOST, PEAT, PERP, PHAT, POET, PORT, POSH, POSY, PRAT, BAST.

Your route

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After LOOT becomes LOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as LOOK, BOOT, LOOM, LOON show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 0
Temporary shape detours: 1
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: 2026-08-17 04:07 UTC Puzzle date: October 19, 2026