Historical route lab

Poople #433 VEAL Answer

Poople #433 started at VEAL on October 21, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence V>D, A>L, E>O, D>P, L>O, L>P, with 3 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for VEAL, including 11 legal openings and route signature 1-3-2-1-3-4.
Calculated from the current word graph

VEAL route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target
Shortest routes6Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves113 keep par
Route shapeselective openingLetter positions 1-3-2-1-3-4
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 V-E-A-L. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 3 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

VEAL -> DEAL -> DELL -> DOLL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0VEALStart
Step 1DEALBridge
Step 2DELLBridge
Step 3DOLLBridge
Step 4POLLBridge
Step 5POOLBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1VEAL -> DEAL

    Tile 1 changes V to D; the move is sideways by letter shape. DEAL has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from VEAL include TEAL, PEAL, REAL, SEAL.

  2. Step 2DEAL -> DELL

    Tile 3 changes A to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. DELL has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DEAL include DUAL, DEAN, DEAR, DIAL.

  3. Step 3DELL -> DOLL

    Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. DOLL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DELL include TELL, BELL, DULL, DILL.

  4. Step 4DOLL -> POLL

    Tile 1 changes D to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DOLL include ROLL, TOLL, BOLL, LOLL.

  5. Step 5POLL -> POOL

    Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POLL include ROLL, TOLL, PULL, PILL.

  6. 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?

VEAL has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. DEAL, TEAL, PEAL keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin REAL (+1), SEAL (+1), MEAL (+1), HEAL (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
DEAL1: V -> D6Keeps par1
TEAL1: V -> T6Keeps par2
PEAL1: V -> P6Keeps par3
REAL1: V -> R7Adds 1 move22
SEAL1: V -> S7Adds 1 move28
MEAL1: V -> M7Adds 1 move22
HEAL1: V -> H7Adds 1 move28
ZEAL1: V -> Z7Adds 1 move6

VEAL opening fingerprint

VEAL groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DEAL, TEAL, PEAL, REAL, SEAL, MEAL, HEAL, ZEAL, WEAL; tile 2: VIAL; tile 3: VEIL. Two moves from the start, 50 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is PEAT, PEEL, TELL, DEAN, DEAR, DIAL, DUAL, HEAD, HEAP, HEAR, HEAT, HEEL, HELL, MEAN, MEAT, PEAK, PEAL, PEAR, PEAS, READ, REAM, REAR, REEL, RIAL.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POLL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as ROLL, TOLL, PULL, PILL show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
3

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 05:56 UTC Puzzle date: October 21, 2026