Poople #439 started at CYAN on October 27, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence Y>L, C>P, N>P, A>O, 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 C-Y-A-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 5-move answer
CYAN -> CLAN -> PLAN -> PLAP -> PLOP -> POOP
Step 0CYANStart
Step 1CLANBridge
Step 2PLANBridge
Step 3PLAPBridge
Step 4PLOPBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1CYAN -> CLAN
Tile 2 changes Y to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. CLAN has 9 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. CYAN has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.
Step 2CLAN -> PLAN
Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLAN has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CLAN include CLAP, CLAY, CLAD, CLAW.
Step 3PLAN -> PLAP
Tile 4 changes N to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLAP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PLAN include PLAY, PLAT, ELAN, FLAN.
Step 4PLAP -> PLOP
Tile 3 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. PLOP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from PLAP include PLAY, FLAP, SLAP, PLAT.
Step 5PLOP -> 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?
CYAN has 1 legal one-letter neighbors, but only CLAN keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin outside the sampled opening set.
Compare 1 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
CLAN
2: Y -> L
5
Keeps par
4
CYAN opening fingerprint
CYAN groups its legal first moves as tile 2: CLAN. Two moves from the start, 7 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CLAP, CLAD, CLAM, CLAW, CLAY, ELAN, FLAN.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
PLAN is the narrowest displayed bridge
After CLAN becomes PLAN, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as CLAP, CLAY, CLAD, CLAW show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
1
Temporary shape detours
0
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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-17 11:48 UTCPuzzle date: October 27, 2026