Historical route lab

Poople #442 FUSS Answer

Poople #442 started at FUSS on October 30, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence F>M, U>O, S>O, S>R, M>P, R>P, with 3 par-preserving first moves.

Replay FUSS Scores & notes Browse archive
Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for FUSS, including 9 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-4-1-4.
Calculated from the current word graph

FUSS route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target
Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves93 keep par
Route shapeselective openingLetter positions 1-2-3-4-1-4
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 F-U-S-S. 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

FUSS -> MUSS -> MOSS -> MOOS -> MOOR -> POOR -> POOP

Step 0FUSSStart
Step 1MUSSBridge
Step 2MOSSBridge
Step 3MOOSBridge
Step 4MOORBridge
Step 5POORBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1FUSS -> MUSS

    Tile 1 changes F to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUSS has 16 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FUSS include CUSS, SUSS, FUSE, FURS.

  2. Step 2MUSS -> MOSS

    Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOSS has 19 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUSS include MUST, MASS, MISS, MESS.

  3. Step 3MOSS -> MOOS

    Tile 3 changes S to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOOS has 16 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOSS include BOSS, MOST, LOSS, MOMS.

  4. Step 4MOOS -> MOOR

    Tile 4 changes S to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. MOOR has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOOS include COOS, BOOS, MOON, MOOD.

  5. Step 5MOOR -> POOR

    Tile 1 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOR has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from MOOR include DOOR, BOOR, MOON, MOOD.

  6. Step 6POOR -> POOP

    Tile 4 changes R to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POOR include POOL, POOF, DOOR, POUR.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

FUSS has 9 legal one-letter neighbors. MUSS, CUSS, SUSS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin FUSE (+1), FURS (+1), PUSS (+1), FESS (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
MUSS1: F -> M6Keeps par4
CUSS1: F -> C6Keeps par3
SUSS1: F -> S6Keeps par1
FUSE4: S -> E7Adds 1 move1
FURS3: S -> R7Adds 1 move13
PUSS1: F -> P7Adds 1 move24
FESS2: U -> E7Adds 1 move11
WUSS1: F -> W7Adds 1 move8

FUSS opening fingerprint

FUSS groups its legal first moves as tile 1: MUSS, CUSS, SUSS, PUSS, WUSS; tile 2: FESS; tile 3: FURS, FUNS; tile 4: FUSE. Two moves from the start, 60 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CUBS, CUPS, CUTS, SUMS, BUNS, BURS, CUES, CUMS, CURS, CUSS, FANS, FEES, FEST, FUND, FUNK, FURL, JESS, LESS, MASS, MESS, MISS, MUDS, MUGS, MUMS.

Your route

Compare a path you played

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

POOR is the narrowest displayed bridge

After MOOR becomes POOR, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as DOOR, BOOR, MOON, MOOD show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
2
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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-17 14:45 UTC Puzzle date: October 30, 2026