Poople #453 started at ICES on November 10, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence C>D, S>M, D>T, I>S, M>P, E>O, T>L, S>P, L>O, with 3 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 I-C-E-S. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 3 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Tile 2 changes C to D; the move is sideways by letter shape. IDES has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 8 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ICES include ACES, ICED, ICER.
Step 2IDES -> IDEM
Tile 4 changes S to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. IDEM has 3 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 7 moves remaining. Other legal exits from IDES include IDEA, ODES.
Step 3IDEM -> ITEM
Tile 2 changes D to T; the move is sideways by letter shape. ITEM has 2 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from IDEM include IDEA.
Step 4ITEM -> STEM
Tile 1 changes I to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. STEM has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. ITEM has no additional off-route exit in the sampled branch set.
Step 5STEM -> STEP
Tile 4 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. STEP has 5 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from STEM include SEEM, STEW, STIM, STET.
Step 6STEP -> STOP
Tile 3 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. STOP has 5 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from STEP include SEEP, STEW, STET.
Step 7STOP -> SLOP
Tile 2 changes T to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. SLOP has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from STOP include SHOP, ATOP, STOW.
Step 8SLOP -> PLOP
Tile 1 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLOP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from SLOP include FLOP, CLOP, GLOP, SHOP.
Step 9PLOP -> 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?
ICES has 4 legal one-letter neighbors. ACES, ICED, IDES keep the route at 9 moves, while sampled detours begin ICER (+1).
Compare 4 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
ACES
1: I -> A
9
Keeps par
2
ICED
4: S -> D
9
Keeps par
1
IDES
2: C -> D
9
Keeps par
1
ICER
4: S -> R
10
Adds 1 move
2
ICES opening fingerprint
ICES groups its legal first moves as tile 1: ACES; tile 2: IDES; tile 4: ICED, ICER. Two moves from the start, 13 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is ACED, APES, ACER, ACTS, AGES, ALES, AVES, AWES, AXES, ICED, IDEA, ODES, ICER.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
ITEM is the narrowest displayed bridge
After IDEM becomes ITEM, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as IDEA show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
5
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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-18 01:23 UTCPuzzle date: November 10, 2026