Poople #461 started at HOAX on November 18, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence H>C, X>L, A>O, C>P, L>P, with 2 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 H-O-A-X. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 5-move answer
HOAX -> COAX -> COAL -> COOL -> POOL -> POOP
Step 0HOAXStart
Step 1COAXBridge
Step 2COALBridge
Step 3COOLBridge
Step 4POOLBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1HOAX -> COAX
Tile 1 changes H to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. COAX has 3 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HOAX include HOAR.
Step 2COAX -> COAL
Tile 4 changes X to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. COAL has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COAX include COAT.
Step 3COAL -> COOL
Tile 3 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOL has 11 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COAL include COAT, COIL, FOAL, COWL.
Step 4COOL -> POOL
Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COOL include COOP, TOOL, COOK, WOOL.
Step 5POOL -> 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, POLL.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
HOAX has 2 legal one-letter neighbors. COAX, HOAR keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin outside the displayed set.
Compare 2 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
COAX
1: H -> C
5
Keeps par
3
HOAR
4: X -> R
5
Keeps par
3
HOAX opening fingerprint
HOAX groups its legal first moves as tile 1: COAX; tile 4: HOAR. Two moves from the start, 7 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BOAR, COAT, HOUR, HOER, ROAR, SOAR, HEAR.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
COAL is the narrowest displayed bridge
After COAX becomes COAL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as COAT show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
3
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
1
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 10:06 UTCPuzzle date: November 18, 2026