Historical route lab

Poople #472 FURL Answer

Poople #472 started at FURL on November 29, 2026. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence R>L, F>P, U>O, L>O, L>P, with 2 par-preserving first moves.

Replay FURL Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for FURL, including 8 legal openings and route signature 3-1-2-3-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

FURL route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes2Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves82 keep par

Route shapeselective openingLetter positions 3-1-2-3-4

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 F-U-R-L. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

FURL -> FULL -> PULL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0FURLStart

Step 1FULLBridge

Step 2PULLBridge

Step 3POLLBridge

Step 4POOLBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1FURL -> FULL

Tile 3 changes R to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FULL has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FURL include PURL, FUEL, CURL, BURL.
Step 2FULL -> PULL

Tile 1 changes F to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PULL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FULL include FALL, FILL, NULL, BULL.
Step 3PULL -> POLL

Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PULL include PILL, PULP, PALL, NULL.
Step 4POLL -> 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, PILL, DOLL.
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, COOL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

FURL has 8 legal one-letter neighbors. FULL, PURL keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin FUEL (+1), CURL (+1), BURL (+1), HURL (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
FULL	3: R -> L	5	Keeps par	1
PURL	1: F -> P	5	Keeps par	1
FUEL	3: R -> E	6	Adds 1 move	1
CURL	1: F -> C	6	Adds 1 move	2
BURL	1: F -> B	6	Adds 1 move	5
HURL	1: F -> H	6	Adds 1 move	2
FURY	4: L -> Y	7	Adds 2 moves	4
FURS	4: L -> S	7	Adds 2 moves	13

FURL opening fingerprint

FURL groups its legal first moves as tile 1: PURL, CURL, BURL, HURL; tile 3: FULL, FUEL; tile 4: FURY, FURS. Two moves from the start, 40 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BULL, BURN, BURP, CULL, DULL, FALL, FILL, GULL, HULL, LULL, MULL, NULL, PURE, PURL, BURB, BURG, BURL, BURR, BURS, BURY, CURD, CURE, CURL, CURS.

Your route

Compare a path you played

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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, PILL, DOLL 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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-18 19:10 UTC Puzzle date: November 29, 2026