Poople #479 started at NAVY on December 6, 2026. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence Y>E, V>M, N>C, A>O, E>P, M>O, C>P, 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 N-A-V-Y. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 7-move answer
NAVY -> NAVE -> NAME -> CAME -> COME -> COMP -> COOP -> POOP
Step 0NAVYStart
Step 1NAVEBridge
Step 2NAMEBridge
Step 3CAMEBridge
Step 4COMEBridge
Step 5COMPBridge
Step 6COOPBridge
Step 7POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1NAVY -> NAVE
Tile 4 changes Y to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. NAVE has 13 legal neighbors, 5 shortest continuations, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NAVY include WAVY, NARY.
Step 2NAVE -> NAME
Tile 3 changes V to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. NAME has 9 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NAVE include SAVE, CAVE, PAVE, NAPE.
Step 3NAME -> CAME
Tile 1 changes N to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CAME has 20 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from NAME include SAME, DAME, TAME, GAME.
Step 4CAME -> COME
Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COME has 17 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CAME include CAMP, SAME, CAMS, DAME.
Step 5COME -> COMP
Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COMP has 8 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COME include POME, HOME, SOME, DOME.
Step 6COMP -> COOP
Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COMP include POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP.
Step 7COOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COOP include LOOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
NAVY has 3 legal one-letter neighbors, but only NAVE keeps the route at 7 moves. Nearby detours begin WAVY (+1), NARY (+1).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
NAVE
4: Y -> E
7
Keeps par
22
WAVY
1: N -> W
8
Adds 1 move
36
NARY
3: V -> R
8
Adds 1 move
10
NAVY opening fingerprint
NAVY groups its legal first moves as tile 1: WAVY; tile 3: NARY; tile 4: NAVE. Two moves from the start, 15 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CAVE, NAPE, PAVE, SAVE, EAVE, FAVE, GAVE, HAVE, LAVE, RAVE, WARY, WAVE, VARY, WAXY, NARC.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge
After COMP becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as POMP, COUP, ROMP, CAMP show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
3
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
4
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: 2026-08-19 02:23 UTCPuzzle date: December 6, 2026