Historical route lab

Poople #499 KINK Answer

Poople #499 started at KINK on December 26, 2026. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence K>L, N>C, I>O, C>O, K>P, L>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for KINK, including 15 legal openings and route signature 1-3-2-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

KINK route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes19Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves154 keep par

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

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 K-I-N-K. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 4 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

KINK -> LINK -> LICK -> LOCK -> LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0KINKStart

Step 1LINKBridge

Step 2LICKBridge

Step 3LOCKBridge

Step 4LOOKBridge

Step 5LOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1KINK -> LINK

Tile 1 changes K to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LINK has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KINK include KICK, MINK, TINK, KIND.
Step 2LINK -> LICK

Tile 3 changes N to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. LICK has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LINK include LINE, LINT, MINK, TINK.
Step 3LICK -> LOCK

Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOCK has 18 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LICK include LACK, LUCK, HICK, PICK.
Step 4LOCK -> LOOK

Tile 3 changes C to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOK has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOCK include COCK, BOCK, HOCK, ROCK.
Step 5LOOK -> LOOP

Tile 4 changes K to P; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from LOOK include BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM.
Step 6LOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 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 LOOP include COOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

KINK has 15 legal one-letter neighbors. LINK, KICK, MINK, TINK keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin KIND (+1), PINK (+1), SINK (+1), WINK (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
LINK	1: K -> L	6	Keeps par	1
KICK	3: N -> C	6	Keeps par	2
MINK	1: K -> M	6	Keeps par	8
TINK	1: K -> T	6	Keeps par	8
KIND	4: K -> D	7	Adds 1 move	4
PINK	1: K -> P	7	Adds 1 move	31
SINK	1: K -> S	7	Adds 1 move	29
WINK	1: K -> W	7	Adds 1 move	21

KINK opening fingerprint

KINK groups its legal first moves as tile 1: LINK, MINK, TINK, PINK, SINK, WINK, FINK, RINK, DINK, OINK; tile 3: KICK; tile 4: KIND, KINE, KINS, KING. Two moves from the start, 82 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is HICK, MONK, TONK, BIND, BINS, DANK, DICK, DINE, DIRK, DUNK, FIND, FUNK, KIDS, KITS, LANK, LINE, LINT, MILK, MINK, NICK, PICK, PINE, PINS, PUNK.

Your route

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After LOOK becomes LOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM 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: 2026-08-19 22:13 UTC Puzzle date: December 26, 2026