Historical route lab

Poople #512 TEND Answer

Poople #512 started at TEND on January 8, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence T>F, E>O, N>O, D>L, F>P, L>P, with 5 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for TEND, including 11 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-4-1-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

TEND route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes11Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves115 keep par

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

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 T-E-N-D. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 5 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

TEND -> FEND -> FOND -> FOOD -> FOOL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0TENDStart

Step 1FENDBridge

Step 2FONDBridge

Step 3FOODBridge

Step 4FOOLBridge

Step 5POOLBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1TEND -> FEND

Tile 1 changes T to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FEND has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TEND include BEND, TENS, PEND, TEED.
Step 2FEND -> FOND

Tile 2 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOND has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FEND include FIND, FUND, FEED, BEND.
Step 3FOND -> FOOD

Tile 3 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FOOD has 10 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOND include FORD, FONT, BOND, FOLD.
Step 4FOOD -> FOOL

Tile 4 changes D to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FOOL has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FOOD include GOOD, HOOD, WOOD, FOOT.
Step 5FOOL -> POOL

Tile 1 changes F 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 FOOL include TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOT.
Step 6POOL -> 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?

TEND has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. BEND, TENS, FEND, PEND, TEED keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin SEND (+1), TENT (+1), LEND (+1), MEND (+1).

Compare 9 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
BEND	1: T -> B	6	Keeps par	1
TENS	4: D -> S	6	Keeps par	1
FEND	1: T -> F	6	Keeps par	3
PEND	1: T -> P	6	Keeps par	2
TEED	3: N -> E	6	Keeps par	4
SEND	1: T -> S	7	Adds 1 move	11
TENT	4: D -> T	7	Adds 1 move	12
LEND	1: T -> L	7	Adds 1 move	13
MEND	1: T -> M	7	Adds 1 move	13

TEND opening fingerprint

TEND groups its legal first moves as tile 1: BEND, FEND, PEND, SEND, LEND, MEND, VEND, WEND; tile 3: TEED; tile 4: TENS, TENT. Two moves from the start, 65 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BOND, HEED, PEED, TOED, TONS, BAND, BEAD, BEND, BENT, BIND, DEED, DENS, FEED, FIND, FUND, HENS, LEAD, LENT, MELD, NEED, PEND, PENS, PENT, POND.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After FOOL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as TOOL, COOL, WOOL, FOOT 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: 2026-08-20 10:59 UTC Puzzle date: January 8, 2027