Poople #516 started at TREE on January 12, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence T>F, R>L, E>O, E>P, F>P, L>O, 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 T-R-E-E. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 1 changes T to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FREE has 3 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TREE include TRUE, TREK, THEE, TWEE.
Step 2FREE -> FLEE
Tile 2 changes R to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. FLEE has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FREE include FRET.
Step 3FLEE -> FLOE
Tile 3 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FLOE has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FLEE include FLEW, FLED, FLUE, FLEX.
Step 4FLOE -> FLOP
Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. FLOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FLOE include FLOW, FLOG, SLOE, ALOE.
Step 5FLOP -> PLOP
Tile 1 changes F to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLOP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from FLOP include SLOP, CLOP, GLOP, FLOW.
Step 6PLOP -> POOP
Tile 2 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PLOP include PROP, PLOT, PLOW, PLOY.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
TREE has 5 legal one-letter neighbors, but only FREE keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin TRUE (+2), TREK (+2), THEE (+2), TWEE (+2).
Compare 5 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
FREE
1: T -> F
6
Keeps par
1
TRUE
3: E -> U
8
Adds 2 moves
1
TREK
4: E -> K
8
Adds 2 moves
1
THEE
2: R -> H
8
Adds 2 moves
5
TWEE
2: R -> W
8
Adds 2 moves
1
TREE opening fingerprint
TREE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: FREE; tile 2: THEE, TWEE; tile 3: TRUE; tile 4: TREK. Two moves from the start, 8 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is FRET, GHEE, THEN, WHEE, THEE, THEM, THEY, TWEE.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
FREE is the narrowest displayed bridge
After TREE becomes FREE, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as TRUE, TREK, THEE, TWEE show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
3
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: 2026-08-20 14:40 UTCPuzzle date: January 12, 2027