Poople #522 started at MECH on January 18, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence E>U, H>K, M>L, U>O, C>O, K>P, L>P, with 3 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 M-E-C-H. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. 3 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Tile 2 changes E to U; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUCH has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 6 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MECH include MESH, METH, MACH, TECH.
Step 2MUCH -> MUCK
Tile 4 changes H to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. MUCK has 11 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUCH include SUCH, MUSH, MACH, OUCH.
Step 3MUCK -> LUCK
Tile 1 changes M to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LUCK has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MUCK include BUCK, MOCK, HUCK, SUCK.
Step 4LUCK -> LOCK
Tile 2 changes U 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 LUCK include LACK, BUCK, LICK, HUCK.
Step 5LOCK -> 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 6LOOK -> 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 7LOOP -> 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?
MECH has 5 legal one-letter neighbors. MUCH, MESH, METH keep the route at 7 moves, while sampled detours begin MACH (+1), TECH (+2).
Compare 5 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
MUCH
2: E -> U
7
Keeps par
12
MESH
3: C -> S
7
Keeps par
18
METH
3: C -> T
7
Keeps par
1
MACH
2: E -> A
8
Adds 1 move
64
TECH
1: M -> T
9
Adds 2 moves
31
MECH opening fingerprint
MECH groups its legal first moves as tile 1: TECH; tile 2: MUCH, MACH; tile 3: MESH, METH. Two moves from the start, 18 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is MESS, MOSH, MOTH, MACE, MASH, MATH, MESA, MESH, META, METE, METH, MUSH, MYTH, SUCH, MACH, OUCH, SESH, EACH.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
MUCH is the narrowest displayed bridge
After MECH becomes MUCH, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as MESH, METH, MACH, TECH show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
3
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 20:26 UTCPuzzle date: January 18, 2027