Historical route lab

Poople #536 YAWN Answer

Poople #536 started at YAWN on February 1, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence W>R, Y>B, A>O, R>O, N>P, B>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 YAWN, including 8 legal openings and route signature 3-1-2-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

YAWN route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves85 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

YAWN -> YARN -> BARN -> BORN -> BOON -> BOOP -> POOP

Step 0YAWNStart

Step 1YARNBridge

Step 2BARNBridge

Step 3BORNBridge

Step 4BOONBridge

Step 5BOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1YAWN -> YARN

Tile 3 changes W to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. YARN has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from YAWN include DAWN, LAWN, SAWN, YAWS.
Step 2YARN -> BARN

Tile 1 changes Y to B; the move is sideways by letter shape. BARN has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from YARN include EARN, WARN, DARN, YARD.
Step 3BARN -> BORN

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BORN has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BARN include BURN, BARS, EARN, BARE.
Step 4BORN -> BOON

Tile 3 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. BOON has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BORN include PORN, BURN, CORN, HORN.
Step 5BOON -> BOOP

Tile 4 changes N to P; the move is closer by letter shape. BOOP has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from BOON include BOOK, BOOT, BOOB, BOOM.
Step 6BOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 changes B to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BOOP include LOOP, COOP, HOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

YAWN has 8 legal one-letter neighbors. DAWN, LAWN, YARN, SAWN, YAWS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin PAWN (+1), FAWN (+1), YAWL (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
DAWN	1: Y -> D	6	Keeps par	1
LAWN	1: Y -> L	6	Keeps par	1
YARN	3: W -> R	6	Keeps par	1
SAWN	1: Y -> S	6	Keeps par	4
YAWS	4: N -> S	6	Keeps par	1
PAWN	1: Y -> P	7	Adds 1 move	10
FAWN	1: Y -> F	7	Adds 1 move	8
YAWL	4: N -> L	7	Adds 1 move	8

YAWN opening fingerprint

YAWN groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DAWN, LAWN, SAWN, PAWN, FAWN; tile 3: YARN; tile 4: YAWS, YAWL. Two moves from the start, 31 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CAWS, DOWN, LAIN, SOWN, BAWL, DAMN, DARN, DAWN, EARN, FAIN, HAWS, JAWS, LAWN, LAWS, MAWS, PAIN, PAWS, RAWS, SAWN, SAWS, SEWN, WARN, YAMS, YAPS.

Your route

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Graph reading

YARN is the narrowest displayed bridge

After YAWN becomes YARN, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as DAWN, LAWN, SAWN, YAWS 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: 2026-08-21 09:40 UTC Puzzle date: February 1, 2027