Historical route lab

Poople #546 LUGE Answer

Poople #546 started at LUGE on February 11, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence E>S, U>O, L>C, G>O, S>P, C>P, with 2 par-preserving first moves.

Replay LUGE Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for LUGE, including 6 legal openings and route signature 4-2-1-3-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

LUGE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes5Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves62 keep par

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

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 L-U-G-E. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

LUGE -> LUGS -> LOGS -> COGS -> COOS -> COOP -> POOP

Step 0LUGEStart

Step 1LUGSBridge

Step 2LOGSBridge

Step 3COGSBridge

Step 4COOSBridge

Step 5COOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1LUGE -> LUGS

Tile 4 changes E to S; the move is sideways by letter shape. LUGS has 11 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LUGE include LURE, HUGE, LUBE, LUTE.
Step 2LUGS -> LOGS

Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. LOGS has 16 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LUGS include BUGS, LEGS, RUGS, MUGS.
Step 3LOGS -> COGS

Tile 1 changes L to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. COGS has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOGS include BOGS, LOSS, LOTS, DOGS.
Step 4COGS -> COOS

Tile 3 changes G to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOS has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COGS include CONS, COPS, COWS, COTS.
Step 5COOS -> COOP

Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from COOS include COOL, COOK, BOOS, COOT.
Step 6COOP -> POOP

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

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

LUGE has 6 legal one-letter neighbors. LURE, LUGS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin HUGE (+1), LUBE (+1), LUTE (+1), LUNE (+1).

Compare 6 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
LURE	3: G -> R	6	Keeps par	2
LUGS	4: E -> S	6	Keeps par	3
HUGE	1: L -> H	7	Adds 1 move	4
LUBE	3: G -> B	7	Adds 1 move	11
LUTE	3: G -> T	7	Adds 1 move	8
LUNE	3: G -> N	7	Adds 1 move	19

LUGE opening fingerprint

LUGE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: HUGE; tile 3: LURE, LUBE, LUTE, LUNE; tile 4: LUGS. Two moves from the start, 37 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BUGS, LORE, PURE, CUBE, CURE, CUTE, DUNE, HUGS, JUGS, JURE, LAGS, LEGS, LINE, LIRE, LITE, LOBE, LONE, LURE, LURK, LYRE, MUGS, PUBE, PUGS, RUGS.

Your route

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Graph reading

COOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After COOS becomes COOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as COOL, COOK, BOOS, COOT 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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-21 19:02 UTC Puzzle date: February 11, 2027