Poople #548 started at EARL on February 13, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence L>N, E>B, A>O, R>O, N>P, B>P, with 2 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 E-A-R-L. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 6-move answer
EARL -> EARN -> BARN -> BORN -> BOON -> BOOP -> POOP
Step 0EARLStart
Step 1EARNBridge
Step 2BARNBridge
Step 3BORNBridge
Step 4BOONBridge
Step 5BOOPBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1EARL -> EARN
Tile 4 changes L to N; the move is sideways by letter shape. EARN has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from EARL include EARS, JARL.
Step 2EARN -> BARN
Tile 1 changes E 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 EARN include EARS, YARN, WARN, DARN.
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, BARE, YARN.
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?
EARL has 3 legal one-letter neighbors. EARN, EARS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin JARL (+1).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
EARN
4: L -> N
6
Keeps par
1
EARS
4: L -> S
6
Keeps par
1
JARL
1: E -> J
7
Adds 1 move
3
EARL opening fingerprint
EARL groups its legal first moves as tile 1: JARL; tile 4: EARN, EARS. Two moves from the start, 17 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is ERRS, BARS, CARS, DARN, EARS, EATS, JAIL, PARS, WARN, YARN, GARS, JARS, MARS, OARS, SARS, TARS, WARS.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
EARN is the narrowest displayed bridge
After EARL becomes EARN, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as EARS, JARL 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: 2026-08-21 21:05 UTCPuzzle date: February 13, 2027