Historical route lab

Poople #553 EARS Answer

Poople #553 started at EARS on February 18, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence A>R, R>O, E>P, S>P, R>O, with 1 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for EARS, including 14 legal openings and route signature 2-3-1-4-2.

Calculated from the current word graph

EARS route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes1Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves141 keep par

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

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 E-A-R-S. Change position 2 and keep positions 1, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

EARS -> ERRS -> EROS -> PROS -> PROP -> POOP

Step 0EARSStart

Step 1ERRSBridge

Step 2EROSBridge

Step 3PROSBridge

Step 4PROPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1EARS -> ERRS

Tile 2 changes A to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. ERRS has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from EARS include CARS, BARS, EARN, EATS.
Step 2ERRS -> EROS

Tile 3 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. EROS has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from ERRS include ERAS, ERGS.
Step 3EROS -> PROS

Tile 1 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PROS has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from EROS include BROS, ERAS, EGOS, EMOS.
Step 4PROS -> PROP

Tile 4 changes S to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PROP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from PROS include PROF, PROM, PROD, PROG.
Step 5PROP -> POOP

Tile 2 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PROP include PLOP, DROP, CROP, PREP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

EARS has 14 legal one-letter neighbors, but only ERRS keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin CARS (+1), BARS (+1), EARN (+1), EATS (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
ERRS	2: A -> R	5	Keeps par	1
CARS	1: E -> C	6	Adds 1 move	10
BARS	1: E -> B	6	Adds 1 move	6
EARN	4: S -> N	6	Adds 1 move	1
EATS	3: R -> T	6	Adds 1 move	2
PARS	1: E -> P	6	Adds 1 move	2
WARS	1: E -> W	7	Adds 2 moves	32
MARS	1: E -> M	7	Adds 2 moves	41

EARS opening fingerprint

EARS groups its legal first moves as tile 1: CARS, BARS, PARS, WARS, MARS, JARS, SARS, OARS, TARS, GARS; tile 2: ERRS; tile 3: EATS; tile 4: EARN, EARL. Two moves from the start, 112 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BAAS, BAGS, BARN, BASS, BATS, BAYS, CABS, CADS, CAMS, CANS, CAPS, CARP, CATS, CAWS, ERAS, ERGS, PALS, PARE, BANS, BARB, BARD, BARE, BARF, BARK.

Your route

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Graph reading

ERRS is the narrowest displayed bridge

After EARS becomes ERRS, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as CARS, BARS, EARN, EATS show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 4

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: 2026-08-22 01:37 UTC Puzzle date: February 18, 2027