Historical route lab

Poople #557 HURT Answer

Poople #557 started at HURT on February 22, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence T>L, R>L, H>P, U>O, L>O, L>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for HURT, including 5 legal openings and route signature 4-3-1-2-3-4.
Calculated from the current word graph

HURT route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target
Shortest routes5Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves54 keep par
Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 4-3-1-2-3-4
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 H-U-R-T. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 4 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

HURT -> HURL -> HULL -> PULL -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0HURTStart
Step 1HURLBridge
Step 2HULLBridge
Step 3PULLBridge
Step 4POLLBridge
Step 5POOLBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1HURT -> HURL

    Tile 4 changes T to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. HURL has 6 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HURT include HUNT, HART, CURT, YURT.

  2. Step 2HURL -> HULL

    Tile 3 changes R to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. HULL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HURL include PURL, CURL, FURL, BURL.

  3. Step 3HULL -> PULL

    Tile 1 changes H to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PULL has 15 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HULL include FULL, HILL, HALL, NULL.

  4. Step 4PULL -> POLL

    Tile 2 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PULL include PILL, PULP, PALL, FULL.

  5. Step 5POLL -> POOL

    Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POLL include ROLL, TOLL, PILL, DOLL.

  6. Step 6POOL -> POOP

    Tile 4 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 POOL include POOR, POOF, TOOL, COOL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

HURT has 5 legal one-letter neighbors. HUNT, HART, CURT, HURL keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin YURT (+1).

Compare 5 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
HUNT3: R -> N6Keeps par1
HART2: U -> A6Keeps par1
CURT1: H -> C6Keeps par1
HURL4: T -> L6Keeps par2
YURT1: H -> Y7Adds 1 move1

HURT opening fingerprint

HURT groups its legal first moves as tile 1: CURT, YURT; tile 2: HART; tile 3: HUNT; tile 4: HURL. Two moves from the start, 33 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is CULT, HALT, HUNK, PURL, BUNT, BURL, CART, CURD, CURE, CURL, CURS, CURT, FART, FURL, HAFT, HARE, HARK, HARP, HINT, HUNG, PART, TART, AUNT, CURB.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POLL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as ROLL, TOLL, PILL, DOLL 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: 2026-08-22 05:40 UTC Puzzle date: February 22, 2027