Historical route lab

Poople #559 KISS Answer

Poople #559 started at KISS on February 24, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence K>M, I>O, S>O, S>R, M>P, R>P, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for KISS, including 7 legal openings and route signature 1-2-3-4-1-4.
Calculated from the current word graph

KISS route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target
Shortest routes8Exact routes in the current accepted graph
Legal first moves74 keep par
Route shapeflexible openingLetter positions 1-2-3-4-1-4
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 K-I-S-S. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 4 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

KISS -> MISS -> MOSS -> MOOS -> MOOR -> POOR -> POOP

Step 0KISSStart
Step 1MISSBridge
Step 2MOSSBridge
Step 3MOOSBridge
Step 4MOORBridge
Step 5POORBridge
Step 6POOPTarget
Route anatomy

What changes at every step

  1. Step 1KISS -> MISS

    Tile 1 changes K to M; the move is sideways by letter shape. MISS has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KISS include KIDS, KITS, HISS, PISS.

  2. Step 2MISS -> MOSS

    Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOSS has 19 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MISS include MASS, MESS, MIST, HISS.

  3. Step 3MOSS -> MOOS

    Tile 3 changes S to O; the move is closer by letter shape. MOOS has 16 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOSS include BOSS, MOST, LOSS, MOMS.

  4. Step 4MOOS -> MOOR

    Tile 4 changes S to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. MOOR has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MOOS include COOS, BOOS, MOON, MOOD.

  5. Step 5MOOR -> POOR

    Tile 1 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOR has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from MOOR include DOOR, BOOR, MOON, MOOD.

  6. Step 6POOR -> POOP

    Tile 4 changes R to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POOR include POOL, POOF, DOOR, POUR.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

KISS has 7 legal one-letter neighbors. KIDS, MISS, KITS, HISS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin PISS (+1), DISS (+1), KINS (+1).

Compare 7 calculated first moves
MoveChanged tileTotalVerdictShortest continuations
KIDS3: S -> D6Keeps par1
MISS1: K -> M6Keeps par4
KITS3: S -> T6Keeps par1
HISS1: K -> H6Keeps par2
PISS1: K -> P7Adds 1 move20
DISS1: K -> D7Adds 1 move13
KINS3: S -> N7Adds 1 move9

KISS opening fingerprint

KISS groups its legal first moves as tile 1: MISS, HISS, PISS, DISS; tile 3: KIDS, KITS, KINS. Two moves from the start, 55 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BIDS, BITS, HOSS, AIDS, BINS, DIBS, DIES, DIGS, DIMS, FITS, HIPS, HISS, HITS, KIDS, KITS, LIDS, MASS, MESS, MIST, MUSS, NITS, PASS, PIES, PIGS.

Your route

Compare a path you played

Your route stays in this browser; it is not submitted.
Graph reading

POOR is the narrowest displayed bridge

After MOOR becomes POOR, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as DOOR, BOOR, MOON, MOOD 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 07:57 UTC Puzzle date: February 24, 2027