Historical route lab

Poople #596 MIME Answer

Poople #596 started at MIME on April 2, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence M>T, I>O, T>P, E>P, M>O, with 3 par-preserving first moves.

Replay MIME Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for MIME, including 11 legal openings and route signature 1-2-1-4-3.

Calculated from the current word graph

MIME route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes3Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves113 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

MIME -> TIME -> TOME -> POME -> POMP -> POOP

Step 0MIMEStart

Step 1TIMEBridge

Step 2TOMEBridge

Step 3POMEBridge

Step 4POMPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1MIME -> TIME

Tile 1 changes M to T; the move is sideways by letter shape. TIME has 10 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from MIME include LIME, DIME, MIKE, MILE.
Step 2TIME -> TOME

Tile 2 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. TOME has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TIME include LIME, DIME, TAME, TIRE.
Step 3TOME -> POME

Tile 1 changes T to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POME has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TOME include HOME, SOME, COME, DOME.
Step 4POME -> POMP

Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POMP has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POME include HOME, SOME, COME, POLE.
Step 5POMP -> POOP

Tile 3 changes M to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POMP include PUMP, COMP, PIMP, ROMP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

MIME has 11 legal one-letter neighbors. TIME, LIME, DIME keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin MIKE (+1), MILE (+1), MEME (+1), MIRE (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
TIME	1: M -> T	5	Keeps par	1
LIME	1: M -> L	5	Keeps par	1
DIME	1: M -> D	5	Keeps par	1
MIKE	3: M -> K	6	Adds 1 move	1
MILE	3: M -> L	6	Adds 1 move	6
MEME	2: I -> E	6	Adds 1 move	1
MIRE	3: M -> R	6	Adds 1 move	1
RIME	1: M -> R	6	Adds 1 move	3

MIME opening fingerprint

MIME groups its legal first moves as tile 1: TIME, LIME, DIME, RIME; tile 2: MEME; tile 3: MIKE, MILE, MIRE, MINE, MICE, MITE. Two moves from the start, 97 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is DOME, LIMP, DAME, DIME, HEME, LIMA, LIMB, LIME, LIMN, LIMO, MILL, MOLE, MORE, PIKE, PILE, TAME, BIKE, BILE, BITE, CITE, DICE, DIKE, DIMS, DINE.

Your route

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Graph reading

POMP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POME becomes POMP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as HOME, SOME, COME, POLE show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
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: 2026-08-23 22:22 UTC Puzzle date: April 2, 2027