Poople #604 started at WHOM on April 10, 2027. Its selective opening changes letters in the sequence O>I, M>P, W>C, I>O, H>O, C>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 W-H-O-M. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-vowel change. 2 different first moves preserve the shortest length.
Tile 3 changes O to I; the move is temporarily farther by letter shape. WHIM has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHOM include WHAM, WHOA.
Step 2WHIM -> WHIP
Tile 4 changes M to P; the move is closer by letter shape. WHIP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHIM include WHIT, WHAM, WHIZ, SHIM.
Step 3WHIP -> CHIP
Tile 1 changes W to C; the move is sideways by letter shape. CHIP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from WHIP include SHIP, WHAP, WHIT, WHIZ.
Step 4CHIP -> CHOP
Tile 3 changes I to O; the move is closer by letter shape. CHOP has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CHIP include CLIP, CHAP, SHIP, CHIN.
Step 5CHOP -> COOP
Tile 2 changes H to O; the move is closer by letter shape. COOP has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from CHOP include CROP, CLOP, SHOP, CHAP.
Step 6COOP -> POOP
Tile 1 changes C to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from COOP include LOOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
WHOM has 3 legal one-letter neighbors. WHAM, WHIM keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin WHOA (+2).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
WHAM
3: O -> A
6
Keeps par
1
WHIM
3: O -> I
6
Keeps par
1
WHOA
4: M -> A
8
Adds 2 moves
2
WHOM opening fingerprint
WHOM groups its legal first moves as tile 3: WHAM, WHIM; tile 4: WHOA. Two moves from the start, 8 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is WHAP, SHAM, SHIM, WHAM, WHAT, WHIR, WHIT, WHIZ.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
WHIM is the narrowest displayed bridge
After WHOM becomes WHIM, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as WHAM, WHOA show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
1
Temporary shape detours
1
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: 2026-08-24 07:47 UTCPuzzle date: April 10, 2027