Poople #612 started at EYED on April 18, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence E>D, D>R, Y>O, E>O, D>P, R>P, with 1 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 E-Y-E-D. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a vowel-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Tile 1 changes E to D; the move is sideways by letter shape. DYED has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from EYED include EYES, EKED.
Step 2DYED -> DYER
Tile 4 changes D to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. DYER has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DYED include DIED, DEED, DYES, DYAD.
Step 3DYER -> DOER
Tile 2 changes Y to O; the move is closer by letter shape. DOER has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DYER include DEER, DYES.
Step 4DOER -> DOOR
Tile 3 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. DOOR has 6 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from DOER include DOUR, DOES, DEER, GOER.
Step 5DOOR -> POOR
Tile 1 changes D 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 DOOR include MOOR, BOOR, DOOM, DOUR.
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, POUR, MOOR.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
EYED has 3 legal one-letter neighbors, but only DYED keeps the route at 6 moves. Nearby detours begin EYES (+1), EKED (+2).
Compare 3 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
DYED
1: E -> D
6
Keeps par
1
EYES
4: D -> S
7
Adds 1 move
2
EKED
2: Y -> K
8
Adds 2 moves
1
EYED opening fingerprint
EYED groups its legal first moves as tile 1: DYED; tile 2: EKED; tile 4: EYES. Two moves from the start, 10 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is DEED, DIED, DYES, BYES, DYAD, LYES, EKES, EVES, EWES, EXES.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
DYER is the narrowest displayed bridge
After DYED becomes DYER, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as DIED, DEED, DYES, DYAD show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
4
Sideways steps
2
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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-24 16:09 UTCPuzzle date: April 18, 2027