Historical route lab

Poople #631 BRAY Answer

Poople #631 started at BRAY on May 7, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence B>P, A>E, Y>P, E>O, R>O, with 4 par-preserving first moves.

Replay BRAY Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for BRAY, including 10 legal openings and route signature 1-3-4-3-2.

Calculated from the current word graph

BRAY route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes10Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves104 keep par

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

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 B-R-A-Y. 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 5-move answer

BRAY -> PRAY -> PREY -> PREP -> PROP -> POOP

Step 0BRAYStart

Step 1PRAYBridge

Step 2PREYBridge

Step 3PREPBridge

Step 4PROPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1BRAY -> PRAY

Tile 1 changes B to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PRAY has 10 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BRAY include BRAS, BRAT, CRAY, GRAY.
Step 2PRAY -> PREY

Tile 3 changes A to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. PREY has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PRAY include PLAY, PRAM, CRAY, PRAT.
Step 3PREY -> PREP

Tile 4 changes Y to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PREP has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PREY include PREZ, GREY.
Step 4PREP -> PROP

Tile 3 changes E to O; the move is closer by letter shape. PROP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from PREP include PEEP, PREZ.
Step 5PROP -> POOP

Tile 2 changes R to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PROP include PLOP, DROP, CROP, PROS.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

BRAY has 10 legal one-letter neighbors. PRAY, BRAS, BRAT, CRAY keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin GRAY (+1), TRAY (+1), BRAN (+1), FRAY (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
PRAY	1: B -> P	5	Keeps par	4
BRAS	4: Y -> S	5	Keeps par	3
BRAT	4: Y -> T	5	Keeps par	1
CRAY	1: B -> C	5	Keeps par	2
GRAY	1: B -> G	6	Adds 1 move	9
TRAY	1: B -> T	6	Adds 1 move	10
BRAN	4: Y -> N	6	Adds 1 move	4
FRAY	1: B -> F	6	Adds 1 move	11

BRAY opening fingerprint

BRAY groups its legal first moves as tile 1: PRAY, CRAY, GRAY, TRAY, FRAY, XRAY; tile 4: BRAS, BRAT, BRAN, BRAG. Two moves from the start, 43 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BOAS, BOAT, BROS, CRAP, PLAY, PRAM, BAAS, BEAT, BIAS, BLAT, BRAS, BRAT, BRIG, BRIS, BRUT, CLAY, CRAB, CRAG, CRAM, CRAW, CRAY, ERAS, FLAY, FRAG.

Your route

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Graph reading

PREY is the narrowest displayed bridge

After PRAY becomes PREY, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as PLAY, PRAM, CRAY, PRAT 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: 2026-08-25 12:14 UTC Puzzle date: May 7, 2027