Poople #642 started at KELP on May 18, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence L>E, K>P, E>R, E>O, R>O, 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 K-E-L-P. Change position 3 and keep positions 1, 2, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-vowel change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 5-move answer
KELP -> KEEP -> PEEP -> PREP -> PROP -> POOP
Step 0KELPStart
Step 1KEEPBridge
Step 2PEEPBridge
Step 3PREPBridge
Step 4PROPBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1KELP -> KEEP
Tile 3 changes L to E; the move is sideways by letter shape. KEEP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KELP include HELP, KEMP, YELP.
Step 2KEEP -> PEEP
Tile 1 changes K to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PEEP has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from KEEP include DEEP, BEEP, WEEP, SEEP.
Step 3PEEP -> PREP
Tile 2 changes E to R; the move is sideways by letter shape. PREP has 4 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PEEP include DEEP, PEER, PEEL, PEEK.
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 PREY, 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?
KELP has 4 legal one-letter neighbors, but only KEEP keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin HELP (+1), KEMP (+1), YELP (+2).
Compare 4 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
KEEP
3: L -> E
5
Keeps par
1
HELP
1: K -> H
6
Adds 1 move
2
KEMP
3: L -> M
6
Adds 1 move
2
YELP
1: K -> Y
7
Adds 2 moves
7
KELP opening fingerprint
KELP groups its legal first moves as tile 1: HELP, YELP; tile 3: KEEP, KEMP. Two moves from the start, 16 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BEEP, DEEP, HELD, HEMP, SEEP, WEEP, HEAP, HELL, HELM, HELP, KEEL, KEEN, KEMP, TEMP, YELL, YELP.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
PREP is the narrowest displayed bridge
After PEEP becomes PREP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as DEEP, PEER, PEEL, PEEK show what the route declined.
Direct-shape gains
3
Sideways steps
2
Temporary shape detours
0
Steps touching a vowel
4
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: 2026-08-26 00:20 UTCPuzzle date: May 18, 2027