Poople #648 started at CLUE on May 24, 2027. Its narrow opening changes letters in the sequence C>F, U>O, E>P, F>P, L>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 C-L-U-E. Change position 1 and keep positions 2, 3, 4 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. Only one first move preserves the shortest length.
Reveal the complete 5-move answer
CLUE -> FLUE -> FLOE -> FLOP -> PLOP -> POOP
Step 0CLUEStart
Step 1FLUEBridge
Step 2FLOEBridge
Step 3FLOPBridge
Step 4PLOPBridge
Step 5POOPTarget
Route anatomy
What changes at every step
Step 1CLUE -> FLUE
Tile 1 changes C to F; the move is sideways by letter shape. FLUE has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from CLUE include BLUE, GLUE, CLUB.
Step 2FLUE -> FLOE
Tile 3 changes U to O; the move is closer by letter shape. FLOE has 7 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FLUE include FLEE, BLUE, FLUX, GLUE.
Step 3FLOE -> FLOP
Tile 4 changes E to P; the move is closer by letter shape. FLOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from FLOE include FLOW, FLOG, SLOE, ALOE.
Step 4FLOP -> PLOP
Tile 1 changes F to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PLOP has 11 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from FLOP include SLOP, CLOP, GLOP, FLOW.
Step 5PLOP -> POOP
Tile 2 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PLOP include PROP, PLOT, PLOW, PLOY.
Opening decision
Which first moves preserve par?
CLUE has 4 legal one-letter neighbors, but only FLUE keeps the route at 5 moves. Nearby detours begin BLUE (+1), GLUE (+1), CLUB (+2).
Compare 4 calculated first moves
Move
Changed tile
Total
Verdict
Shortest continuations
FLUE
1: C -> F
5
Keeps par
1
BLUE
1: C -> B
6
Adds 1 move
1
GLUE
1: C -> G
6
Adds 1 move
3
CLUB
4: E -> B
7
Adds 2 moves
4
CLUE opening fingerprint
CLUE groups its legal first moves as tile 1: FLUE, BLUE, GLUE; tile 4: CLUB. Two moves from the start, 11 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is FLEE, GLUM, BLUE, BLUR, FLUB, FLUX, GLEE, GLUE, GLUG, GLUT, CHUB.
Your route
Compare a path you played
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Graph reading
FLUE is the narrowest displayed bridge
After CLUE becomes FLUE, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BLUE, GLUE, CLUB 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: liveGraph synced: 2026-08-26 05:17 UTCPuzzle date: May 24, 2027