Historical route lab

Poople #659 TANG Answer

Poople #659 started at TANG on June 4, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence G>K, A>O, N>O, T>L, K>P, L>P, with 5 par-preserving first moves.

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Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for TANG, including 13 legal openings and route signature 4-2-3-1-4-1.

Calculated from the current word graph

TANG route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes26Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves135 keep par

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

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 T-A-N-G. Change position 4 and keep positions 1, 2, 3 fixed. Look for a consonant-to-consonant change. 5 different first moves preserve the shortest length.

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

TANG -> TANK -> TONK -> TOOK -> LOOK -> LOOP -> POOP

Step 0TANGStart

Step 1TANKBridge

Step 2TONKBridge

Step 3TOOKBridge

Step 4LOOKBridge

Step 5LOOPBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1TANG -> TANK

Tile 4 changes G to K; the move is sideways by letter shape. TANK has 15 legal neighbors, 3 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TANG include BANG, HANG, TONG, TANS.
Step 2TANK -> TONK

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. TONK has 12 legal neighbors, 4 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TANK include BANK, HANK, TALK, RANK.
Step 3TONK -> TOOK

Tile 3 changes N to O; the move is closer by letter shape. TOOK has 13 legal neighbors, 5 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TONK include HONK, BONK, CONK, TONE.
Step 4TOOK -> LOOK

Tile 1 changes T to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. LOOK has 13 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from TOOK include BOOK, TOOL, COOK, HOOK.
Step 5LOOK -> LOOP

Tile 4 changes K to P; the move is closer by letter shape. LOOP has 9 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from LOOK include BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM.
Step 6LOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 changes L to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 11 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from LOOP include COOP, HOOP, BOOP, GOOP.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

TANG has 13 legal one-letter neighbors. TANK, BANG, HANG, TONG, TANS keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin GANG (+1), YANG (+1), SANG (+1), RANG (+1).

Compare 9 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
TANK	4: G -> K	6	Keeps par	10
BANG	1: T -> B	6	Keeps par	2
HANG	1: T -> H	6	Keeps par	1
TONG	2: A -> O	6	Keeps par	11
TANS	4: G -> S	6	Keeps par	2
GANG	1: T -> G	7	Adds 1 move	4
YANG	1: T -> Y	7	Adds 1 move	5
SANG	1: T -> S	7	Adds 1 move	10
RANG	1: T -> R	7	Adds 1 move	5

TANG opening fingerprint

TANG groups its legal first moves as tile 1: BANG, HANG, GANG, YANG, SANG, RANG, DANG, FANG, PANG; tile 2: TONG, TING; tile 4: TANK, TANS. Two moves from the start, 70 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BANK, BONG, CANS, HANK, TONE, TONS, BAND, BANE, BANG, BANS, BUNG, DANK, DONG, FANS, GONG, HAND, HANG, HUNG, LANK, LONG, PANE, PANS, PONG, RANK.

Your route

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Graph reading

LOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After LOOK becomes LOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as BOOK, COOK, HOOK, LOOM show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 2
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 2

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: 2026-08-26 16:17 UTC Puzzle date: June 4, 2027