Historical route lab

Poople #673 BABE Answer

Poople #673 started at BABE on June 18, 2027. Its flexible opening changes letters in the sequence B>L, B>P, A>O, E>L, L>O, L>P, with 5 par-preserving first moves.

Replay BABE Scores & notes Browse archive

Archive value: this is not a copied daily page. Its tables are calculated for BABE, including 7 legal openings and route signature 3-1-2-4-3-4.

Calculated from the current word graph

BABE route profile

Par6 moves7 words including start and target

Shortest routes13Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves75 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 6-move answer

BABE -> BALE -> PALE -> POLE -> POLL -> POOL -> POOP

Step 0BABEStart

Step 1BALEBridge

Step 2PALEBridge

Step 3POLEBridge

Step 4POLLBridge

Step 5POOLBridge

Step 6POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1BABE -> BALE

Tile 3 changes B to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. BALE has 21 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 5 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BABE include BASE, BARE, BANE, BADE.
Step 2BALE -> PALE

Tile 1 changes B to P; the move is closer by letter shape. PALE has 22 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from BALE include BALL, SALE, BASE, MALE.
Step 3PALE -> POLE

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POLE has 18 legal neighbors, 2 shortest continuations, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from PALE include PALL, PALM, PILE, PALS.
Step 4POLE -> POLL

Tile 4 changes E to L; the move is sideways by letter shape. POLL has 12 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from POLE include POME, POPE, POLO, POLY.
Step 5POLL -> POOL

Tile 3 changes L to O; the move is closer by letter shape. POOL has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from POLL include ROLL, TOLL, PULL, PILL.
Step 6POOL -> POOP

Tile 4 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 POOL include POOR, POOF, TOOL, COOL.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

BABE has 7 legal one-letter neighbors. BASE, BARE, BALE, BANE, BADE keep the route at 6 moves, while sampled detours begin BAKE (+1), BABY (+2).

Compare 7 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
BASE	3: B -> S	6	Keeps par	1
BARE	3: B -> R	6	Keeps par	4
BALE	3: B -> L	6	Keeps par	5
BANE	3: B -> N	6	Keeps par	2
BADE	3: B -> D	6	Keeps par	1
BAKE	3: B -> K	7	Adds 1 move	28
BABY	4: E -> Y	8	Adds 2 moves	13

BABE opening fingerprint

BABE groups its legal first moves as tile 3: BASE, BARE, BALE, BANE, BADE, BAKE; tile 4: BABY. Two moves from the start, 70 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is BALL, BANK, BARN, BASS, BODE, BONE, BORE, PARE, BADE, BALD, BALK, BALM, BAND, BANE, BANG, BANS, BARB, BARD, BARE, BARF, BARK, BARS, BASE, BASH.

Your route

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Graph reading

POOL is the narrowest displayed bridge

After POLL becomes POOL, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as ROLL, TOLL, PULL, PILL 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: live Graph synced: 2026-08-27 06:18 UTC Puzzle date: June 18, 2027