Yesterday's replay

Poople Yesterday Answer

Yesterday started at RACK. Replay the board without spoilers, then compare your path with 10 calculated shortest routes.

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Missed it? The replay link opens RACK as a playable challenge before this page reveals the answer.

Calculated from the current word graph

RACK route profile

Par5 moves6 words including start and target

Shortest routes10Exact routes in the current accepted graph

Legal first moves143 keep par

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

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

Reveal the complete 5-move answer

RACK -> HACK -> HOCK -> HOOK -> HOOP -> POOP

Step 0RACKStart

Step 1HACKBridge

Step 2HOCKBridge

Step 3HOOKBridge

Step 4HOOPBridge

Step 5POOPTarget

Route anatomy

What changes at every step

Step 1RACK -> HACK

Tile 1 changes R to H; the move is sideways by letter shape. HACK has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 4 moves remaining. Other legal exits from RACK include LACK, ROCK, BACK, JACK.
Step 2HACK -> HOCK

Tile 2 changes A to O; the move is closer by letter shape. HOCK has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 3 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HACK include HECK, HICK, LACK, HANK.
Step 3HOCK -> HOOK

Tile 3 changes C to O; the move is closer by letter shape. HOOK has 14 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 2 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HOCK include COCK, HONK, LOCK, DOCK.
Step 4HOOK -> HOOP

Tile 4 changes K to P; the move is closer by letter shape. HOOP has 8 legal neighbors, 1 shortest continuation, and 1 move remaining. Other legal exits from HOOK include COOK, HOOD, HOOF, HOOT.
Step 5HOOP -> POOP

Tile 1 changes H to P; the move is closer by letter shape. POOP has 12 legal neighbors, target reached, and 0 moves remaining. Other legal exits from HOOP include COOP, LOOP, GOOP, HOOD.

Opening decision

Which first moves preserve par?

RACK has 14 legal one-letter neighbors. HACK, LACK, ROCK keep the route at 5 moves, while sampled detours begin BACK (+1), JACK (+1), PACK (+1), RANK (+1).

Compare 8 calculated first moves

Move	Changed tile	Total	Verdict	Shortest continuations
HACK	1: R -> H	5	Keeps par	1
LACK	1: R -> L	5	Keeps par	1
ROCK	2: A -> O	5	Keeps par	8
BACK	1: R -> B	6	Adds 1 move	11
JACK	1: R -> J	6	Adds 1 move	5
PACK	1: R -> P	6	Adds 1 move	5
RANK	3: C -> N	6	Adds 1 move	1
SACK	1: R -> S	6	Adds 1 move	5

RACK opening fingerprint

RACK groups its legal first moves as tile 1: HACK, LACK, BACK, JACK, PACK, SACK, TACK, WACK; tile 2: ROCK, RICK, RUCK; tile 3: RANK; tile 4: RACE, RACY. Two moves from the start, 87 off-route words are reachable; the nearest sampled frontier is COCK, LOCK, ROOK, BOCK, DOCK, HANK, HECK, HICK, JOCK, LACK, LICK, LUCK, MOCK, POCK, ROCK, SOCK, BACK, BALK, BANK, BASK, BECK, BUCK, DANK, DICK.

Your route

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Graph reading

HOOP is the narrowest displayed bridge

After HOOK becomes HOOP, only 1 move preserves the shortest remaining distance. At the prior row, alternatives such as COOK, HOOD, HOOF, HOOT show what the route declined.

Direct-shape gains: 4
Sideways steps: 1
Temporary shape detours: 0
Steps touching a vowel: 2

How these figures were calculated

Poople recomputes adjacency and distance from the accepted 2,506-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: 2026-09-05 16:58 UTC Puzzle date: September 4, 2026