Poople #440 Answer: CRUX to POOP in 7 Moves

Poople #440 at a glance

What makes this puzzle distinctive

CRUX has only one one-letter neighbour in this checked list, CRUD, and all four shortest routes continue through CRED. CRED then branches to COED or CREW while keeping the seven-move minimum.

The selected route follows CREW → CROW → CROP → PROP → POOP. Other shortest routes finish from HOOP or COOP, so PROP is not the only penultimate word in this checked list.

Step-by-step shortest route

Shortest routes

All 4 shortest routes are shown below.

1. CRUX → CRUD → CRED → COED → HOED → HOOD → HOOP → POOP
2. CRUX → CRUD → CRED → CREW → CROW → CROP → COOP → POOP
3. CRUX → CRUD → CRED → CREW → CROW → CROP → PROP → POOP Selected reference route
4. CRUX → CRUD → CRED → CREW → CROW → PROW → PROP → POOP

First-move choices

One-letter neighbours of CRUX in this checked list: CRUD (keeps par).

A first move keeps the 7-move minimum only when its remaining distance is 6.

Choices along the selected route

Each listed next word keeps a shortest finish from that point. These are the branch points encountered on the selected reference route.

How this answer was checked

This route was saved during its daily verification run. The 2398-word list was checked on October 28, 2026. We verified every displayed transition, the shortest length and the route count against that list.