Poople #444 Answer: KILT to POOP in 5 Moves

Poople #444 at a glance

What makes this puzzle distinctive

KILT has two first moves that preserve the five-move minimum: HILT and KILL. The selected route takes KILL and then changes positions one, two, three and four in order before the final move to POOP.

The two shortest routes split immediately after KILT. One goes through HILT → HOLT → HOOT → HOOP, while the selected route uses KILL → PILL → POLL → POOL; both checked routes reach POOP in five moves.

Step-by-step shortest route

Shortest routes

All 2 shortest routes are shown below.

1. KILT → HILT → HOLT → HOOT → HOOP → POOP
2. KILT → KILL → PILL → POLL → POOL → POOP Selected reference route

First-move choices

One-letter neighbours of KILT in this checked list: GILT (adds at least one move) · HILT (keeps par) · KILL (keeps par) · KILN (adds at least one move) · KILO (adds at least one move) · LILT (adds at least one move) · SILT (adds at least one move) · TILT (adds at least one move) · WILT (adds at least one move).

A first move keeps the 5-move minimum only when its remaining distance is 4.

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 November 1, 2026. We verified every displayed transition, the shortest length and the route count against that list.