Poople answer archive

Poople #390 answer: NEWS to POOP in 6 guesses (September 9, 2026)

The Poople puzzle for September 9, 2026 starts from NEWS. The shortest ladder to POOP takes 6 guesses, and there are 9 different shortest routes. Here is one of them, using the most common words:

Puzzle numbers follow the original game, which switches to a new word at 08:00 UTC.

Want to play instead of peeking?

Replay Poople #390 yourself in the archive: same starting word, same word list, with undo and hints. Or play today's Poople and the unlimited mode. Curious about a ladder of your own? The Poople solver finds the shortest path between any two four-letter words.

Every shortest ladder from NEWS

9 different ladders reach POOP in 6 guesses from NEWS. Here are 8 of them, the first using the most common words:

1. NEWS → MEWS → MOWS → BOWS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
2. NEWS → MEWS → MOWS → COWS → COOS → COOP → POOP
3. NEWS → MEWS → MOWS → MOOS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
4. NEWS → MEWS → MOWS → MOOS → COOS → COOP → POOP
5. NEWS → MEWS → MOWS → MOOS → MOOR → POOR → POOP
6. NEWS → PEWS → PEES → PEEP → PREP → PROP → POOP
7. NEWS → SEWS → SOWS → BOWS → BOOS → BOOP → POOP
8. NEWS → SEWS → SOWS → COWS → COOS → COOP → POOP

1 more shortest ladder exist beyond these 8; the solver below can list routes from any word.

First moves: which keep par and which don't

NEWS has 8 legal neighbours in the original word list (change one letter, still a word). 4 of the 8 legal first moves keep you on par: MEWS, NETS, PEWS, SEWS. Moves that cost exactly one extra guess: DEWS, HEWS, NEWT, YEWS.

How #390 compares

Par 6 puts #390 among the longer puzzles: only 13% of all Pooples so far have needed more guesses. The fastest ladders go through an -OO- word one step from POOP (LOOP, HOOP, COOP, POOL, POOR, POOF); the shortest route above reaches one in 5 guesses.

Replay Poople #390 yourself

Same starting word, same word list as the original, with undo and hints. Replays don't touch your streak. Play #390

How the shortest path is found

Every four-letter word in the game's word list is a node; two words are linked when they differ by one letter. A breadth-first search from POOP gives the minimum number of steps for every word. When several shortest ladders exist, the one shown prefers common words, so it reads naturally — the same idea the original game uses for its "yesterday" solution.