Have you been caught up in the latest viral craze? My son introduced me to Wordle last week. I struggled to solve the puzzle. You get six guesses to solve the five-letter word of the day. Then I noticed Wordle was trending on Twitter. Then one friend and fellow blogger sent me a link to play. Everywhere I looked there was Wordle.
The topper was a blogger I follow, “Tater,” who was interviewed by the Washington Post in an article about Wordle. You can read the story called “Wordle is our New Drug” HERE and visit his blog “The World’s Common Tater” HERE.
What makes the puzzle so much fun? I think it’s the simplicity and that it’s only one word per day. It’s much easier than a crossword. And it only takes a few minutes.
My son came up with a surefire winning strategy. He looked up the most common letters used in the English language. It was a list of 15 letters and he came up with three words: earnt (which is a word in the UK), coils and dumpy. You type those words in and presto! You get four out of five of the letters — or at least enough to solve the Wordle.
I found that to be almost like cheating, so I came up with two words that cover all five vowels and the letter Y. Yearn and moist. I still solve the Wordle, but it’s a little harder.
Here’s an excerpt from from a Wall Street Journal article by Joseph Pisani called “What Is Wordle? How to Play the Viral Word Game and Tricks to Impress Your Friends: Everything you need to know about the online game that has taken the internet by storm.”
Wordle, an online word game, seems like it is everywhere these days. Here’s what you need to know.
What is Wordle? It is a once-a-day word game that has gone viral in recent weeks. It only can be played on a website.
Who brought this on us? Wordle was created by Josh Wardle, a software engineer from New York. He created a prototype in 2013 and dusted it off during the pandemic for his partner, who likes playing word games.
How do I play? Go to the game’s website on your desktop or mobile browser. The URL is: https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/
Wordle is simple: You have six chances to guess the day’s secret five-letter word. Type in a word as a guess, and the game tells you which letters are or aren’t in the word. The game is free and has no ads. The aim is to figure out the secret word with the fewest guesses.
What do the green and yellow squares mean? When you make a guess in the game, the letter tiles change colors to show how close you are to the secret word. If you guess “weary,” and the “W” turns green, that means the secret word starts with a “W.” If the “E” turns yellow, the letter is in the word but not in that spot. Any letters that aren’t in the secret word turn gray.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordle-what-is-word-game-11642016202?mod=life_work_lead_pos1
Are you playing Wordle? Do you have a strategy or do you wing it with guesses?
I’m glad I finally made the paper for being dumber than my wife
Ha! It was a fun article. I’m impressed you made it into the Washington Post.
Omg I’m obsessed with this game! Yesterday I didn’t have any letters in the first word and shockingly I managed it in four. Still trying to figure out strategy!
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I struggled yesterday!
I think it was the day before I had trouble…proxy was the word and I think it took me six
If I can’t get the word in three, I start using my son’s words.
3 today
It took me five! I almost forgot about using letters twice.
Ok…here’s my thoughts so far as to strategy: I think your first word should be at least 3 consonants. I think consonants not vowels are key. I think the second word is the most important…the second word makes or breaks you. I think vowel placement is key…in English where vowels go matters…use the letter box wisely…when you look at the letter left to try, you’ll be able to rule out a lot of letters
Interesting.
I know…double letter annoyng
I guess I have to start playing this game. Anything to keep the mind healthy, right? Thanks for the tips!
It’s fun and takes less than five minutes. Enjoy!
I keep forgetting to play. If it were an app on my phone, I’d be on there daily.
Your son should go on Wheel of Fortune.
Ha! I’ll tell him that.
This is hysterical, our family has a private slack channel where we conduct most of our communication due to the time differences and locations where we all preside (Portugal, Boston, California, etc.). We started doing Wordle as a family, posting our scores daily in the designated slack folder. It’s been so fun, but today I learned a letter can be used twice, that was tricky! One of my sons likes to start with the word OUIJA so he can figure out the vowels straight up! It’s a tactic? Funny how popular this little game has become! Hugs, C
I’m trying hard to write my three pages (via The Artist’s Way) before Wordle. Wordle is winning the battle.
I like a simple game like this one and would also prefer it to sudoku because I’m more of a words person than a numbers person. I say would because I find myself once again at an unexpected moment of transition and therefore barely able to concentrate on anything at all!
I love Cheryl’s idea re her family’s slack file and would consider pursuing that for my family to use if one of the options I am considering didn’t include the added bonus of actually living in the same city with my kids! Another friend of mine also worked cryptic crossword puzzles with her family. They are also too complicated for me to concentrate on right now so I dropped out of her class on the subject. The best thing about these very difficult ditties is that they may be best solved in a group.
I have also given up on the 3 morning pages in The Artists Way. They gave me too much stress when I thought about what to write first thing in the morning!
I have found the three morning pages a struggle lately, but I force myself to do them. I sometimes find myself using them to figure out the day’s Wordle!