BS: Wordle

Subject: BS: Wordle
From: weerover
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 06:57 AM

Anyone else addicted to this online word game? I have had a go each day for the last 13 days and have a 100% record within the allowed six attempts: 2 attempts - 2 successes, 3 - 4, 4 - 5, 5 - 1, 6 - 1. Pity there is only one game per day.

wr

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 07:44 AM

I got it in 2 today. Only been doing it about 5 days but enjoying it so far

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:01 AM

I checked it out.

https://wordlegame.org/

Good puzzle. Click on enter to get a new puzzle after winning.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:12 AM

I tried it after seeing a BBC News website clip last week. I solved that day's puzzle in 3 or 4 tries but I've not bothered visiting the site again.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: DaveRo
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:43 AM

weerover wrote: Pity there is only one game per day.

A deliberate choice by the originator:
Wordle creator overwhelmed by global success of hit puzzle

Some people got in a lather a week or two back because the solution used American spelling.

There's an off-colour version called Lewdle, apparantly.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:45 AM

Thanks for that link to a clone of the game, Stanron. Now I'll be able to indulge the addiction - and it is indeed highly addictive. I understand why the game's creator, Mr Wardle chose to try to restrict us to one game a daycare , and why Apple is taking down the pirate verdins of it from the App Store.

It's intriguing the way no matter what word you put in to start you get to the chosen word in a few goes.

Most times I've done it I've succeeded, but it's not easy.   I can't work out why it works.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:38 AM

There's also Sweardle and Absurdle (the word changes, apparently)

Pirate versions likely had ads or trackers. The original has none.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:47 AM

If it's driving you crazy you can sort of cheat, once you've got a couple of greens. You open up a crossword solver, and you can get a fairly short list of five letter possible, and then you just whittle it down to exclude any words with the letters wordle has told you aren't in the answer.

But that takes a bit of fun out of the game.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 11:11 AM

It's a nice challenge. There's one in Irish called Foclach too. And there are Wordle versions in various other languages.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 12:37 PM

Much easier than Jotto, the pen-and-paper word version of Mastermind I've played since the 60's. In Jotto, you get told if *a* letter is in the right place, but not *which* letter. For instance if you guessed STERN for my word STORK I would say 3 in the right place, none in the wrong. If you guessed MOCKS I would say 3 in the wrong, none in the right.

Wordle is ridiculously easy.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 04:05 AM

It's actually not really hard when one uses a formula you devise yourself. I like getting at least one line that has no successes in it, so I can eliminate all those letters. it would probably be even better if you got TWO lines of no success, but I didn't try for that.


Then when you get, say, one green block and two yellow blocks, concentrate on the correctly placed letter while keeping the also-rans in mind. It works.

I used yesterday's puzzle and after that I did half a dozen 'random' puzzles. I never had to go past the fourth line in any of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 06:40 AM

Try 6 today!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 08:55 AM

I'm having reasonable success. Only 3 words have taken the whole 6 attempts, in the first 18 (Favor, Proxy & Gorge). Spotting double letters caused the problem with 'Gorge' and the US spelling with 'Favor'

Unless I get a lot of information on the first attempt I try a different set of letters on the second (Often using Train followed by Demob).

Ebbie says Then when you get, say, one green block and two yellow blocks, concentrate on the correctly placed letter I take the opposite view. Unless you've already got enough info to make an informed guess, ignore the green letter, you know what it is, and where it must go, don't re-use it until you're ready to make a reasoned guess. It's not going to move, and it allows you to eliminate another unused letter.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 09:00 AM

Just done today's. Again it strung me out to 6 attempts. I won't say why because of possible 'spoilers'.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 09:52 AM

Me too (6 tries).
The sneaky bastards!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 10:18 AM

Just checked elsewhere to see if we're all working on the same puzzle. It seems that the daily reset is standard at Midnight UK time (or possibly UCT) so in the US it changes somewhere between teatime and midnight.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 11:12 AM

Ignoring the green one risks forgetting that the same letter can sometimes crop up twice or even three times in a word.

It's a good idea to start out with the more common letters, so you can tick them off one way or another.

I found that the link Stanron gave to wordlegame.org, wile very handy in that it enables you to play as often as you like - and also in various other languages, which I couldn't begin to do, has one annoying defect. There is no undo button, so once you've put in a letter you can't get rid of it and start again, you've got to keep on to the end with that word, and blown one of your goes on a word you hadn't intended to try.

If anybodies got a link to a similar one, but with an undo button, I'd be grateful.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 12:04 PM

In Jotto, no repeated letters are allowed.

How does it score the L that is in the right place if there is another L in the wrong?

I consider any Wordle with repeated letters unscorable. But I play anyway! It is still fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 12:43 PM

Nigel, you can see what time I did the puzzle. It tells me the next one is in 11:17.

Mrrzy, from a previous puzzle, it seems it only tells you if you got a correct letter, not how many of them there are. I've figure out the doible letters because it was the only word I could think of, and it had a double letter.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 12:43 PM

Glad it wasn't just me :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 01:25 PM

... the link Stanron gave to wordlegame.org,
............
............ There is no undo button, ...

There is a back button at the bottom left of the keyboard when I am using it.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 04:14 PM

I've back-buttoned my ass off. You can't undo it once you've hit the "enter" key, but that would be cheating, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Jan 22 - 12:39 PM

Jeri:
Nigel, you can see what time I did the puzzle. It tells me the next one is in 11:17.

Unfortunately that timer updates live-time, but if you had saved a scree-shot showing 11:17 to the next Wordle then the screenshot was taken at 12:43 (Lunch time) UK time. Add/subtract hours for your own timezone from UCT.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Jan 22 - 12:43 PM

If you can't backspace to get rid of individual letters when you realise you've mistyped, just end the word with a 'q' and get it rejected as not on the wordlist. You can then start that line again.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: meself
Date: 25 Jan 22 - 01:17 PM

Did someone say there was a pirate version? That's the one for me, mateys!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Jan 22 - 08:01 AM

I've found an open source clone of Wordle. I'm not sure anyone in this thread would want to try to build or alter it but the word lists which apparently are the same as the genuine version is using may be of interest if it's not considered cheating.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 26 Jan 22 - 03:27 PM

Jon,
People looking at the word lists by viewing the source code have noted that the code includes the full list of words which will be accepted as valid guesses, also the list of the words which will be used as solutions (in date order)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Jan 22 - 09:36 AM

I was down to my last stab today and had to resort to a crossword solver :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Jan 22 - 09:55 AM

Well, the only 2 I've tried since this thread have been ones where people have commented on solving on 6th attempt. The first of these took me 4 and this one took me 3.

Just luck for me of course. I may well fail the next time I try one.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Jan 22 - 08:22 PM

Jeri, if the word were DWELL and I guessed QUILT, it would tell me that the L is in the right place ... But it is *also* in thw wrong place. Took me a while to get used to that.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Jan 22 - 01:35 PM

when very young we played jotto with great pleasure. i thought of it as "battleship" for words.

I enjoy the original wordle site. don't know how it remembers my stats without a log-in. if it's by IP then there can only be one player per address, right?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 29 Jan 22 - 01:41 PM

This is great, now I just need to find a 12 step program to help me kick it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 29 Jan 22 - 05:21 PM

what I like about the original wordle is it limits you to one per day

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Jan 22 - 09:46 AM

Today's is a tricky one!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 30 Jan 22 - 10:01 AM

Very easy to go wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Jan 22 - 10:04 AM

Out in 4 with that one.

I will confess that my predicted failure did occur yesterday. I had the last 4 letters right but two guesses for the first letter weren't enough. I think I tried "mould" and "would" but needed "could".

My "main statistics" were unaffected by this loss. I only tried yesterday's to confirm (re robo's question) that the wordle uses cookies/web storage to hold the data and I started with a clean sheet on Chromium rather than my usual Firefox.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Neil D
Date: 31 Jan 22 - 03:58 AM

This game is very much like a game show that was on U.S. TV several years ago called LINGO.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 31 Jan 22 - 11:16 AM

Got it in 4 today but I had to let it simmer for a few hours after 3 guesses. When I came back to it it just jumped out at me.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 Jan 22 - 11:23 AM

It was 4 for me too. Quite tough I thought.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jan 22 - 11:58 AM

Maybe this is the next phase..
https://qntm.org/files/wordle/

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: weerover
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 04:53 AM

Got today's in two!

wr

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 06:05 AM

I absolutely hate stuff like this so I had a go this morning after reading the rules. Not exactly difficult, is it!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 06:28 AM

Words with three vowels are a good starting point. like;

BIJOU
EQUAL
QUAIL
QUIET
QUITE

Anyone got any more?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 06:30 AM

Me too, got lucky with my starter word.

That looks like a strange beast, Bill.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 06:43 AM

There's always that Yorkshire word that's nowt BUT vowels; "Eeeee..."

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:14 AM

AROSE
GAUGE
GUIDE

and that sound you make when your wife flushes the toilet while you're showering-

AIEEE

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:38 AM

HOUSE
IDEAL
JUICE
LOUSE
MOUSE
OAKEN
OLDIE
OPINE
OPIUM
PIOUS
QUIRE
SUITE
UNITE
UNTIE

then, if you are looking for repeated letters:

APIAN
AVIAN
EATEN
OPIOD
PEACE
PIECE



DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:47 AM

NO

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:49 AM

ABUSE

LOOSE
MOOSE


DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:52 AM

UNION

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:53 AM

ONION

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:54 AM

ANION

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:54 AM

ANION

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 07:59 AM

Snap!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 09:40 AM

I didn't read this earlier because I thought someone might be typing spoilers, but you're just spelling random words. Adorbs. Just like you're typing a whole Scrabble dictionary.

No, it's not hard. It's more about logic than vocabulary. Letters that aren't in it, letters that are, but are in the wrong place, letters you haven't tried yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 09:47 AM

Hi Jeri. Not random words but words with three vowels to try as a first attempt.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 09:50 AM

A good crossword standard:

ENNUI

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 10:18 AM

It's all very well starting with a word with 3 vowels, but there are only 5 vowels to eliminate. I prefer to start with a word with more consonants than vowels for this reason.
Unless something obvious jumps out at me I start with TRAIN followed by DEMOB. This checks the 4 most common vowels and several 'popular' consonants, without repetition.
Those two words usually give me some sort of guidance to what letters are definitely 'in', and a list of letters which are definitely 'out'.
So far over 28 days I have scores of:
2 tries: 1
3 tries: 11
4 tries: 10
5 tries: 2
6 tries: 4
No failures though.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 10:19 AM

Jon Freeman:
A good crossword standard:
ENNUI

Yes, a good crossword word, but I was getting BORED with it ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 11:15 AM

Oh. 3 vowels. Nobody did "toile" yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 11:18 AM

Play it while you can...
https://www.barrons.com/articles/new-york-times-buys-wordle

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 11:22 AM

You can always switch to
https://www.cnet.com/news/lewdle-the-nsfw-wordle-clone-that-rewards-dirty-minds/

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Feb 22 - 06:40 PM

I was just about to put that here!

Blicky.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Feb 22 - 08:27 PM

Boris
Bores
Bones
Bonks
Banks
Wanks

(Not an original from me!)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 Feb 22 - 07:47 AM

I liked my few plays with absurdle but the same set of guesses will always lead to the same results.

There must be sequences of guesses that will lead to a solution in a minimum number of guesses but I don't see how to find that out. My best attempts have taken 6 but others here may well do better.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 05 Feb 22 - 04:52 PM

For the instrumentalists ,,,,

Chordle



https://www.chordle.synthase.cc/

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 06:35 AM

Six out of six goes so far. A three, four fours and a five. As Brucie Forsyth would have said, good game, good game!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: cnd
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 09:20 AM

Those of you bored by Wordle may consider Dordle

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 02:06 PM

I just tried to enter the entirely usual and frequently-used word ‘prick’, and was told it is ‘not a valid word’.

Now why should that be?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 02:21 PM

Rusty, that's funny. It was THE word a while ago. It never tells me when it's not a valid word, the game just won't take it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 02:28 PM

Trying to check when it happened, and I think I was wrong about them having used the word.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 02:53 PM

Jeri: I came to the game via their website, rather than the app. Maybe that’s why I get the ‘not a valid word’ messages.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 03:10 PM

I have been finding myself waking up so I can play the latest right after midnight. Also it is midnight my time. Not volitional.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Feb 22 - 03:26 PM

There IS no valid app. The website address I use is https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/. I don't know why it gets all judgy with you. I'll try tomorrow with a non-word, but I'm pretty sure it just blinks, and won't take the word when I type a weird one.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Feb 22 - 06:55 PM

Got it in five tonight . Peed off because Mrs Steve got it in three and her best mate got it in four. My daughter got it in five. There's a lot of luck, or not, with your first word.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 07 Feb 22 - 07:48 PM

I got it in five. It would've been four, but I typed a non-word that was actually a word. The actual non-word got the blink, and not accepting, but it also flashed "that word is not in our list" (or something like it).

There probably needs to be a "Wordle Anonymous" group for some of us.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Feb 22 - 08:19 PM

The first word is about 82.368% luck, but after that the luck element diminishes row by row. By line four, if you haven't got it by then, a mild panic sets in. I've never had to go to the utter panic of line five with nowhere to go...it must be awful...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Feb 22 - 10:51 AM

Seeing lots of people taking 6 attempts today. It seems to be a common set of letters with too many options to fill the last two. Thankfully my common first two words made it (fairly) obvious to get it in 3.
Wordle 234 3/6

???????
???????
??????????

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Feb 22 - 10:53 AM

Ah! I thought the usual "Share" wouldn't work here, but had to try.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Feb 22 - 05:33 PM

Got it in three today. I know a few who took six too. Mrs Steve got it in two. Grr.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Feb 22 - 06:13 PM

I got it in three. I always aim at getting the vowels first.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 08 Feb 22 - 06:20 PM

Five. I got the common letters, but there were many chances to plug in the rest of them. I aim for the vowels, then eliminate consonants. It gets down to a low number of word, and one usually just feels right. The really fast solutions, are, at least for me, a matter of luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Feb 22 - 06:28 PM

Aim for vowels? For the first word I have only two rules: it must have at least two different vowels and I never include Q, X or Z.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 07:58 AM

And watch out for American spellings!
Another tricksy one today, but still got it in 3 thanks to my start words.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 08:03 AM

Yes - Even forewarned about American spellings it still took me 5. Once I got the last three there were too many options!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 08:41 AM

One way to do it is always to use the word that came up as the answer the last time you played. Introduces an extra element of chance.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 08:48 AM

Oi, don't give warnings about American spellings, right? I wish to approach this in a pure, virginal manner every day! I suspected as much after the second word but ruled it out. So it took me five today. You'd think that the choice of tens of thousands of words should rule out such controversies.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 09:17 AM

Well, although the creator of Wordle is Welsh born, he lives in New York. So perhaps US spellings are an understandable outcome.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 11:40 AM

I'm OK with it now. As long as I know. The online opprobrium accompanying today's word does reek somewhat of British imperialism.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 12:22 PM

If British spelling is used, it would eliminate 6-letter words that would otherwise have only 5 letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 12:54 PM

I didn't see any opptobium involved or objection.. Just a warning that applies at all times. Whether it was English or American spellings involved the same issue would arise. It's just an extra trap to be evaded, and adds to the fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 09 Feb 22 - 02:02 PM

Someone can always put together a Britword version with an extra letter and claim how it is bigger brain food. But that lets in so many other words that they probably have to increase to ten tries.

It does make me want to try out 5 letter Brit words such as "lorry" which I don't think has a yank equivalent.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Feb 22 - 07:15 AM

Four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Feb 22 - 11:06 AM

There are five letter words where the English version is different. One that comes to mind is tyre. I am sure there are others. But with the -or/-our words the English word is aways going to be excluded by the five letter format.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Feb 22 - 12:37 PM

There are five letter words where the English version is different. One that comes to mind is tyre.

But 'tyre' is not a very good example of a 'five letter word'.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Feb 22 - 12:52 PM

Very true.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 10 Feb 22 - 01:21 PM

Tyres

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Feb 22 - 01:42 PM

But does one get 'tyred'? As in tied up in tyres?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 07:41 AM

Three!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 08:00 AM

100!

and 4

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raggytash
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 08:18 AM

I get tired of being tied up with tyres and being thrown in the tide.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 10:47 AM

I'm alright I can post here in the middle of the afternoon;
I'm re-tyred ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 11:28 AM

"Alright?" Tread carefully, Nigel! (See what I did there...?)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 01:55 PM

The URL has changed to the New York Times site:

https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html.

I'm glad I'm already a NY Times subscriber, I enjoy this little game. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 02:23 PM

I just google "Wordle" every time!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 04:42 PM

You apparently don't have to be subscribed, and the old address forwards to this new one.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 05:57 PM

I've been subscribed to the NYT Daily Briefing (a freebie this end) for a good while. It wouldn't count, would it...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 06:01 PM

I never subscribed because they tried to force me. Pay-walls, nag-screens, nope. Just contrary.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 06:17 PM

I'm like that too. I'm a lifelong Guardian subscriber but that's it. Don't link me to stuff that costs me, people!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Feb 22 - 10:00 PM

And a math one called Nerdle.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 07:48 AM

Five. A bit unexpected, that one.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raggytash
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 08:02 AM

Got it in three today, not yet managed a two!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 08:59 AM

There's wordlegame.org that Stanron linked to earlier. I haven't noticed any difference between it and the one NYT now owns.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 09:00 AM

...except that you can play it any time you like.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 09:15 AM

I just played the Wordle on the Times site and didn't encounter a paywall.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Feb 22 - 10:08 AM

They said they'd leave it public. Don't know for how long, or what strings might be attached.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 09:52 AM

Three. And by the second word I was getting nowhere. I think I could be genius material.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 10:05 AM

Wordle 239 3/6

??????
?????????
??????????

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 11:27 AM

What does that mean, Jon?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 11:32 AM

It means the Wordle share doesn't work here. Nigel had commented on this in an earlier post but, as it looked fine when previewed, I thought I'd continue...

I tried today and it took me 3.
#1: 1 in right place.
#2: 1 in right place, 3 in wrong place.
#3: correct guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 11:51 AM

Me 3 2. I've started using AUDIO as the first word as it has four of the five vowels innit? Anyone got other five letter words with four vowels?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 11:56 AM

I have a double whammy of aisle and mouth. Audio is the word I've been looking for!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 12:14 PM

Took five tries today, and I ended up repeating much of one word lower down - wasting a guess. Oops.

Wordle 239 5/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 01:09 PM

I've mostly been starting with "early" or "later". I'm gradually finding that eliminating common consonants is at least as valuable as nailing vowels.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 01:29 PM

Steve, two words to eliminate the same 2 vowels?
I got it in 3 today. Second word was lucky, because I got 4 of the 5 letters, and (previously) eliminated 2 vowels and 3 consonants. This has as much to do with identifying the wrong letters as finding the right ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 01:49 PM

Not on the same day, Jeri!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 03:29 PM

I like "aisle" because it always seems to hit somewhere in the puzzle.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 05:26 PM

Got it, Steve. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 07:35 PM

Cheers, Jeri. This game has got me and Mrs Steve totally enthralled for about half an hour a day. I've never been one for crosswords (which I'm pretty good at, he said modestly...) or sudoku (never tried it...) but Wordle is a genius invention which fuses good luck and a canny bit of intrigue, beautifully crafted...

In other words, I'm addicted...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 09:01 PM

There might need to be a 12-step program if any of us want to quit.
Part of the attraction is it's a logic puzzle as well as a word game.

I discovered Neverwherdle onNeilGaiman.com. Works the same but it's Gaimanesque. First guess, I got three letter in the right places. That's the last time that will happen.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 07:10 AM

Three. One of my quicker efforts!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 08:00 AM

Took me all 5 today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 08:56 AM

Stanron:
Me 3 2. I've started using AUDIO as the first word as it has four of the five vowels innit? Anyone got other five letter words with four vowels?
ADIEU: Again 4 vowels, but includes 'E' which comes top of the list for most deciphering options.
QUEUE, also 4 vowels but less help due to repetition.

I still tend to start with TRAIN followed by DEMOB (unless TRAIN gives me a lot of info)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 09:22 AM

There might need to be a 12-step program if any of us want to quit.

I'm possibly the odd one in this thread on this. I do have a regular set of word things (mostly crossword of the simpler quick and cryptic varieties - Monday Quiptic and Cryptic in the Guardian are usually about my limit) but Wordle hasn't really made it for me.

Its intreset lies more in how others find a puzzle here and that may prompt a try from me...

On first guess, I've preferred to use A,E and common consonants for starter. "RATES" is one I've used a few times.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 10:08 AM

ADIEU works well, thanks. I tried it on the

https://wordlegame.org/

clone site. Also I just noticed that on the original site there is a link, top left, to other games. The Sudoku is almost acceptable.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 06:50 PM

I once tried 'HOIST' as my first word. Took several steps to arrive at the wordle of the day. The next day the word was 'MOIST'.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 09:50 PM

Worldle. Not a typo. Try it! I got today's in 4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Feb 22 - 08:18 AM

Four. Made a right balls of the third one by not using an orange letter. Grr.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Feb 22 - 05:37 AM

Tough one today that a few people will not know!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 16 Feb 22 - 06:03 AM

To my great surprise I got it in two. Pure luck of course although in the distant past I had actually done it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Feb 22 - 08:27 AM

Four. A few annoyed people around, but it's a good word!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Feb 22 - 08:31 AM

It took me 4 tries, having guessed the word ending in 3.

As for the word, it comes into what may be a fairly large category for me. I would for example be able to use the word as a solution to a straight crossword clue and be satisfied my answer was right rather than me just putting in a word to fit but I’d probably have problems going the other way round, ie. if someone simply asked me what the word meant, I could find myself saying I don’t know.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Feb 22 - 08:14 PM

The Shetlandic version, Wirdle.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Feb 22 - 06:26 AM

Five. Bad stabs on lines 2 and 3. Grr.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Feb 22 - 06:22 PM

I tanked on the one for today. It just wasn't coming to me with the few letters I got early on.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Feb 22 - 07:20 PM

Five again. After line two I knew the last four letters in the right places. Then I made two wrong guesses as to the first letter. I hate this but I love it...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Feb 22 - 08:48 PM

4 tries. I got the first letter on my first try, then got two other letters, and one had to go at the end. I got enough the weren't in there anywhere. Once in a while, it's skill, but more often, it's a combination of logic and luck. Oh, and eliminating letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Feb 22 - 08:54 PM

Stop showing off, Jeri! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Feb 22 - 09:25 PM

:P
I don't say anything when I mess up.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 06:12 AM

Six. Grr. Should have been four as I had four out of the five letters in the right places after three and there were only three possible words it could be - so I guessed the wrong one twice, just like yesterday! At least I haven't failed as yet...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 06:34 AM

I had four out of the five letters in the right places after three and there were only three possible words it could be

In that case, enter a word that has at least two of those possible letters. It doesn't matter if the letters you already know are included or not. If one of those two turns up as yellow, then your next turn will solve it. Otherwise, use the letter that was not chosen.

I don't really see the point of posting Wordle scores. The earlier you get it, the more likely that luck played a greater part than skill. The most boring thing about Wordle is the number of collumn inches

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 06:41 AM

I didn't mean to press submit - I was just trying to correct the mis-spelling of "column" when I caught the submit button.

To continue .....

The most boring thing about Wordle is the number of collumn inches in serious journals dedicated to discussing the anger and frustration of Wordle players with the New York Times because they got the puzzle wrong.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 06:45 AM

I am not doing well today. The first paragraph in my post of 6:34am was supposed to be in italics as a quote from Steve's post preceding mine.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 06:48 AM

Oh bugger! I still didn't manage to correct to correct the mis-spelling.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Feb 22 - 08:59 AM

It's just a bunch of fun, Doug. You're not able to spend too long on it or get obsessed. There are kids and non-kids by the hundred million wasting their lives and getting fat via spending all day on Facebook or playing "computer games." You can't do that with Wordle. I love all the little spats and moans that rear up every day apropos of Wordle. Mainly because they're little!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Feb 22 - 12:45 PM

Begod, I got it in two!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 20 Feb 22 - 07:55 PM

Likewise. My 'starter' of TRAIN set me off very well!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Feb 22 - 08:57 PM

Tell you what, though, Nigel. I got it in two. But should I have expected praise from my somewhat biased family? ? Well I should not. In fact, my two kids have both insinuated that I'd cheated. Now why would I decide to cheat, a man who's never cheated in his whole life...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Feb 22 - 10:11 PM

"TRUCK" got me pretty close also, but I did it in 4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 05:00 AM

Four. Should have been three but I tried an over-clever daft guess for line 3. Grr.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 09:15 AM

Wordle 247 4/6

Using the 'share' button then pasting manages to include the question number as well. But delete all the blocks as they only come out as question marks.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 09:16 AM

*Sorry*
That came out looking like an instruction rather than the intended suggestion.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 11:32 AM

Wordle 247 5/6

I'm glad this is only once a day. I can enjoy the puzzle then move onto other stuff or compare notes with friends. Facebook is full of the pasted results now.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raedwulf
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 02:33 PM

Since I wrote this a few weeks ago for something (private) elsewhere, this might (or might not) be of interest to some of you. Slightly edited for the different environment...

~~~~~~

To E, or not to E, sorry, what is the question?

The answer is E, the question, however you choose to investigate it, is what is the most common letter in English? Interest in the topic of letter frequency is astonishingly old (well, I was astonished, anyway). The first known analysis was done by an Arab mathematician, Al-Kindi, who lived from 801 to 873 (he was one of those Arabic scholars who was tasked with translating Greek scientific & philosophical treatises into Arabic, and played an important part in the introduction of Indian i.e. Arabic numerals; you lot won't recall earlier entries on numbers & counting). It's not impossible that it may even go back to Roman times.

The reason? Cryptanalysis. Al-Kindi used his results to formally develop the method for breaking ciphers. Old Julius (Caesar, that is) has turned up more than once for various reasons in these entries (wot you 'as not seen!), notably for his calendar reforms. Although he didn't invent ciphers, which have been in use for anything up to 3,000 years, he is the first recorded user.

The Caesar cipher is a simple shift cipher e.g. A becomes D, B becomes E. However complicated your cipher is, if it has a regular pattern where one letter is always represented by the same other letter, whether it's from simple shifting, or using a more complex key, then knowing the letter frequency of the language you're trying to decipher is a vital component of that.

You can determine letter frequency in various ways. Samuel Morse, when trying to assign the simplest dot-dash keying to the most frequent letters in his famous Code, simply counted up the number of letters in sets of printers type. E came out top, 60 times more common than Z (12,000 vs 200). Essentially, this is a simple way of performing text analysis. The idiosyncracy of this is that a relatively small number of words dominate in language – he, she, the, in, of, and & so on(!). It's not necessarily a fault; indeed, it's an advantage if the ciphered message is in plain language. But “the cat sat on the mat” presents an entirely different proposition to the abbreviated “cat sat mat”, where half the message is inferred, rather than included, without the clarity of the message being affected.

Another way of doing it is to go through the main entries in a comprehensive dictionary. Someone did that with the Concise OED of 1995; E still came out top, but Q was last; the former at 11.16% was 56.88 times more likely to appear than Q. The idiosyncracy there is your results will vary according to your dictionary. The Wiki entry on the topic has E top with 11%, but J last with 0.21% (Q is now on 0.24%). I don't know which dikker their numbers are based on.

A third way is to include all variants of a word in your analysis, but that biases certain letters because of suffixes. If abstract is the main entry, then you have abstracts, abstracting, abstracted, abstractise... What do you mean I made that last one up!

If you choose to do it on initial letters of words, the frequency of certain combinations of letters such as 'th', sc', sh' and so on means you get an entirely different set of results. On text analyis, T is the most common initial letter (all those The's & Then's & These's!) followed by A (E is 15th); dictionary analysis gives you S, then C (E, 12th). But it's useful knowledge if you're setting up a filing system or anything else, such a multi-volume encyclopaedia, that is split on an A to Z basis.

As for the least frequent, the last four are almost entirely consistent. On initial letter dictionary analysis, Y drops in; J, almost 3 times as likely to be an initial, is promoted to 6th last. Otherwise, it's always J, Q, X & Z, in various orders. Which explains a lot about Scrabble scoring!

As for what prompted this, it's all those of you (you know who are!) who keep posting your Wordle scores. I finally took a look at it (& got it in 3 smug). You might just as well start with stone or stain or stair or store & go from there. Although my one & only go started with “taken”, which was handy, since “spiky” then led to “perky”!

Finally, in other languages, the proportions are naturally different, but the letters aren't necessarily. E is even more frequent in French (14.71%) & German (16.4%) than in English, and a whopping 18.91% in Dutch. You have to go to languages such as Portuguese, Esperanto, Polish, Turkish & Icelandic for that to change (to A, and only in Polish (4th) & Icelandic (5th) is E not 2nd). A, I, & S consistently appear in the top 7 in all of those, with N, R, & T most likely to fill the other 3 spots.

~~~~~

My own strategy is to start with words such as stone, train, notes, that use the most common letters. Whether (& how) you choose any of them is pretty irrelevant. Only blind luck will get you 1/6, and it takes nearly as blind luck to get 2/6 (I've done it once in 20 goes, with two more "if I'd chosen that word instead..."). On the first line, eliminating the most likely letters is as useful as scoring, given the random element. On Sunday, I think, the first 8 letters I chose were all fails; the last 2 on the second line were in the wrong place. I was slightly fortunate to get the word on the 3rd line, but it was also an educated guess, given what had been eliminated.

Whilst there is no logic to it, I try to avoid repeating "opening line" letters (and also opening letter) the following day. There's no reason why stone shouldn't be followed by stein, stair, stain, stale... But it doesn't seem to work that way; I try to change vowels (generally ignoring U, which is rather less common, for the first try). If the word was tacit (a few days ago), I probably went for something like crone or snore next day. It's strictly not logical, but I do it anyway! ;-)

The three important things to remember:

The same letter can appear more than once (this is not explained);
The dictionary is US (despite the creator being British), so rubbishy spelling like center & favor are valid, rather than centre & favour as it should be (and yes that's a deliberate match to the blue-touch paper! :p);
It is rumoured that plurals are not in the (known to be fixed) word list. There are plenty of 5 letter words terminating in S, but whilst bonus, I daresay, is included, sites, rates, teams, etc won't be. I can't speak for the truth of that, but in my limited experience I've never seen one (nor e.g. gives).

Lastly, although I've never set Wordle to hard mode, I've never played it any other way. I have friends that sometimes do that, but I don't see the point. The object is to guess the word in the fewest number of tries; leaving out letters you know are in the word guarantees failure. So I don't. But maybe that's just me!




* And extra-lastly, someone above suggested a bunch of Q-words to start with. Given that that's in the bottom 4 for frequency & pretty much guarantees you a following U, the least likely vowel by some margin... Good luck with that as a strategy! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 04:50 PM

Well I don't agree with you about American spellings, because (a) I prefer them, (b) many of them actually predate "English-English" spellings. Railing against American spellings in a game founded by a Brit in America for his American wife smacks of imperialism... But I do agree about the conscious strategy of eliminating letters rather than finding letters. For the last few times I've started with ADIEU: that either nails or eliminates four out of five vowels. After that, it's all about eliminating common consonants. We all have our little ways...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 05:29 PM

I've been starting with AUDIO, I'd forgotten about ADIEU, and if AUDIO is all grey I follow with REEVE which tests for E in three places in one go.

The coding statistics are interesting but I'm not sure how useful they are when looking for a single random word.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 12:58 PM

That sounds like a good ploy to me...

Got it in three today. A very odd thing happened today. Mrs Steve also got in three, with exactly the same steps as me. We'd started with the same word not knowing what the other was doing, though we'd discussed in the past a few likely contenders...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raedwulf
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 01:06 PM

Typical of you to deliberately misinterpret something I've written, Shaw. I wasn't "railing" against anything; all the stuff I write for the group of word-interested friends has a somewhat humorous slant to it and, bar you, I doubt anyone here is likely to take the remark seriously (which they shouldn't, since it isn't).

As for US very spelling vs British spelling, the common tale is that Noah Webster (he of the Dikker) standardised his spellings away from British English where possible because he was an Anglophobe. Part true - he was an Anglophobe. But his actual raison d'etre was to simplify spelling by writing words how they were pronounced. One of his alterations that didn't catch on was masheen for machine.

In other cases, what's going on is less clear. Webster wasn't concerned with where a word came from, he was simply trying to make spelling easier to learn by doing it somewhat phonetically (you might argue that he should have changed centre to senter, rather than center). Take -ice, -ise, -ize endings for example. Practice or practise? The rule... but it isn't; it's a guideline. The guideline is -ice is a noun, -ise is a verb. But entice is a verb & exercise a noun. -ize vs -ise is just as bad. That also isn't British vs US spelling, although it is the case that America has largely standardised on -ize, whereas the British standardized on -ise (& yes, I did that deliberately). The OED's take is that if the source was the Greek ending -izo / -izein , then -ize is the closest match & therefore preferred from the etymological p-o-v.

But the roots of British English are complicated. Color is Latin; technically Webster was right? But we adopted a lot of words from Latin, Anglo-Norman, and French and sometimes from multiple sources. In A-Norman, colur, culur, coler, coloure, coleure, collour are all recorded, in Middle French, color, colour, coulour. In 1694, the French standardised their -ices & -izes into -ises, which also influenced us (rather than US! ;-) ). Short answer, there isn't really a right or wrong. Except possibly where -yse is concerned (which the US generally spells -yze). That's from a Greek stem of -lys-, on which Fowler (he of Modern Usage) has this to say:

“Analyse is better than analyze, but merely as being the one of the two equally indefensible forms that has won. The correct but now impossible form would be analysize (or analysise), with analysist for existing analyst.” There isn't really a right or wrong, just common usage.

Anyway enough of that! Stanron - I don't know how useful my method is either, to be honest. But I think it is of some help. Take today's Wordle - I got the first letter correct & another letter in the wrong place (2nd). Second line, I totally forgot to use the incorrectly placed letter, but got another ditto (4th). I'd also eliminated 4 of the 5 vowels. Given the 3 consonants I had, one fixed, and the compulsory vowel that was left, I really only had one choice. so it helps a bit, I think. How much is another matter!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 03:35 PM

What was that you were saying about lighting the blue touchpaper...?   :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 04:55 PM

This is why we can't have nice things.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 05:29 PM

That's too apocalyptic for words, Jeri. Humour (or, as Wordle would have it, humor) is a great weapon...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 06:21 PM

One wonders how apocalyptic a thing has to be for wordlessness. Are there degrees of apocalypsis?
I got today's in three, and I used the British spelling!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 06:37 PM

Now that's what I could call humo(u)r. British spelling for that one? Dammit, it's not midnight yet so spoilers aren't allowed, but...but...?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Feb 22 - 07:07 PM

You can look me up on that pet peeves thread, but I've consistently railed against criticism of "American spellings." I admit to being caught out on Wordle by one such a couple of weeks ago, but a moment's reflection showed me that such criticism is completely irrational. Not only is a lot of American spelling more logical than English-English, much of it actually predates it. Harping on about Latin/Greek/A.N.Other origins of words is fine, but the bottom line, whether we like it or not (and you don't have to), is that "correct English" is wot people speak, not wot the grammar police or students of etymology like to dictate. Digging and delving into ancient Latin/Middle English/ Geoffrey Of Monmouth is a useful and informative endeavour, but it's English like wot people speak now wot matters. And there are seven times as many yanks as Brits, they all speak English, so, Brits, shut up about American spellings!

And one wonderful thing is that "albeit" can never be a Wordle word!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 04:19 AM

I’m totally out of my depth here and this is just my curiosity but going by the Wikipedia article, “American spelling” is a standardisation started by Webster. Regardless of the spellings chosen, it dates no earlier than 1825.

Webster hoped to standardize American speech, since Americans in different parts of the country used different languages. They also spelled, pronounced, and used English words differently.

Of course I’ve no idea how old “British spelling” would be with similar reasoning but I guess we also had variations in spelling that got standardised at some point?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 04:55 AM

Five. Grr again. After line 2 it could really only have been one of three words, just one letter to go, and there was nothing for it but to guess. So I guessed wrong in lines 3 and 4. That's the third time that's happened to me!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 07:10 AM

Jon, the 1825 "standardisation" doesn't replace the fact that a lot what we call American spellings were used before that, in both America and Britain. Old Webster had a stubborn individualist streak that had him promoting American spellings, many of which were probably already in use (no scholarship from me on that, mind you...). Much earlier, Dr Johnson and his dictionary did much to standardise British spelling, which probably did away with most of any tendency to use American-type spelling this end. So we can blame Webster and Johnson for perpetuating modern arguments about which we should be using. I actually prefer American spellings that try to simplify how words look on the page. For now, I'll be sticking with "our" version of -ise/-ize and stuff like that, and I like the useful distinction between practice and practise, though I can see that routine confusion between the two weakens my stance...

And I'll stoutly defend the right of Wordle to use American spellings if it wants to!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 07:27 AM

I suppose on one hand, I can growl at American spellings and dislike them. I suppose on an other, I sometimes (increasingly rarely) have small dabblings with computing and it would make no sense to play hell that a keyword for some established language is say "color" rather than "colour". One has to learn to accept and live with some things...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 08:41 AM

I tried today's and got it in 2.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 10:30 AM

I'm glad it's only one attempt per day, it makes it more of a treat. No bingeing.

Got it in three today, and it just kind of played itself.

Wordle 249 3/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 01:28 PM

Oh, shut up Jon! (insert winky face here) Haven't tried yet. After my l lunch date, I'll get it in negative 3.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 02:24 PM

FWIW, I tried 'LORRY' and it was accepted.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 02:57 PM

Anyone tried Quordle?

Bloomin' eck!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 03:42 PM

I just got lucky, Jeri. My first guess had 3 letters in the wrong places and trying to think of a word to rearrange those landed me on the solution.

As perhaps the only person in this thread to have failed on one, I can't claim to be that clever anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 03:50 PM

I've failed on a couple. My longest streak was eleven, it's currently six. Both fails were where I had the last four letters correct and there were just too many options for the first letter.

I look on the fails as being as much about luck as the time I got it in two.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 04:49 PM

I've just tried and failed on Quordle, Dave.

I concentrated on the word I had with 3 letters, 2 in the right places, from the start and it took me 5 goes to complete that one. It took me my remaining 4 tries to solve what I thought would be the easiest of the ones remaining with the letters I'd played.

Too complicated for me, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 07:29 PM

Got it in 4. Almost had to go one more, because I was going to stick the wrong letter someplace, until I realized Wordle isn't that highbrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 10:37 PM

A few days ago I failed to solve it - from their stats I messed up six days ago.

20 - Played
95 - Win %
5 - Current Streak
14 - Max Streak

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 06:30 AM

Five. Not happy with myself. Bad guess on line 4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 06:40 AM

I tried again today. 5 too for me although I'd not blame myself for not getting 4. I had what I suppose I could represent as:

*YY*Y

on line 3 but it took a couple more tries to fill the gaps.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 07:19 AM

Spoiler alert:

Only reason I got this one was I was trying an English word to see if they'd take it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 04:48 PM

Yeah, I thought this one was a leftover from the British list.

Wordle 250 5/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 07:12 AM

Four. Got there quickly after a bad start.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 07:36 AM

My "streak" thing isn't accurate. I think it's because I lost some the stats when the changeover to the NYT website happened. It sez my best streak is 15, though I've now done it 20 times and got it every time (I'm not bragging, honest...). I have a feeling that you're not allowed to miss a day if you want to keep your streak intact. I haven't missed any day since started doing it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Noreen
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 10:42 AM

Thanks for the suggestions for other variants to try- I'll give them a go.

As well as Wordle there is:
Quordle (4 words)
Octordle (8 words) and
Sedecordle (16 words) - currently my favourite as you get lots of clues from the other words you've guessed.

And as someone above suggested, there is a 6-letter word version:
Worgle

There are also two geographical ones:
Worldle and
Globle

and a different sort of wordy one which I've only tried once and could get frustrating- find the intended word by meaning:
Semantle

Lastly, a silly one called
Letterle which might hold your interest for a minute or two :)


(Apologies for not typing in all the links but they are easily Googled.)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 05:02 PM

The changeover doesn't seem to have affected my stats.
Played: 40
Win %: 93
Current streak: 28

I thought I missed one somewhere, but if they err on MY side, I'll take it. Who knows, maybe I didn't miss anything.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 26 Feb 22 - 06:03 PM

Please do NOT post spoilers. Do NOT post hints. Do NOT tell us what actual letters you got.

I finally did it: got it in one today. I got it because someone posted two letters he got in the wrong place, and the last letter which was in the correct place. I thought of a word with those two letters in different places, and the end letter, and thought "well, maybe", typed it in, and that was it.
Frankly, it was cool to get it right that fast, but it wasn't fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 26 Feb 22 - 06:11 PM

Steve:

Exactly the same thing happened to me with streak interrurption when the New York Times transition occurred.

Jeri: I hear ya. And agree.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Feb 22 - 07:00 PM

Four.

I will not cheat, I will not take or look for hints, I'm not listening to what other people have achieved and I will not compete. I want this to be fun. I don't do crosswords, sudoku or anything else like those ghastly wastes of life. I hate all kinds of games. But this one is a piece of genius, an amazing mix of mental intrigue and sheer luck, with a good degree of annoyance thrown in. I want to give it five or ten minutes over my mid-morning flat white. It feels good for my brain.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Feb 22 - 03:23 AM

200!

And got it in 2 today for the first time :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Feb 22 - 03:27 AM

The stats rely on your cookies and as I can, and do, play on my phone, tablet or desktop mine are always wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Feb 22 - 06:50 AM

Three. That's more like it. After a terrible first pick too!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Feb 22 - 08:01 AM

Four. Not a single hit on the first line but a useful set of eliminatees (there, I think I've just coined a word...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Mar 22 - 08:33 PM

Five. Easy today to get boxed into a corner. I know someone who's never failed before who failed today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 Mar 22 - 09:38 PM

I got it in 4. It should have been 3 but I made a careless mistake on my 3rd try.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 12:02 AM

With each new guess I don't let myself use letters that were already rejected in the game, and I use pencil and paper. And a spelling/divider book from the 1980s, that in about one out of 10 puzzles lets me look down a list of words with the first two or three letters and decide what I want to try.

Wordle 255 4/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 04:48 AM

Unfortunate 6 the other day. Having identified 4 letters, and assuming I needed an extra 'E' I tried PUREE. When that showed 3 green 2 gold it was staring me in the face.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 04:55 AM

You could say you were on the money.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 11:47 AM

Took me six goes today. I was sweating it.

In order not to post spoilers, tomorrow I'll post two interesting words that it wouldn't let me have, "not in the word list."

Yesterday Wordle reset all my stats to zero, as if it was my first ever go. I hadn't done anything different and was using the iPad I always use. Luckily, because I've been assiduously reporting my scores on Mudcat every day, I managed to rebuild my history. I'm not trusting Wordle any more!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raedwulf
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 12:37 PM

Shaw, I hate you. {No, not really, but..}

I will not cheat, I will not take or look for hints, I'm not listening to what other people have achieved and I will not compete. I want this to be fun. I don't do crosswords, sudoku or anything else like those ghastly wastes of life. I hate all kinds of games. But this one is a piece of genius, an amazing mix of mental intrigue and sheer luck, with a good degree of annoyance thrown in. I want to give it five or ten minutes over my mid-morning flat white. It feels good for my brain.

Yes, that.

The trouble is, the rest of the time you're an obnoxious, lecturing, didactic pain in the ass!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 22 - 01:06 PM

And you're an idiot, but let's not dwell.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 05:40 AM

Three yesterday, speedily too!

The words it wouldn't let me have the day before yesterday were SANTA (Foreign? Counted as a proper name? Religious allusions?? I mean, doesn't "secret Santa" sort of make it an "English" word?) and SATAN (Potential offence? "The Great Satan"??) Still, just as with a moderated forum, Wordle ain't no democracy... ;-)

Anyone else had surprise rejections? Maybe I'll start with WILLY today...

(Bloody grow up, Shaw!)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 12:32 PM

Did it in three today, despite the fact that I was simultaneously showing an old lady at our Memory Café how to do it. She was most impressed. It could have gone completely the other way!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 04:44 PM

I did not find it today. :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 05:29 PM

I didn't get today's word either. I'm slapping my forehead that I didn't, but no luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 06:55 PM

I have yet to fail. You two are not doing it right. If, by line three, things are going badly, tell everyone around you to piss off and leave you alone, have at least one very strong coffee if not two, get your head down and FOCUS! You can do it... You know you can...

You'll lose friends, but hey ho...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 08:38 PM

I always have one cup of strong coffee. I came back from doing laundry and buying food, then carrying it al into the house, and it was late and my patience level was mostly nil. It got to the point where I tried three different words with the same three correct-and-in-the-right-place letters, and put in an obviously wrong word, because I just wanted to SEE THE DAMNED ANSWER! (ahem) I don't know if I would have figured it out, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 08:54 PM

Wrong brand of coffee, Jeri? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 09:15 PM

I'm guessing it wore off hours before I got home, and I should've had another.

BTW, it was four times in a row I got the same three correct letters. Four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 09:44 PM

Same here. Too many words that use that combination of three middle letters. I don't drink coffee.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 06:47 AM

I've got it in two twice in a row! There's a lot of luck involved in that first word. Today I got the last two letters in the right places, and the three disallowed ones left me with hardly any choices as to line 2. So I'll not crow!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 06:17 PM

Same here! I got the last 2 in 2 :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 06:19 PM

Humph...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 07:58 PM

I was trying to find five letter words which had no vowels. I couldn't think of any so I put 'words without vowels into the search engine. I got these;

glyph
gypsy
pygmy
syncs
sylph
tryst
wryly
wynns

Anyone got some others?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 08:12 PM

crwth

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 08:44 PM

Just thought of another: myrrh

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 09:08 PM

It's incorrect to regard y as not a vowel. In most cases it acts precisely in the same way as a vowel, as it does in every word in Stanron's list (and in myrrh). In fact, it's more often than not a vowel, to all intents and purposes. I remember being told at school 60 years ago that y could be either a vowel or a consonant. For a far more scholarly explanation than mine, check out Merriam-Webster's article on it (I googled "Is y a vowel").

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 09:24 PM

I have always considered Y to be a vowel.

Wordle 269 4/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 09:34 PM

Definitely a vowel in "Stilly."

Dunno how it works in Welsh, Jon. The only Welsh word I know is "rarebit." :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Mar 22 - 10:22 PM

I can't help there Steve. Dydw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 12:05 PM

My short streak has ended with today's word. When you have all of the letters but one, and they add up to a large set of words - oy.

Wordle 270 X/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 12:25 PM

"I can't help there Steve. Dydw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg."

As my mum would have said, Jon, don't be filthy! ;-)

Got it in three today. A couple of lucky greenies in the first word helps a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 12:51 PM

Got today's in 5. It came down to having figured out where some letters weren't.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 12:58 PM

And Dwygyfylchi to you Steve ;-)

Got it in 4 today. I'd got 3 right and 1 wrong on try 1 so it was just guess the missing letter (or perhaps just play a word using a few possible letters) from there today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 01:43 PM

I was trying to find five letter words which had no vowels. I couldn't think of any so I put 'words without vowels into the search engine. I got these;

glyph
gypsy
pygmy
syncs
sylph
tryst
wryly
wynns

Anyone got some others?

nymph
thyme
crypt
cysts
hymns
slyly
shyly
dryly
wryly


DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 02:13 PM

Oops! Doubled up on "wryly".

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 02:21 PM

"Y" is a vowel over here, but Americans - go figure.
Vowels are "AEIOU, and sometimes Y"

And I probably could've done this in fewer than 5 if I'd stopped to think. "Yeah, that letter is first, and this other letter can't go second, fourth or fifth, so it HAS to go third, and this other letter can't be last or second, and..."
When I started this, I often screwed up because I entered something too quickly, without his critical thinking step.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 02:46 PM

I think stanron (and I) were just trying to keep things simple, ie. AEIOU rather than suggesting other letters may not be used as vowels.

I think my "crwth" is the only one entered here that doesn't use the "y" but even there, the Wiki article I linked to says:

Like several other English loanwords from Welsh, the name is one of the few words in the English language in which the letter W is used as a vowel.

cwm is the only other with the W I'm coming up with at the moment and that's 2 letters short...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 04:06 PM

"nymph
thyme
crypt
cysts
hymns
slyly
shyly
dryly
wryly


DC"

impressive DC, as is crwth.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 04:45 PM

"thyme", of course, doesn't count because it has an 'e'.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 04:49 PM

Instead, we can use the rest of the letters and go with "myths".

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 06:25 PM

Is anyone using the 'hard' setting? I've read that it is supposed to speed up the process but I think it could lead to losing streaks because it would seem to slow down or limit the process of eliminating letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 06:36 AM

I have been using the hard setting for the last couple of weeks. Also, I use yesterday's solution as today's starting word to make it more random. It hasn't made a great deal of difference to the stats.

To my mind, the hard setting, which obliges you to use the revealed letters in subsequent guesses, reduces the skill and makes it more a game of chance. If the first guess gave one blank and four greens, such as

_ A T C H

then the possibilities are

B A T C H
C A T C H
H A T C H
L A T C H
M A T C H
P A T C H
W A T C H

It is just random chance at which point you arrive at the solution and it may be that you run out of goes before you get there. The skill comes from recognising this and choosing words which will eliminate as many of the possible letters in the shortest number of guesses, which can't be done on the hard setting.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 07:28 AM

Four. Bad start but I'm thinking more cannily these days, mainly with the aim of eliminating...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 11:43 AM

I'm not sure that you can have a 'bad' start. Five blanks means five letters eliminated. If one of those is a 'u' then you have eliminated 'q' as well.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 11:55 AM

Five blanks is not great, Doug. Four blanks plus an orange eliminates four letters but at least gives you a sort of straw to clutch at. If you're at line three and can't think of any word at all for line four that fits with your permitted letters, you're nearly there. If you can think of loads of words that might fit, you could well be stuffed.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 12:55 PM

Better than yesterday, which was zip in six.

Wordle 271 5/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 02:14 PM

Five blanks is not great ....

Twice I have had a five blank first guess and finished in three - not by pure luck but because my second guess and the eliminated letters left the answer as the only possible solution.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Apr 22 - 12:20 AM

Working my way thrrough the Archive. Got to Wordle #102. Many 5s and a few nailbiter 6s.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Apr 22 - 09:55 AM

I haven't missed a day since my first go on Feb 1. I have more fours than anything, though the threes are catching up. I have more threes than fives and more twos than sixes and I have yet to fail. That, along with our grandson who's here for the week and a clutch of superb Liverpool matches to watch, means that life is currently not bad at all...

I like to hear about general strategies for doing Wordle but I fiercely resist hints, tips, clues or collaboration of any sort during the daily game. I've been known to get cross...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Apr 22 - 05:15 PM

I was skunked again today. Too many choices in the one letter I had to swap out.

Wordle 296 X/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Apr 22 - 06:06 PM

Four. It took me a lot longer than usual to unfurrow my puzzled brow.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 11 Apr 22 - 06:25 PM

Three.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Apr 22 - 09:25 AM

Three.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Apr 22 - 10:26 AM

Five. A duff start and a silly guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Apr 22 - 11:21 PM

Wordle 298 4/6

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Apr 22 - 05:06 PM

Archive version was shut down yesterday. According to the site creator, per the request of the New York Times.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Apr 22 - 05:28 PM

Four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 14 Apr 22 - 05:48 PM

Five today. Bah!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raedwulf
Date: 15 Apr 22 - 01:04 PM

I resisted joining in initially, when invited to do so. Now... Wordle, Dordle, Quordle, Octordle (1, 2, 4, 8). Tried Sectordle a couple of times, but found it a waste of time. With 16 words, they more or less solve themselves once you get the first one, so it's just a question of how quickly you get your first word.

On Wordle, I'm up to 70 games now. I play hard mode (must use any known letters) and I don't cheat by recording words that have already been used, so I can't eliminate possible words. The median i.e. most common score seems to be 4 (from 2 attempts, 5, 23, 28, 13, 1 is my current record), my average currently a shade under 3.75. I haven't had a 1 yet, though I had one today on Dordle, having had one previously on Quordle.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raedwulf
Date: 15 Apr 22 - 02:23 PM

Words with three vowels are a good starting point...

Actually, I disagree with this. If you like this as an opening tactic, then start with either ARISE or RAISE. They're the 3 most common vowels; O is less so, U not even in the top 10 letters. But many 5 letter words contain no more than one vowel (BITCH/DITCH/WITCH); some none at all (SLYLY). A better starting strategy is 4 consonants. TREND is good, as is STERN.

On a dictionary sort, (depending on your dictionary; what follows was done on the 1995 Concise OED), the top 10 letters are E, S, I, A, R, N, M, T, O , D; the 10 most common initial letters are P, H, C, B, D, R, M, T, A, F. A textual sort is no good because it's biased by common words like THE, WHERE, etc. Frex, W is the 6th most common initial letter, but only the 22nd most common otherwise. Remember Kipling's "Six honest serving men"!

But also remember! Well, two things actually... First, those frequencies are based on full dictionaries, not dictionaries of 5 letter words. Prefixes & suffixes will affect the order. How many 5 letter words start pre- or anti-? ;-) It's not perfect, but the best guide you're likely to get. When it comes down to it, Wordle runs off a limited subset of 5 letter words; if memory serves its (fixed) list is some 2,500 out of some 13K in total.

Second, when it comes down to it, just like the lottery, any given letter (number) is just as likely to appear in any given random moment. What I mean is this: If the lottery has drawn the 1 ball 5 weeks in a row, it doesn't mean that it won't appear this week. It still has a 1 in 49 (or whatever the probability is) of appearing. If you get S***E on Wordle, SLOPE or SCORE aren't more likely to be the word of the day, but they're more likely to give you a clue than SMOKE if they're not. When you get to SHA*E... There's 7 possible words there. SHARE & SHADE are no more likely than SHAVE or SHAKE!

And also, apart from the US word list (which reduces the frequency of U even further, because ARMOR / FAVOR etc can appear...), I have never seen a plural. BONUS is valid, NOTED was my 1 on Dordle today, but whilst STONE will be in the Wordle list, I don't expect to ever see NOTES...

Hope this is of some help to you hopeless addicts. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Apr 22 - 05:49 PM

Five. By line 3 I had four greens, but then I had four possible fits for the remaining letter. Bad guessing could have had me failing. So for line 4 I made up a word containing three of the four possibles. I couldn't have used all four because no word in the world contained all of them. By doing this I was guaranteed to not fail and guaranteed to get the answer on line 5. Yeah?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Apr 22 - 10:14 PM

I will have to argue in favor of Y being a vowel. Of course it is.

I do a mix of words with a lot of vowels such as aisle, audio (suggested by someone here) or adieu, or a combination of popular vowels and consonants (earth, throe, frump) and only occasionally a word like quota or quart.

Wordle 300 6/6

The bottom three rows of my diagram today are testing one letter to get the right word.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Apr 22 - 04:02 AM

Wordle 301 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Apr 22 - 09:56 AM

Four. Uncannily, Mrs Steve, who did it in three, had her three lines identical to my last three. I was unluckier than her in picking a duff first word, that's all.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Apr 22 - 01:38 PM

Four today. If I'd picked the right word, it could have been three. (Of course, this is every day: "I COULD have...".

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Apr 22 - 07:58 PM

Roger that. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 16 Apr 22 - 09:56 PM

If I'd picked the right word, it could have been one.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 04:38 AM

I never want to do it in one. That would be 100% good luck and nil percent skill.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 05:17 AM

Five. I'm having a very humdrum run. Yet to fail, however!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 09:50 AM

I got it in one once, because someone gave a hint, and I figured it out. It took the fun out of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 09:59 AM

Jon, you're showing off! I can copy that, but you didn't have a yellow box. I'll have to figure that one out myself. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 01:21 PM

Wordle 302 4/6

⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I just used this HTML encoder

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 02:32 PM

Wordle 302 4/6

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🟩⬜⬜🟩🟩
🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 02:36 PM

I have a hard time understanding how you can use the 'hard' method in which you must include all 'found' letters in your next guess. Won't a word with many possible letters cause you to run out of chances?

For instance, in yesterday's effort, I had to come up with a word that included alternative letters so as to eliminate possibilities, at the same time as testing if one of the letters was used more than once.

Hope this makes sense without giving anything away.
Yesterday, 5.
Today, 4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 03:10 PM

Wordle 302 4/6

??????
???????
????????
??????????

There's a load of HTML encoders out there if you search for them. This one is

https://www.convertstring.com/EncodeDecode/HtmlEncode

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 03:11 PM

OOPS it worked in preview. Oh well...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 03:36 PM

My two/ten/twenty/ thirty minutes a day on the Wordle is absolutely sacrosanct for me. I will not brook hints, clues, tips or loose Wordle chitchat while I'm doing it. It's either all my own work or I can't cope. In the words of the song, for that few minutes, make the world go away, get it off my shoulders... (Thanks to Jim Reeves for that, for the benefit of people who are far too young...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 03:52 PM

Stanron, there are quite a few encoders around but I tried a couple before finding one (the one I linked to) that worked as I wanted. Output should be along these lines:

Wordle 302 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 04:43 AM

70 games so far with 93% success. I Always start with SEPIA ( or MEDIA) and COURT. All vowels used and likely letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 06:06 AM

Three today. Better, but not as good as Mrs Steve with her two. Tsk.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 06:58 AM

Okay Jon I'll try this

Wordle 303 2/6

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Pure luck getting it in two.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 07:08 AM

Wordle 303 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 07:59 AM

Guess who's learned how to lie with HTML.


Wordle 303 1/6

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I won't be posting these again.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 12:40 PM

It was a good day today - especially since my first guess had so many of the letters. The trick is to ignore the letters that didn't work the first time, hence the pencil and paper aspect of the game.

Wordle 303 2/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 12:53 PM

I don't think there's really a winning first-word formula. I set a very low bar: two vowels, no repeat letters and no x, j, q or z. I pick up the nearest mag and choose the first likely-looking five-letter word I see.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: gillymor
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 01:50 PM

I do better when I burn up lots of consonants early so I often start with one vowel words like SPEND and PLANT. I haven't been tracking my results it just seems easier to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 05:14 AM

FAIL! Not only me, both of us. I had way too many options by lines 3/4 and kept choosing ones that did nothing to further my progress. I had too many consonants to play with. So in future I'm dropping the obsession with finding the right vowels. Elimination of consonants will be the name of the game!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 06:51 AM

I had three greens on lines 2 to 5 and finally got it on the last try. There's always going to be an element of luck and no one system can swing it one way or the other. My longest streak is 26 and I've just equaled it again today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raedwulf
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 11:36 AM

Elimination of consonants will be the name of the game!

*shrug* I did point this out to folks. Also, P is not a particularly good letter for a first line; rather than PLANT, try SCANT or SLANT, if you are so inclined. P is about 15th most common; C & L are both more frequent.

However, also bear in mind that letter frequency becomes less useful as uncertainty decreases. The perfect example of this is from a few days ago, when I got SHA*E (IIRC, it was SHAME). There are 6 possible letters to fill P4 (although to get to SHA*E, you must have eliminated at least one of those, of course!). At this point, letter frequency means nothing; all of the words are valid, all equally likely. Presuming they're in the limited (2315 out of @12K 5 letter words by US spelling) dikker.

This is where Wordle fails for me, because it becomes a straight guessing game, no skill involved (vice Steve's remark about a 1/6 being pure luck). No matter that R is around 7.3 times more likely to appear in words than V, when it comes down to a single letter, SHAVE has just as much chance (1 in 5, presumably!) to be the word as SHARE.

If I run into one of those situations where I have more possible words than remaining guesses, I generally quit at L5. I had exactly this today. Unfortunately for me, I got P2, P4 & P5 on L3. By getting P1&3 wrong, I eliminated more than two other possible words, but it still left...

Well, on L4, I used a particular letter in P3 for which there are at least 9 possible P1s (5 had already been removed). Both letters were wrong, which reduced the pool of available words by another 5 or 6, since there were options for P1 at P3. That still left at least 3 possible words, using SIX different letters with no way of logically reducing them. I took one further guess on L5, it was wrong, I quit. I don't play Wordle when it's nothing but a guessing game.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 12:10 PM

I had a great set of letters but the tyranny of too many to choose from resulted in getting skunked. I wonder if the designers of this game put odds on how many will win or fail with each contest?

Wordle 304 X/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 04:31 PM

I had the same thing happen, and the letters I figured out were the same as yours. A lot of people had a problem today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 04:41 PM

"Great minds think alike!"

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 20 Apr 22 - 02:55 AM

Wordle 305 4/6

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---

I did yesterday's (#304) in 4. I think I was lucky. I had the pattern needing 2 consonants on line 3 and the one word I saw at the time to try on line 4 happened to be the right one. As I think others found out, there were quite a few possibilities from my position in line 3.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 22 - 04:44 AM

If there are too many options by line three, I'm going to be considering the Jon Freeman strategy in future. Guessing when there were far too many possibilities was the death of me yesterday. I feel punctured. Whether the strategy can be used effectively when more than one remaining letter is involved is a moot point...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 22 - 09:56 AM

Four. Back on the rails.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Apr 22 - 11:26 AM

I am stumped at line four. There doesn't appear to be a word in the English language with the four letters I have in front of me in the order they can appear (no luck adding a fifth so far).

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 20 Apr 22 - 04:50 PM

Me too, in four. After yesterday, it feels good.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Apr 22 - 05:08 PM

I had to throw out a sacrifice word just to see about letter placement and got it on six. "Whew!" is right! I left for a while and finished it a couple of hours later.

Wordle 305 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 21 Apr 22 - 03:57 AM

Another 4 for me today. 4 is by far my most common score.

Wordle 306 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Apr 22 - 06:11 AM

Four. There could be wigs on the green...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 12:17 AM

I almost forgot to do it today. Pen and paper came in handy because visualizing wasn't working.

Wordle 306 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 05:09 AM

Quite a swift 3 for me today.

Wordle 307 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 07:03 AM

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but there is a site for 'Unlimited Wordle'. Can do as many as you want whenever.... good for practice.            Unlimited Wordle.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 22 - 07:19 AM

Three. I amazed myself with the leap from a very unpromising line 2 to the answer on line 3!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Apr 22 - 03:37 AM

Another fairly swift 3 for me.

Wordle 308 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 22 - 07:12 AM

Five. The path was tough.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 22 - 09:18 PM

It was a tough one to get to, with a throwaway word to get more letters, leaving me saying "well, duh!" to myself.

Wordle 308 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 02:21 AM

3 again but this time it took me a few minutes to think of a third word to try.

Wordle 309 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 07:02 AM

Four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 10:45 AM

I kick myself for a couple of guesses with letters in the spaces I already knew didn't work. But still - got it in the end.

Wordle 309 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 12:15 PM

Wordle 309 2/6

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My standard first word gave me 4 letters in the wrong order. I then just went for the obvious.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 12:17 PM

Try again:
Wordle 309 2/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 05:20 AM

My run of 3s continues

Wordle 310 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 05:39 AM

A speedy three from me.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 02:49 AM

And my run of 3s has ended. 4 today.

Wordle 311 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 05:24 AM

Three. Things are picking up.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Apr 22 - 10:51 PM

Wordle 311 6/6

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A win is a win, even if it takes several tries!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Apr 22 - 11:45 AM

Five. Bad tactics after a good opener. Too many alternatives by line 3 and then a poor strategy. I only got it out of sheer luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Apr 22 - 12:00 PM

Four. I had one of those mind blanks trying to think of what to guess for line 3 and was on the verge of taking a break/ having a cup of coffee when something came to me.

Wordle 312 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Apr 22 - 01:38 PM

Pencil and paper time again. Better than yesterday.

Wordle 312 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 04:00 AM

I'm slipping... 5.

Wordle 313 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 04:16 AM

I took the full count!
Wordle 313 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 04:18 AM

Feel free to remove my previous post and this one. SAD!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 04:40 AM

Robo, in case you missed it before, you need to convert the special characters to HTML to get it to work here. There are a number of online HTML encoders around but not all work for this.

This is one I know does work.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 06:41 AM

Four. And I absolutely did not expect the word I chose for line four to be the answer!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 06:42 PM

From The New Yorker

A cartoon by Benjamin Schwartz.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Apr 22 - 07:49 PM

That's Facebook, Maggie. You should have said...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Apr 22 - 03:43 PM

A very swift three today. And that was before my morning flat white.


(I was a bit lucky...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Apr 22 - 10:19 PM

That's the New Yorker, via a Facebook conduit. Still New Yorker.

The tyranny of too many choices led to being skunked again today.

Wordle 314 X/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Apr 22 - 10:32 AM

Four. Swift again.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 30 Apr 22 - 10:35 AM

I did it in four, too. The most help came because of the letters I eliminated - there was no other *reasonable* word that left fit.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Apr 22 - 11:52 AM

Four here also. Thank you, Random House Speller/Divider that also let me see the only one that would fit with the letters I'd eliminated. (It maybe helps in about 1 in 10 puzzles).

Wordle 315 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 01 May 22 - 06:53 AM

I've just looked at the Facebook Wordle group and someone posted OUIJA as a five letter word with four vowels. Along with AUDIO and ADIEU that gives me three starting words. Anyone got any more?

I got today's in four. It looked impossible on go two.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 May 22 - 06:57 AM

My last three have taken 5. I put the first one down to carelessness but I simply struggled with the later two. Here's today's:

Wordle 316 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 May 22 - 10:09 AM

Four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 May 22 - 10:33 AM

One I haven't had to spell before (though I've used it in speech).


Wordle 316 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 May 22 - 06:09 AM

Two! I got just three orange ones in my first word. I'm not trying a first-word strategy any more. I pick up a book or mag and use the first five-letter word I see that doesn't look too outlandish, which has mainly common letters and which has five different letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 02 May 22 - 06:34 AM

It could have been 2 for me too had I picked a different last letter. It took me 4.

Wordle 317 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 May 22 - 07:31 AM

Mrs Steve also suffered last-letter syndrome today. She adopted (after a lot of persuasion) the Jon Freeman throwaway-word strategy to nail that last letter and got it in four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 02 May 22 - 11:17 AM

People don't realize some are smart enough to figure out their hints.
Got it first time.
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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 May 22 - 12:42 PM

Same here, Jon.

Wordle 317 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 May 22 - 03:58 PM

Four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 04 May 22 - 10:39 AM

Yesterday was four. Today, letters just fell into place for a two.

Wordle 319 2/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 May 22 - 02:30 PM

Wordle 319 1/6

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The Force was strong with me today ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 May 22 - 03:10 PM

Wow. Dumb luck, that, Nigel!

Wordle 319 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 May 22 - 03:53 PM

Three. I also know someone who bagged it in one, Nigel! I suppose it was a good starter word...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 04 May 22 - 04:44 PM

I'm on the same choo-choo that Jon is. Got it in two and was super-surprised. (Too lazy to do the HTML.)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 May 22 - 05:50 PM

It's a starter word I use sometimes - but not today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 May 22 - 08:32 AM

Four. Some will not be happy...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 May 22 - 03:23 PM

I used a throwaway word on the third row and got lucky today. I was going to make a remark about the nature of the word itself, but must resist, because that would be a spoiler.

Wordle 320 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 May 22 - 04:14 PM

Yep. I held back too, but tomorrow there may be wigs on the green...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 22 - 01:47 PM

My first two guesses ruled out charismatic letters I usually look for.

Wordle 323 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 May 22 - 08:38 PM

I got it in three in under two minutes. Mrs Steve spent ages on it, eventually getting it in five. I've admonished her for overthinking it. But pride goeth before a fall...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 May 22 - 03:32 PM

"Homer." What a stinker!

I see that the NYT has removed "fetus" from its bank of answer words. Just as well, as, among other things, they can't even spell it. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 May 22 - 03:33 PM

A very quick three today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 May 22 - 03:13 PM

Five. A struggle today as I had just one orange by line 2 then adopted some weak strategy.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 May 22 - 10:55 AM

The speller/divider list to the rescue today. It only works if I have a good idea of what the first 2 or 3 letters might be.

Wordle 328 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 May 22 - 06:11 AM

My last three goes have been 2, 2, 3. Am I on a roll?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 May 22 - 07:42 AM

Maybe but things can change...

I had my second failure since I last posted here. It was one where I recognised the same place I'd been once before (same letters correctly placed and 2 gaps to fill. I also remembered realising after my (correct) guess from there last time, I'd got lucky and there were numerous possibilities. This time, I decided to waste a word to reduce the words that would fit the pattern but it wasn't enough to save me on my 2 remaining guesses.

From there, it's been 4 or 5 on the days (I missed one or two) I've played it. Today was 4.

Wordle 331 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 May 22 - 12:13 PM

You're not wrong. I nosedived to a five.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 19 May 22 - 09:06 AM

Maybe my turn for roll now: 3 yesterday and 2 today:

Wordle 334 2/6

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Mind you, as they say, pride goes before a fall...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 19 May 22 - 12:30 PM

2 yesterday, 4 today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 May 22 - 02:10 PM

4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 May 22 - 08:31 PM

A very rapid three today. This is in total contrast to last night, when Mrs Steve and I tackled Wordle after a couple of glasses of Nero d'Avola, not at all our usual approach. We got a five and a six, narrowly avoiding defeat, and concluded that Wordle is best tackled with a fresh mind, preferably after a strong morning flat white...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 May 22 - 01:57 PM

Wordle 337 4/6

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I've been skunked a couple of times lately - it all depends on that first word, or second word if first was a complete dud. Maybe I need a word with as many consonants as I can manage, not vowels.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 22 May 22 - 02:13 PM

Wordle 337 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 May 22 - 03:27 AM

I'm mostly (I think there was the one 4) had 3 since my last post. Today was another 3.

Wordle 338 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 May 22 - 06:48 AM

I'm in four or five territory the last couple of days.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stanron
Date: 23 May 22 - 06:58 AM

Perhaps one way of thinking about it is this. If you get it right in one go, that's 100% luck. The more tries you have, the more skill or intelligence is displayed.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 22 - 11:05 AM

Wordle 344 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 22 - 11:06 AM

John/Sunset Coast

If you visit this site https://mothereff.in/html-entities and plug in your copied Wordle results, then you can copy and paste the code it provides to share the actual graphic instead of ?????

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jun 22 - 11:45 AM

Nice second guess!

Wordle 351 2/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jun 22 - 04:54 PM

I've done a five and a three in the last couple of days. Still only the one fail...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Jun 22 - 08:21 PM

Scraped it in six tonight. I've driven over 550 miles since Sunday in lousy traffic and taken an energetic six-year-old to SeaLife in London and hawked him all round Westminster. Only got home two hours ago, brain totally addled. Do you accept my excuse?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Jun 22 - 03:25 AM

I got off to a bad start with that one. No letters in my first guess and just one letter which was in the right place for the next two attempts. Solved on 4th try.

Today was an easy 3.

Wordle 354 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jun 22 - 03:43 AM

I've done it in six only four times out of 126 goes (plus the one fail). In future I'll be doing it early on in the day, preferably with me coffee! :-(

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Jun 22 - 04:04 AM

My stats show 6/110 solved in 6. I think that would be about right but my stats are a bit screwed. I played with more than one browser and experimented a little in my early days and didn't always use the same browser to keep accurate stats with.. These stats do show a solved in one that I've never achieved by honest means. I solved it on an other browser first but wanted to see what message (now forgotten) it gave for a right first time solutions.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jun 22 - 04:36 AM

Early on I lost all my stats when I switched to the NYT. I was able to retrieve them all as my family had been competing and reporting their scores in our WhatsApp group every day. Since then I've kept a little piece of paper with 1 to 6 down the left-hand side, and every day I put a dot next to that day's score. It makes a nice visual bell-curve, sort of, though I'm not very tidy about it!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 05:10 AM

one

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 05:14 AM

I failed yesterday. After line four I had a choice of three words after getting all the letters bar the first. I guessed wrong twice, dammit.

Whaddya mean, "one"?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 05:31 AM

5 for me today. I found this one quite tricky and struggled to think of what to try for attempts 3 and 4. Try 4 however pointed me in the right direction.

Wordle 356 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 07:16 AM

Hard work, that one. Got it in four. One of those when it was hard to come up with a permissible word at all after line 2.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 02:17 PM

SS:what i writted. No brag, just fact. Bragging would be ridiculous, since no skill nor thought involved. It's making me think, and that's a bad sign.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Jun 22 - 05:20 PM

I got it in three today.

Got it in one once. On Facebook, a friend posted his results, with the yellow and green squares. The guy had told everyone what his first and second word always were. Then I knew a few of the letters, when the squares were green, and when you get 3 or 4 letters, it's not difficult to figure the word out. I bitched about it, and after that, avoided looking at posts before I finished the day's Wordle. It really did take the fun out of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jun 22 - 02:24 PM

Wordle 357 4/6

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I used my pocket speller divider again once I had three letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jun 22 - 07:23 PM

I forgot to play yesterday and was trounced today. Bummer.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 04:42 AM

SIX

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 05:14 AM

Just tried it in FRENCH. It's called 'Le Mot'
Also SIX.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 10:14 AM

I used my pocket speller divider again...

Isn't that kind of cheating? While it's a bit of fun, it is hardly the most demanding of puzzles and normally takes no more than a couple of minutes. It seems a bit pointless if you remove the need to put a bit of thought into it.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 12:55 PM

Why? It's just a list of words that I can use it maybe one out of 10 times. It's a tool. I wondered if someone would eventually notice that I mention that little book.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 01:29 PM

Interesting site:

Wordle Global


Coming up: 'Wordle' on other planets

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 05:28 PM

I won't use any aids and I must do it alone without someone else doing little comments while I'm doing it. I might grab a pen and do the E--N- sort of thing on scrap paper. But it's all good. Do it your way!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 04:53 AM

I think today's is the first I've had where both first and second guesses contained no letters in the solution.

Wordle 363 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 06:26 AM

Wordle 364 5/6

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Took me some time; almost ran out the alfabet

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Raggytash
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 08:23 AM

Go on, which of us Brits is going to say it?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Jun 22 - 08:54 AM

I once had a wager on a fodder crop. It was called an alfalfabet.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 22 - 06:56 PM

Not a good game to play when you're under the weather. It has been more difficult to have patience with the word-play as my knee heals. Today was a nice outcome.

Wordle 372 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Jun 22 - 04:49 PM

Nice!

Wordle 373 2/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 04 Jul 22 - 03:14 PM

Abandon spoilers ye who enter here. . .

I started with my usual somewhat thoughtless gay hope that a random monosyllable with no more than a vowel diphthong would get me in with a couple. But I gaped as the grey bloks bobbed up one by one, until the final:   GREEN!. Actually, the penultimate letter was GREEN. The ultima thule was another grey. So with my standard tactic of finding another word with another vowel and three or four alphabetic newcomers I ventured anew: And got greyballed.

I was now two words in, and one common vowel green. I faced a keyboard of few prospects. I tightened my sinews and went for a thrid word, one with NO previously posed letters. At a medium pace the squares filled: Grey, grey, grey, grey, pale yellow. Pale Yellow! Maybe I had a new possibility. A new hope, like a radiation free zone on our poisoned planet. But.... it was no vowel.

And so, with all vowels tried and y-ed I re-entered the fray. On the fourth 'down' I figured I had to re-position the consonant, and, a thing I had barely thought of, but now was compelled to venture, double the vowel. The empty squares became blocks... GREEN. GREY. YELLOW. GREEN! GREY. I had positioned two letters and established a double vowel. Common letters all, but at the completion of the fourth try there was new hope.

But only two tries left. I would have to find the place for the vowel and come up with two new cons. Could this happen. The yawning sixth try was only a couple of tries away.

And now there was nothing left but pure luck as my weakest link appeared - brain work! I had to think of likely words that could fill the places and spaces of my wordle hurdle. This could take hours, or....well over five minutes. Wee the double vowels something that could occur together. Or apart Coult there actually be three of the suckers? I wrestled with the conundrum for a minute. Then another minute. A minute passed in between.

I felt adrift in time, my only stability supplied by the mattress firmly under my spine. If only gravity could talk! Intelligently!
I thought of a word. A word that would fit. It would have the vowels, the one I had placed and the one at large. It included two new consonants. I tried fiercely for about two seconds to think of another word that would serve. I could not think of one. But had I tried enough?

I was out of patience. It HAD to be right. It was kind of a dirty word, but after all, we're playing with the New York Times here! Every parrot needs a cage liner...
So I tried this try. I wordled.
GREEN. But this was a known known green. GREEN! I had the second vowel placed!

GREYYYY!! My world went dark as the phone started to time out...A nuAmbing kind of numbness began to whelm. I was on a suspension bridge at mid span and the bottom was a kind of Squid-game glass that was cracking below my feet....time was not. As my breathing was stilled the other returns came in....

GREEN. and GREEN.
One letter and one try left.
One letter to rule them all?
My tactic is half brilliance. Half elimination. Had I eliminated enough to save myself in the last gasp? I went through the available letters. No. Way. In. Hell. But. Maybe. This. One.
There was one likely leftover. One symmetrical con.
I won't lie. I cried a little as I filled the blocks. I was seconds from failure or success. Which would it be? Almost nothing was riding on this press on the submit icon.
But there was some hope. Some fear of failure. Some doubt as to whether I could lie successfully to the folks at Starbucks...

GREEN.
GREEN.
......
GREEN!

Was it victory sublime? More a sweaty relief.

I will have to leave it here. I am so overcome with emotion, this is the high note for me to leave with.

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(Leave us speak not of the bloodbath that was QUORDLE.)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 22 - 04:14 PM

Wordle 387 4/6

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Satisfying.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 12 Jul 22 - 01:37 PM

I'd not played for a couple of days but I found today's interesting. I think it's the first time I've had all the letters but none in the right place.

Wordle 388 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jul 22 - 09:29 PM

I notice the NY Times is now connecting my World play to my subscription account to the paper. Hmmm.

Wordle 389 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Jul 22 - 09:23 PM

The spell checker came in handy again today, though didn't offer the answer. Just pointed in one direction.

Wordle 390 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jul 22 - 09:50 AM

I was ready to just throw in a couple of works to finish and see what it was and got lucky throwing something against the wall. I think I have less patience with this when it's so hot and miserable this summer.

Wordle 393 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 22 - 10:48 AM

I think this was my worst start that actually got the word before the sixth row.

Wordle 412 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 05 Aug 22 - 12:12 PM

My start was very like yours but I got it in 4.

Wordle 412 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 22 - 04:02 PM

Wordle 426 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Aug 22 - 06:35 AM

My total scores so far form an almost perfect bell curve (except that I don't know what to do about my two fails):

Score 2: 12
Score 3: 51
Score 4: 74
Score 5: 50
Score 6: 11

(plus those two pesky fails...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 22 Aug 22 - 07:12 AM

193
Played
92
Win %
25
Max Streak
GUESS DISTRIBUTION
1      0
2    7
3    34
4    55
5    57
6    25

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 22 Aug 22 - 09:06 AM

Mine isn't quite right and the 1 never happened honestly but it's still something close to this:

1 

 1

2 

 7

3 

 46

4 

 69

5 

 39

6 

 10

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Sep 22 - 11:35 AM

I resorted to perusing the speller/checker this morning and landed on what I needed. By whatever means!

Wordle 452 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Sep 22 - 01:11 PM

Having been a bit poorly for most of two weeks I've been neglecting Wordle, but we had a go this morning and both did it in four.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Nov 22 - 10:56 AM

Still enjoying Wordle, and I've made an effort to improve my winning streak. Today I've equalled the 14-in-a-row I accomplished some time ago. One must be patient and pay attention, and I was hurrying through them for a while.

Wordle 507 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Nov 22 - 11:16 AM

I do it every day. In all the time I've failed four times. I get a lot of fours and slightly more threes than fives, so my "bell curve* is skewed towards the better end. Mind you, an annoying six this morning, even though I had three greens on line 2.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 22 - 05:10 PM

I'm thinking about setting it to "Hard mode" - where you have to use any letters you've uncovered in future guesses. But that would eliminate the ability to use a line to put something with a totally new set of letters in (a throw away word to see if it lands on some other letters to use).

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Nov 22 - 07:16 PM

I'm very strict with myself. I don't do that "hard" thing, I don't seek clues and and I don't want chat while I'm doing it. Generally, it takes me anything from sixty seconds to fifteen minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Nov 22 - 10:59 AM

Wordle -437 7/6 just now.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 14 Nov 22 - 11:18 AM

Wordle 437 was 30 August 22.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Nov 22 - 11:26 AM

Nearly, here. Took pencil and paper to pull victory from the mouth of defeat. I didn't have a lot to work with.

Wordle 513 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Nov 22 - 11:28 AM

There are places where you can pull up the old puzzles to work. Is that what you're using, Rap?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Nov 22 - 12:19 PM

Most or all of them have been closed down, last time I looked (which was when I missed a day last week).

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Nov 22 - 10:58 PM

Today was another squeaker:

Wordle 514 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Nov 22 - 01:27 AM

They have been topical lately. Unusual for Wordle.

Wordle 523 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 24 Nov 22 - 04:03 AM

They have been topical lately.

?
You must have different topics than I do.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Nov 22 - 04:32 AM

I can never remember yesterday's word.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Nov 22 - 05:46 AM

Mrs Steve and I both did it in two just now! (No hints, tips, clues or chat of any kind allowed...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Nov 22 - 10:52 AM

DC, a giveaway from last Thursday (Thanksgiving): the word was "feast." That kind of topical.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Nov 22 - 11:00 AM

Not bad.

Wordle 525 4/6

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The site that converts the Wordle results to HTML code is https://mothereff.in/html-entities

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 26 Nov 22 - 11:23 AM

last Thursday (Thanksgiving): the word was "feast." That kind of topical.

Yes, but "topical lately" suggests more than a one-off coincidence.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Nov 22 - 10:13 PM

A day or two before that the word was "drive." I think 55 million Americans were expected to drive somewhere for Thanksgiving. I didn't write them all down, but noticed a shift to words that have extra meaning this week, making them somewhat memorable.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 27 Nov 22 - 04:52 AM

How many Americans go anywhere, any day of the year, without driving?

If I wanted to stretch things, I could say that the answer for the day before, PRIME, was related to Black Friday purchases delivered by Amazon - except that it wasn't Black Friday and Amazon don't sit around for the other 51 weeks, waiting for something to do.

This discussion could fit well into the "Precognition" thread as an example of people searching for significance in mere coincidence or, indeed, searching for coincidences that aren't really there.

As I said up-thread, you must have different topics than I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 15 Dec 22 - 09:48 AM

SRS,
I take back everything that I said. I read an article complaining of exactly what you say – themed, rather than random answers to Wordle puzzles. Apparently, the NY Times appointed a Wordle Editor on November 7 and, since then, topical words have been appearing. In fact, her very first word was BEGIN. That was followed by MEDAL on November 11. As I am in the UK, Thanksgiving doesn’t appear on my radar, so words related to it passed me by. Perhaps PRIME was, in fact, related to Black Friday, despite my doubt.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Dec 22 - 11:33 AM

Thanks for the link—I actually solved today's puzzle by considering what current news term might come from the letters I had. The fact that holidays and reference to events are turning up in the puzzle is kind of disappointing.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Dec 22 - 02:28 PM

Wordle 544 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 21 Dec 22 - 04:41 AM

A couple of days ago, by the second try, I had four of the five letters in the right place which left me with only three possible words. One of those words was topical for the time of year but it wasn't the answer. The correct word didn't have any topical connection that I could see.

The solution to Wordle 544 could, most likely, be connected to a current news term on any day of the year, to my mind.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Dec 22 - 11:06 AM

I don't remember what they are after solving unless they were actually written down. If there have been complaints perhaps the editor got wise and stopped being so obvious.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Dec 22 - 09:45 PM

Wordle 550 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 23 - 01:54 PM

I had a nice long streak of 43 that ended with a couple of really tough puzzles over the holidays. I'm up to a current streak of four.

Wordle 563 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 23 - 11:18 AM

This one was a squeaker. My new tiny streak is up to seven.

Wordle 566 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 04:56 AM

I got it in one yesterday. No resort to hints, tips clues or spouse! I did what I do every time, just fish around for a word from something I'm reading at the time I decide have a go at Wordle. My only rules are that my starter word mustn't have two of the same letter or contain Q, X, J or Z. Yesterday it was a word from a Mudcat post I'd just posted!

Of course, that was not an achievement but just a huge stroke of luck. I actually felt a bit frustrated that I didn't have a challenge on my hands....

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 10:10 AM

Every now and then I do use a word with QU because of all of the letters, Q is the only one least likely to be in play. I haven't dont today's puzzle yet.

I have a sheet of paper on the side of the desk with a running list of words that I like to start with, and I work out the puzzle on the page on occasion. I've done it enough now I can usually just work on the screen without resorting to pencil and paper.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 10:40 AM

I had what was an achievement for me on Christmas Day. I reached 100 in my streak. The streak only went on to 102 as I then forgot to play for a day. I'm now taking a bit of a braek from the game.

All my 100 used the same starter word.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 05:37 PM

Jon - PM me your favorite starting word - I'm curious to see if it is one I've used.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 06:26 PM

I understand that George Santos usually gets it in one.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jan 23 - 09:57 PM

Jon's word has been added to my list - it isn't one I've ever used. Some of my favorites:

EARTH
AISLE
OAKEN

They follow the trial of vowels, but some of the consonants can make all of the difference.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 06:19 AM

I haven't trusted the NYT to keep my Wordle stats ever since a hiatus in the early days (I managed to recover, somewhat painstakingly, all my lost results because in those days I was enthusiastically exchanging my achievements every day with friends and family on WhatsApp). So I've now done it 320 times and I put a dot next to the appropriate score on a pice of paper every day. My commonest score is 4 (116 times). I've gone better than 4 103 times and worse than 4 101 times. I've failed five times and done it in one once (he crowed...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 06:20 AM

Oh reading glasses, where art thou...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 10:51 AM

Jon, I tried that one to the crash and burn result of a zero today. My second word was one of mine and it didn't work either.

It's difficult to think of another word without one of the letters in your first one, to do a clean play without repeating any of the non-working letters.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 11:01 AM

Why the secret? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 11:20 AM

Why not?

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 11:44 AM

No use asking me what my starter word was. I've forgotten within minutes. I did it in four today, about three hours ago, and can remember neither my starter nor the answer. I'm as likely as not going to pick a random word from whatever I'm typing or reading at the time.

I might look at this post for a starter for tomorrow. The candidates could be "today" or "might" or "could" or "start" (a slight cheat there...) or "cheat." All good. But not "going" or "there." I think I quite often use the second line to try to eliminate double consonants such as TH, CH, SH, ST, TR, CR, PR, PL, BR, WH, that sort of thing, depending on what happened in line 1.

But look what I've just done. I've added "think," "often," and "thing" to my starter candidate list. But not "quite."

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 12:17 PM

Yes, not the best of starts SRS.

I've had a go at that one and my second guess helped me.

Wordle 579 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 23 - 04:18 PM

Back to a streak of one today.

Wordle 580 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Jan 23 - 05:43 PM

Four. A stupid guess deprived me of a three.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Jan 23 - 11:44 AM

The last few days have been a struggle, probably because of alternating my starting word. There is also an inclination from this editor, apparently, to try to avoid the most usual vowel appearances.

Wordle 589 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 11:11 AM

My streak is back up to a puny 8.

Wordle 595 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 23 - 02:01 PM

Every so often my streak is chopped off by a particularly dastardly word choice by the Wordle Editor. But for now my streak is up to 25.

Wordle 612 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 23 - 11:57 AM

Wordle 640 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Mar 23 - 12:19 PM

Woe was me today. I had all but the first letter in green on line 2. I reckoned that I had just four possible starting letters, so I started guessing.

You know what I'm going to say:

Did it in six. Grr.

I do it every day. I've a precise record of all my shots (how anal is that...). I've now done it 380 times, scores as follows:

In one: 1 (the word was "adopt")
In two: 16
In three: 103
In four: 141
In five: 91
In six: 21
Failed: 7

I seem to do a lot better when I get stuck than when I've got too many choices like today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 23 - 12:28 PM

I get it most often on the fifth line, next most often on the fourth. I suspect that is due to whatever technique I use (and I frequently accidentally reuse a letter; I know it's possible to set it so you can't reuse a letter, but I haven't done that.)

I've played 393 times and won 87% of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Mar 23 - 09:02 PM

Played 348 times
Failed 1%
1 - 1
2 - 16
3- 92
4 - 122
5 - 83
6 - 32

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Mar 23 - 11:51 AM

Wordle 647 5/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Mar 23 - 10:52 AM

Still sticking with it.

Wordle 650 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 23 - 01:46 PM

Everybody here did it in four today except me with five. Humph. I chose a silly starter word. I need a better strategy. As long as the word doesn't have repeat letters, or a Q, J, X or Z, I'll use it. My starter today got me five blanks. Growl.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Apr 23 - 12:29 PM

Ever since people noticed the editor occasionally chooses topical first words I pluck one out of the headlines that isn't on my list of starter words. I won't say it works better, but it hasn't killed the puzzle so far.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Apr 23 - 05:16 PM

It's been a rollercoaster week for me: best result was a 2 - I even had 4 correct letters in the right places in Line 1.But then my second ever failure, a 3 and a 4 and a 5!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 23 - 05:46 PM

I got it in two today. Three greens and an orange that was an obligatory green anyway in line 1, and only a single possible option for the last letter in line 2. No skill, no crowing, but it didn't do my stats any harm!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Apr 23 - 04:33 PM

Today was a tidy one.

I've started looking for a five-letter word that applies to what is going on in my world and that seems just as effective as going off of a list of words with great vowels.

Wordle 660 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Apr 23 - 04:52 PM

Wigs on the green round here when yesterday's word was revealed. "Snafu" - out of six people who nearly always succeed, I was the only one to get it (in four)...! I've never heard the word used this end, but I've been using it all day today!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Apr 23 - 12:09 PM

Me too: it seemed that half the world had never ever heard of it, while the other half just could not understand why these ignoramuses hadn't. Most of my friends that knew it seemed to have some sort of military background. And a bit unfair to use an acronym, though again knowing friends tell me it has wormed its way into British and US dictionaries!
Glad to be back to a 3 with a real word the following day!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Apr 23 - 12:44 PM

I doubted it would be word when I entered it, being an acronym (Situation Normal - All Fucked Up)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Apr 23 - 05:03 AM

A good swift three for me yesterday. Everybody else struggled (but finally got there after over half an hour). The moral of the tale is that "qu..." is never impossible! I always have it as an option at the back of my mind...

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 23 - 09:33 PM

A very good word. And since in my first two guesses I got all of the letters, it was just a matter of arranging them.

Wordle 690 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Sep 23 - 01:48 PM

Pulling this up to post Wordle results, and to see if the HTML decoder sets up the newer New York Times Connections game results.

Wordle 830 4/6

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Connections

Puzzle #108
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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 11:35 AM

Wordle 836 5/6

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Connections
Puzzle #114
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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 12:35 PM

Not doing Wordle or Worgle as often as I used to.
Now more into the various versions of Waffle, and occasionally Connections.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 01:13 PM

We do Wordle every day. It's a ritual. We both did it in two today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 02:10 PM

It's months since I last tried one. 3 today:

Wordle 836 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 08 Oct 23 - 05:44 PM

I do WORDLE daily as does a friend of mine. All too often we have the same counts, including today. Most interesting was when my friend told hme proudly, "Did it in two today!". I warned her I had not done it yet, but when I settled down to do it I reflected on her score and told myself she must've started with 'ADIEU' which I know she's done before. I started with the same word, and got it in two! So I texted her thanks for the 'tip.' And it turned out she hadn't done that at all!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 11:54 AM

It looks like the Wordle thread is still operational.

Wordle 873 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 06:47 PM

Mixed fortunes this last few days. I've had a 2, a 3, a 4 , a 4 and a fail. But "ardor"?   That's just terrible. Shocking. Not too keen on "ninja" either. Though I did get both of those in 4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Nov 23 - 07:22 PM

Today's was a peace of cake as I'm a daily dogwalker.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Nov 23 - 08:10 AM

STATISTICS

Number of games played, 612
612
Played
Win percentage, 94
94
Win %
Current Streak count, 22
22
Current Streak
Max Streak count, 60
60
Max Streak
GUESS DISTRIBUTION

1
1

2
14

3
107

4
192

5
179

6
80

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Nov 23 - 05:07 PM

I am crushed. Woke up after midnight and grabbed my phone and got sucked down the rabbit-hole of only having two letters, one at each end, and too many possibilities down the middle. And though I thought of a word that turned out to be the answer, I thought it was a previous answer. So I lost for the third damn time.

I was able to get back to sleep. So it's not a clinical depression. But that and digging out of 3' of snow ain't got me in the best of all possible moods.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 23 - 09:33 AM

Tragically I lost all my scoring record up to 26 August this year. As I'd posted my results so far here on 21 March, I've at least got my scores from the very start but with a five-month gap from 21 March to 26 August, after which I started again. So, apart from that five months (for which I'd love to claim a long run of twos, which would be a huge porkie), my scores are:

1: 1
2: 21
3: 129
4: 168
5: 108
6: 23
Fails: 10

As long as the 2s and 6s are about even and I've got more 3s than 5s I'm happy! (Let's not mention the fails...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 19 Nov 23 - 09:48 PM

Today's was a 'veddy' English word, which I've actually used. But... It took me a long time and an extra sleep period. Got it in just 6.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Nov 23 - 08:09 PM

"Veddy"??

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 02:10 PM

It's months since I last tried one. 3 today:

Wordle 836 3/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 12:35 PM

Not doing Wordle or Worgle as often as I used to.
Now more into the various versions of Waffle, and occasionally Connections.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 08 Oct 23 - 05:44 PM

I do WORDLE daily as does a friend of mine. All too often we have the same counts, including today. Most interesting was when my friend told hme proudly, "Did it in two today!". I warned her I had not done it yet, but when I settled down to do it I reflected on her score and told myself she must've started with 'ADIEU' which I know she's done before. I started with the same word, and got it in two! So I texted her thanks for the 'tip.' And it turned out she hadn't done that at all!

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Sep 23 - 01:48 PM

Pulling this up to post Wordle results, and to see if the HTML decoder sets up the newer New York Times Connections game results.

Wordle 830 4/6

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🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩


Connections

Puzzle #108
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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 11:35 AM

Wordle 836 5/6

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Connections
Puzzle #114
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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 01:13 PM

We do Wordle every day. It's a ritual. We both did it in two today.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Nov 23 - 07:22 PM

Today's was a peace of cake as I'm a daily dogwalker.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Nov 23 - 05:07 PM

I am crushed. Woke up after midnight and grabbed my phone and got sucked down the rabbit-hole of only having two letters, one at each end, and too many possibilities down the middle. And though I thought of a word that turned out to be the answer, I thought it was a previous answer. So I lost for the third damn time.

I was able to get back to sleep. So it's not a clinical depression. But that and digging out of 3' of snow ain't got me in the best of all possible moods.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 19 Nov 23 - 09:48 PM

Today's was a 'veddy' English word, which I've actually used. But... It took me a long time and an extra sleep period. Got it in just 6.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 11:54 AM

It looks like the Wordle thread is still operational.

Wordle 873 4/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 11 Nov 23 - 08:10 AM

STATISTICS

Number of games played, 612
612
Played
Win percentage, 94
94
Win %
Current Streak count, 22
22
Current Streak
Max Streak count, 60
60
Max Streak
GUESS DISTRIBUTION

1
1

2
14

3
107

4
192

5
179

6
80

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Nov 23 - 06:47 PM

Mixed fortunes this last few days. I've had a 2, a 3, a 4 , a 4 and a fail. But "ardor"?   That's just terrible. Shocking. Not too keen on "ninja" either. Though I did get both of those in 4.

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 23 - 09:33 AM

Tragically I lost all my scoring record up to 26 August this year. As I'd posted my results so far here on 21 March, I've at least got my scores from the very start but with a five-month gap from 21 March to 26 August, after which I started again. So, apart from that five months (for which I'd love to claim a long run of twos, which would be a huge porkie), my scores are:

1: 1
2: 21
3: 129
4: 168
5: 108
6: 23
Fails: 10

As long as the 2s and 6s are about even and I've got more 3s than 5s I'm happy! (Let's not mention the fails...)

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Nov 23 - 08:09 PM

"Veddy"??

Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Apr 24 - 12:03 PM

Still plugging along, though a couple of losses lately have my current streak low.

Wordle 1,032 6/6

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Subject: RE: BS: Wordle
From: robomatic
Date: 16 Apr 24 - 01:42 PM

I don't HAVE to win any more. Last week, or rather a few days ago, I lost for the fifth time give or take. In this case it was because I moved the marker to 'hard way' which means I have to re-use winning tiles which lessens my chances of picking up those I haven't yet got.

Life goes on..

I even put a special value on the ones that take a full count.