Christmas Wordling: The Sixth Day Of Christmas

I posted this on the New York Time's Wordle Review comments yesterday -- 

Wordle 924 2/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 SHONE  15 WL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 THREE

WordleBot
Skill 74/99
Luck 91/99
Streak 675

(To be sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

“On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my First Guess showed to me
H & E — in position for me 
I knew 3 words were remaining — it was foreshadowing 
I beat The Bot, with a deuce — the solution was THREE”

There’s nothing that’ll lower your SKILL score quicker than leveraging information on previous solutions to reduce the number of guesses required to solve.  Guess #1 provided H & E, both in position.  From information gleaned playing Game #839 (CHIME on 10/6/2023), I knew The Bot thought there were 14 words left (15 as of today — apparently, PHAGE has been added as a possible solution — though an unlikely one, in my opinion).  But I knew I had a one-in-THREE chance of solving on my second Guess — and I embraced that opportunity.  Rather than using The Bot’s favorite word in that scenario (the unseemly WARTY), I went with THREE for the 2, and was rewarded for my insight and boldness when all the squares turned GREEN.  I beat both The Bot and the (current) NYT avg (2 vs 3.7).  I’m also THREE quarters of the way to my next 💯 (7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣) in The Streak.  All in all, the day has started well. 

Today is the middle day of a socializing Trifecta (the whole THREE theme just persists).  We had dinner with our traveling buddies last night at a great little Mexican place in downtown Farmington, MI.  It was wonderful to get caught up before our trip to Maui in February.  Today, we’re having lunch with good friends we haven’t seen in almost a year (our plans have kept falling through).  And Sunday, we’re having friends over to our place for New Year’s Eve.  My bride (the introvert) is barely coping with all the interaction — but I (the extrovert) am loving it.  Hope anyone reading this is having a wonderful weekend. 

Take care and stay safe.

Christmas Wordling: The Fifth Day Of Christmas

I posted this on the New York Time's Wordle Review comments yesterday -- 

Wordle 923 3/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ SHONE   30 WL

⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ TRICK       4 WL

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CHILD

WordleBot

Skill 99/99

Luck 56/99

Streak 674

(To be sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

“On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my First Guess showed to me

An H — it was where it should be 

So my Second Guess was TRICK — it showed I was Letter 3

And that’s not all — the solution included a C

Now the big moment came — and my odds were one-in-three

My guess was CHILD — I beat The Bot — Love it so when the squares all turn green”

Anyone still playing with Christmas-themed words could have had a *very* LUCKY day.  I felt quite confident that today’s solution started CHI— after Guess #2.  And I knew from information learned playing Game #667 (WHIFF on 4/17/2023) that only four solutions (3, actually — CHILL was previously used) remained.  I went with CHILD for Guess #3, and watched happily as all the squares turned GREEN.  I beat both The Bot and the (current) NYT avg (3 vs 3.6). 

Take care and stay safe.

Christmas Wordling: The Fourth Day Of Christmas

I posted this on the New York Time's Wordle Review comments yesterday -- 

Wordle 922 3/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 SHONE   105 WL
🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨 RIVAL          1 WL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 LEARN

WordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 68/99
Streak 673

(To be sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

“On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my First Guess showed to me
Yellow letters — an N and an E
Then my Second Guess was RIVAL —  To my delight I see
R, A and L — all five letters, but where should they be?

On my third guess, I pondered — and then it came to me
LEARN was the word — I solved in 3 — it’s so sweet when the squares all turn green”

Some days in Wordle, you’re confronted by the circumstance that a common word you know very well is spelled in a manner that’s actually quite unusual. Today was that day for me.  I had all five letters after Guess #2 - but none in the proper position.  For Guess #3, I kept trying to separate the vowels and use them as Letters 2 & 4 — but that wasn’t working.  I did eventually LEARN the answer.  It didn’t take *that* long — but it *seemed* a lot longer.  So I tied The Bot and bested the (current) NYT avg (3 vs 3.4).  Looks like there will be lots of solves on first and second Guesses today — the Comments should be quite upbeat.  

Take care and stay safe.

Christmas Wordling: The Third Day Of Christmas

I posted this on the New York Time's Wordle Review comments yesterday -- 

Wordle 921 3/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ SHONE   86 WL
⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ TRAIL        2 WL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 DAISY

WordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 62/99
Streak 672

(To be sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

“On the Third Day of Christmas, my First Guess showed to me
A-an S, but not where it should be
Then my Second Guess was TRIAL —  and I was pleased to see
Two yellow vowels — but they still weren’t where they should be
On my third guess, I knew that the answer was DAISY
AMISS was used — One word was left — I was pleased when the squares all turned green”

You may be asking yourself (but probably not) “How could he be so sure about DAISY?”  It’s because during Game #789 on 8/17/2023, I guessed DAISY on Guess #3 — but the solution was AMISS.  I had to settle for a 4 that day — but NOT TODAY!  I paid my dues in August and collected the benefits today. So I tied The Bot and bested the (current) NYT avg (3 vs 3.5).  Since a few folks have said nice things about my “Twelve Days of Christmas” bits, I’m going to post them on my blog later today — but taking care not to post any current day Wordle solution info until the following day.  Wishing all my Fellow Wordlers a wonderful Wednesday.

Take care and stay safe.

Christmas Wordling: The Second Day Of Christmas

I posted this on the New York Time's Wordle Review comments for December 26 -- 

Wordle 920 2/6

⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 SHONE   1 WL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 PHONE

WordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 99/99
Streak 670

(To be sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

“On the day after Christmas, my First Guess showed to me
Fou-or letters, right where they should be
On my Second Guess, I changed the first letter to a P
I got a Deuce — Beat The Bot and it satisfied me!”

There’s simply no need for a long explanation when you’re as LUCKY as I was today. I beat The Bot and the (current) NYT avg (2 vs 3.4).  Hope my Fellow Wordlers are having a great Tuesday after Christmas.

Take care and stay safe.

Christmas Wordling: The Twelve Days Of Christmas

As promised, here's the first post I made on the New York Time's Wordle Review comments, using a "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme --

Wordle 919 4/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 SHONE   30 WL
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ DRABS      6 WL
⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩 GLOVE      1 WL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 EVOKE

WordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 57/99
Streak 670

(To be sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”)

“On the morning of Christmas, my First Guess showed to me
Two-oo letters, right where they should be
On my Second Guess, I went with The Bot’s most favour-eet 
Found nothing new — five gray squares, staring back-ack at me
On my Third Guess, I typed GLOVE and watched expectantly
But that’s not it — just got a V
Hope one more guess will solve it for me
On my Fourth Guess, EVOKE was the word I thought I’d need
It was the answer — one word remained — Victory’s mine
And the squares all turned green-een for me”

And the prose readeth thusly:  And it came to pass in those days, that James, who layeth in his bed, typed in SHONE for Guess #1 and it revealed to him those letters O & E (in position).  James cast his mind back unto the results of Game #910 (wherein GLOBE ‘twas the answer on the 16th day of December, in the year of our Lord 2023) and, finding there only 9 words that abide as solutions for the O—E closing combination, he smileth inwardly unto himself.  But in cowardly fashion, James did useth that Bot of Wordle’s favorite word in that moment (DRABS) for Guess #2, getting the Diddly of Squat.  GLOVE he trieth next — but the Lord would not prosper the hands of the cowardly — and only V (out of position) was revealed unto him.  But, lo, those same results of Game #910 made plain that only one solution now remained.  And so, choosing EVOKE, James solveth the puzzle.  James were bested by that Bot of Wordle — but defeated the Avg of NYT (at the present moment — 4 vs 4.4).  Thus endeth the reading.

Hope all Fellow Wordlers are having a Merry Christmas.

Take care and stay safe.

My Wordle Obsession

The hieroglyphics below have become a familiar sight to many of us over the past couple of years —

For the benefit of anyone unfamiliar with the rows of five squares, it's the result of a Wordle game.

Wordle is a web-based word game created and developed by Josh Wardle, which he released to the public in October 2021.  The object of the game is to determine the five-letter word that has been selected as that day's solution.  Everyone is trying to find the same word - and you have six guesses to find the solution.

I played my first game on Saturday, January 8, 2022 - and have played (literally) every day since.  The New York Times purchased the game around that time, and it was this takeover that offered a first glimpse into the depths of my Wordle obsession.  

One of the cool things about the game is that it offers a very nice summary of your playing statistics that is automatically updated every time you play.

Although the info above is pretty cool, it has a flaw - it's incomplete.  (If you were playing close attention, you probably already figured that out.  If I've played every day since Jan. 8, 2022, my total games played should be 719 - which it is.)  The explanation?  As part of the NYT's takeover of the game, they warned that statistics from games played prior to their acquisition of Wordle would eventually disappear.  I decided I didn't want my data to disappear.  In fact, I wanted to track data about my Wordle play that the NYT wasn't.

So I created my own Wordle database using Microsoft Access.  The database allowed me to create a report like this.

And this -

I load data on my Wordle play every Monday so that I can have updated information on my statistics, how my play stacks up against the NYT averages, and what words have been used as previous solutions (up to this point, the game has not repeated any solutions.  There are a LOT of five-letter words...)

So now that I've reinforced the point that I'm a complete nerd, let's talk about why I'm telling you all this.  It's because, encouraged by some kind folks in the NYT's Wordle Comments section, I've decided to post my feedback in that forum here - as a means to resuscitate my moribund blog.

I will be delaying posts here by (at least) one day in order to avoid spoiling Wordle play for anyone who happens upon this treasure trove of information.

To quote Fellow Wordler, Bill G.:  There is no wrong way to Wordle.®

UP NEXT:  Christmas Wordling

Take care and stay safe.