Wordle

[Roadgeekteen]

Saw a lot of wordle discussion in another thread so I decided to take it here. Does anyone play wordle? I do, I'm not the best, I have like an 88% win rate.

[JayhawkCO]

I play every morning. Haven't lost yet. I think the most I've gotten is 5, but I still haven't gotten a 2. (Only done it for maybe the past three weeks.)

[formulanone]

Since picking this up around late-January, I've played 75 for 97%. I failed two, forgot to play once (breaking my streak at 60) and probably average 4.2-4.4 on solving them...more likely to get it in 4 than 5, but only a few with just 3.

Wordle 298 3/6

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[interstatefan990]

I play daily. The ones I've lost are mainly ambiguous ones, such as S(x)AKE (snake, stake, shake, etc.)

[jlam]

I'm at 60 solved with a 40 streak and 100% accuracy. Fewest is 2 and most is 6. My average is just under 4.

Wordle 298 3/6

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[JayhawkCO]

I got there a weird way today.

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[Scott5114]

I play it just a little bit after midnight every day.  My problems tend to stem from words with two of the same letter, since Wordle does nothing to tell you that's the case.

I also enjoy Quordle (where you play 4 games at once, with guesses counting for all four) and Squareword (where you play 5 at once, but the words also form words vertically as well). Quordle is quite a bit more difficult than base Wordle until you get a feel for the types of words it likes to use (they are much less shy about using words that use Q, W, and Y than Wordle is).

[US 89]

I've played Wordle every day since the middle of January and have only lost once. Only because I insist on playing on hard mode.

Also dangerously addicting are Octordle (8 wordles at once) and Hexadecordle (16 at once). It actually gets easier the more there are.

[webny99]

I play every morning. Haven't lost yet.

Just for that, I hope tomorrow's word is one that leaves about 15 different possibilities after you get the first four letters. 

I think the most I've gotten is 5, but I still haven't gotten a 2.

You can view detailed stats by clicking on the mini bar chart at the top. Here's mine:

[kenarmy]

I also do Bardle, the Shakespeare version.

[webny99]

A few people mentioned "Hard Mode" which I did not know existed until I found it just now. Apparently, it means you have to use the clues from the previous guesses? I don't see how that's hard - I've done that about 99% of the time anyways without even knowing there was such a mode. Why wouldn't you do that?

[wriddle082]

I've only ever lost twice in 79 games played.  Took 58 games for my first loss.  I usually play in the middle of the night as I'm usually up then for work, or when I'm restless trying to sleep at night on the weekends because I'm used to being at work.  Either way, it's done before 8 AM every day, and a couple of my FB friends use my blocks as clues.

[english si]

Why wouldn't you do that?

If your first word gives you a green letter and four greys, if you guess keeping the green letter in place, you effectively waste a letter telling you what you already know on a long shot that you'd successfully guess the word on guess 2.

[webny99]

Why wouldn't you do that?

If your first word gives you a green letter and four greys, if you guess keeping the green letter in place, you effectively waste a letter telling you what you already know on a long shot that you'd successfully guess the word on guess 2.

But doesn't the green letter have to be in place to guess the word correctly, or what am I missing?

[thspfc]

Why wouldn't you do that?

If your first word gives you a green letter and four greys, if you guess keeping the green letter in place, you effectively waste a letter telling you what you already know on a long shot that you'd successfully guess the word on guess 2.

But doesn't the green letter have to be in place to guess the word correctly, or what am I missing?

You already know the first letter. The odds that you'll correctly guess the word based on just the first letter are very slim. So by putting the correct first letter in its spot every time when you already know it's there, you're just reducing the chances that something will turn up yellow. No point in going for all greens on just your second or third guess.

[Scott5114]

A few people mentioned "Hard Mode" which I did not know existed until I found it just now. Apparently, it means you have to use the clues from the previous guesses? I don't see how that's hard - I've done that about 99% of the time anyways without even knowing there was such a mode. Why wouldn't you do that?

To use an example given upthread, suppose you have S(x)AKE in green and have no further information about what might be in the second box. You could sit there and type in SNAKE, SHAKE, STAKE, SLAKE, etc. Or you can put in something like SHALT, which will instantly either confirm or eliminate H, T, and L (and thus SHAKE, STAKE, and SLAKE) all in one guess.

[Scott5114]

Now if only Wordle would be so kind as to run CRANE as their word, I'll be set...

I generally switch up my starting word for Wordle - sometimes based on something I'm thinking about, sometimes not. I used "AIOLI" for a while because it has three vowels (so if you come up completely empty, you know the word probably has an e), but the results weren't good enough for me to be confident that was more beneficial than five random letters.

I always start with "ACRID" "MONTE" "PLUGS". Makes them pretty much all solvable. Those three words knock out most of the common letters as well as words that end with E or S.

I always go with RATES LINGO CHUMP

For Wordle, CRANE and go from there. For anything multi-word like Quordle, CRANK TOILS DERBY (which sounds like a really unpleasant competition, doesn't it?). This particular choice of words is because these three knock out all of the most-frequently-used letters in the English language other than M, and Quordle loves its words ending in Y.

In general, the lower a word's Scrabble score, the better a Wordle opener it will be.

[webny99]

You already know the first letter. The odds that you'll correctly guess the word based on just the first letter are very slim. So by putting the correct first letter in its spot every time when you already know it's there, you're just reducing the chances that something will turn up yellow. No point in going for all greens on just your second or third guess.

I suppose it depends what you're going for. If you're going for greatest chance of solving it in 6 guesses, that makes sense, whereas not so much if you would rather have the chance of getting it right on the second or third try.

To use an example given upthread, suppose you have S(x)AKE in green and have no further information about what might be in the second box. You could sit there and type in SNAKE, SHAKE, STAKE, SLAKE, etc. Or you can put in something like SHALT, which will instantly either confirm or eliminate H, T, and L (and thus SHAKE, STAKE, and SLAKE) all in one guess.

OK, now I'm picking up what you're putting down. It's a bit counterintuitive, but that actually makes a lot of sense... as long as you have at least two more guesses, of course. I'll have to try that next time I get down to one or two letters remaining.

[english si]

I suppose it depends what you're going for. If you're going for greatest chance of solving it in 6 guesses, that makes sense, whereas not so much if you would rather have the chance of getting it right on the second or third try.

But at the same time, having no chance of getting it right on the second go increases your ability to get it right on the third go. Ditto third go and fourth. If trying to get it in as few goes as possible is the way you want to play, then not wasting a letter on the second go if it is a shot in the dark to get it right is a very beneficial move.

Getting it in 2 every now and then is less impressive than getting it consistently in about 4 most of the time. Getting it in 2 involves a high level of luck. Taking what you get in the 'throw letters into the dark and see what sticks' phase and turning it into the answer in a turn or two is the skill of the game.

This guy (a crossword-champion) is very impressive at solving. What makes it impressive, beyond the speed (almost always in under a minute), and being on hard mode (because he needs a challenge), is that he averages about 4 guesses. He is always pleasantly surprised to get greens in his first go or two, because he knows that's more down to luck than his considerable talent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf37AlJIRyg

[webny99]

I suppose it depends what you're going for. If you're going for greatest chance of solving it in 6 guesses, that makes sense, whereas not so much if you would rather have the chance of getting it right on the second or third try.

But at the same time, having no chance of getting it right on the second go increases your ability to get it right on the third go. Ditto third go and fourth. If trying to get it in as few goes as possible is the way you want to play, then not wasting a letter on the second go if it is a shot in the dark to get it right is a very beneficial move.

I'm still not sold on that. I can definitely see it if you have three or four letters already figured out, but if you only have one letter filled in, you can still try four other letters while keeping that letter in place.

If you're going to waste a turn for the sake of one additional letter, you're basically saying the value of one letter is greater than the value of one turn. When there's 26 letters and only 6 turns, the math just doesn't add up.

Getting it in 2 every now and then is less impressive than getting it consistently in about 4 most of the time. Getting it in 2 involves a high level of luck. Taking what you get in the 'throw letters into the dark and see what sticks' phase and turning it into the answer in a turn or two is the skill of the game.

I don't know, I usually get it in 4 or 5 while only throwing letters into the dark on the first try, or second if I come up completely empty. That's basically what the guy in the video did, and I've done it at least that fast sometimes too. I see the skill as being less about math and speed and more about your breadth of vocabulary and knowing what words you can put in based on the information you're given. But I suppose it can be whatever you want it to be, and that's part of the charm.

[webny99]

Here's mine from today, by the way. Got it in four, and almost certain I wouldn't have if I had used multiple predetermined words, since continuing to use the letters I knew I had helped narrow down the options.

Wordle 299 4/6

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[jmacswimmer]

For Wordle, CRANE and go from there.
...

I saw this last night, suggested the strategy to my fiancée (who hadn't attempted yesterday's puzzle yet), and we wound up getting yesterday's word on the 2nd try.  So thank you

[JayhawkCO]

Here's mine from today, by the way. Got it in four, and almost certain I wouldn't have if I had used multiple predetermined words, since continuing to use the letters I knew I had helped narrow down the options.

Wordle 299 4/6

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I was 4 also today.

[english si]

If you're going to waste a turn for the sake of one additional letter, you're basically saying the value of one letter is greater than the value of one turn. When there's 26 letters and only 6 turns, the math just doesn't add up.

If the sole aim of the turn is, as you seem to think, to guess the word correctly, then that pretty much blind guess of a turn is going be wasted anyway unless you are exceptionally lucky. No, the aim of a turn is to get you to the solution as quickly as possible.

We're talking about 1 letter slot do you:

• use it to check a tenth letter? or
  
• use it on a gamble that you might not only be lucky enough to not only guess all 4 other letters from the pool of 22 remaining letters correctly, but also in the right places?

What's more of a waste of a letter slot? You're basically saying that you value a slim chance of glory more than a 10% advantage in the next turn.

When there's 26 letters and only 6 turns, the maths just doesn't add up to go wasting letter slots on forlorn hopes of a jackpot rather than trying another possible letter.

[abefroman329]

I'm a daily player. The only Wordle clone I play is framed.wtf, though