# "Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [December 24, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604 "2021-12-24T21:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 312
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6221 "2022-09-16T18:40:35Z")
Easy mode wasn’t much better for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6222 "2022-09-16T18:40:57Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > This was a day when playing in Hard Mode carried a distinct disadvantage. Unless you happened to start out with a perfect opener like parse – which actually isn’t a bad opener in general – I think this answer is the hard mode killer. I’m surprised anybody recognized the word. I dispute that it’s a real word that humans say. (Unless it’s British?) This should not have been in the answer list. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6223 "2022-09-16T18:43:44Z")
Dang!!! That would’ve been a killer starting word for this one and allowed you to get it in two or three. It would’ve been three for me because, like you, this word isn’t something I have ever used or encounted in my life that I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6224 "2022-09-16T18:44:18Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m surprised anybody recognized the word. I dispute that it’s a real word that humans say. (Unless it’s British?) This should not have been in the answer list. If you cook, it’s not such an unusual word. A vegetable parer is a thing, but I’ll not quarrel that peeler is a more common word choice. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6225 "2022-09-16T18:45:31Z")
Okay, fair enough. I only cook breakfast. There’s a lot of cooking words I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6226 "2022-09-16T18:46:36Z")
I’ve never heard it called a parer. However, I went to Amazon and searched for parer and it found the peelers. Nearly all of them didn’t have parer in the name, but a few did. Live and learn. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6227 "2022-09-16T18:51:33Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m surprised anybody recognized the word. I dispute that it’s a real word that humans say. (Unless it’s British?) This should not have been in the answer list. I wrote it down as one of roughly two dozen possibilities, but I thought it was in maybe the bottom third of that list in terms of likelihood. It isn’t in my American Heritage dictionary though. Anyone have a British Heritage dictionary? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6228 "2022-09-16T20:49:56Z")
Apparently only 41 percent of players solved today’s word. > ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6229 "2022-09-16T20:54:23Z")
You don’t get more than 6 guesses. There’s no way to have an average above 6 without assigning a numerical value to a loss. But there’s no way to determine how many more guesses it would have taken someone who didn’t get it in 6. So I say: FAKE NEWS, NYT. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6230 "2022-09-16T22:24:18Z")
Wordle 454 X/6\* ⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨⬛🟨⬛ ⬛⬛🟨🟨🟨 🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 Wordlebot got it in 6\* ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6231 "2022-09-16T22:27:56Z")
Wordle 454 6/6 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Phew indeed! Relieved to get it in 6 especially with all the carnage and broken streaks recorded above. CRATE LIONS RAGED HAREM BARER PARER which was a lucky guess; I almost went with RARER (which Wordlebot didn’t recognize as a solution BTW, saying that there was just 1 possible solution after BARER) ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6232 "2022-09-16T22:29:15Z")
> **Wordle 454 X/6\* 9/16/2022** > > ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ > ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 > 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜ > 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 > 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 > 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 > > DOUBT → I had my, well, doubts that I would get a hit from this word. Not surprised. > SHI_RE_ → One of my goto second words gets two letters! Good deal. > _REPA_Y → Four letters correct… but I’m starting to feel the presence of Admiral Ackbar… > **PA** C **ER** → IT’S A TRAP! Hmm, PALER, PAGER, PAVER. PANER and PAWER seem a bit off the mark, but if it’s one of them I’ll take the loss. > But I’ve still got two guesses left and three words to chose from. > **PA** L **ER** → Not that. Fifty-fifty… > **PA** V **ER** → Not that. And not PAGER either! I was totally wrong. Oh, the humanity! > > Brutal. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6233 "2022-09-16T22:32:22Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > I almost went with RARER (which Wordlebot didn’t recognize as a solution BTW, saying that there was just 1 possible solution after BARER) You eliminated that possibility by guessing raged. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6234 "2022-09-16T22:38:13Z")
I lost today for the first time in forever. I think you either had to be playing easy mode and knock out a lot of letters like @Wheelz, or in hard mode be lucky enough to guess a word with the correct letter in the 3rd place. > **Wordle 454 X/6\*** > > ⬛⬛🟨⬛🟨 > ⬛🟨⬛🟨🟩 > 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 > 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 > 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 > 🟩🟩⬛🟩🟩 > > SLATE > CEDAR > PAGER > PAYER > PAPER > PAVER ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6235 "2022-09-16T23:04:00Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > You eliminated that possibility by guessing raged. You’re right and I didn’t see it when I was guessing. Just as well that I didn’t go with it! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6236 "2022-09-16T23:45:04Z")
Looks like, as a group, we did about as well as the rest of the world. In this thread, for Wordle 454, I’m counting: 1,2,3: 0 4: 2 5: 2 6: 4 X: 12 So 40% of us solved it, 60% of us didn’t. If we count a loss as a 7 (which I figure is what the NYT did), our average was 6.3 guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2022, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6237 "2022-09-16T23:47:53Z")
Wordle 454 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 STARE REGAL ARENA PARER This was a day I had only about ten minutes to devote to Wordle. After minute 11, I went to a hint site and got “starts with P and has one repeated letter and is found in kitchens.” Of course that IS cheating, and I feel worse about it in the face of so many who lost their streaks. (On the other occasions I’ve had time issues and looked at a hint, the game didn’t happen to be so hard.) That said: these “ends with ER” words really can seem questionable. “PARER” is going to live in the memories of many as a truly annoying Wordle choice. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6238 "2022-09-17T00:28:09Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > So 40% of us solved it, 60% of us didn’t. If we count a loss as a 7 (which I figure is what the NYT did), our average was 6.3 guesses. Interesting. That makes me wonder if any of us here are still undefeated. I know I’m not; I took my only loss just before my 200th game 3-4 weeks ago. (Surprisingly, and happily, I don’t remember the word I lost on.) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6239 "2022-09-17T04:11:34Z")
Wordle 455 3/6 🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬛🟨⬛🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CLASP CREPT CHUTE Quick and easy 3, but screw you Wordle. I’m still pissed about yesterday’s word. (Just realized that I reused a known bad P instead of checking M (or N) like my strategy dictates. Doh!) ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2022, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/6240 "2022-09-17T04:19:22Z")
Wordle 455 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RATIO TUNED FLUTE CHUTE Yay! My streak is now at one! I still get a 100% correct, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=311) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=313)