# "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:** 394
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7861 "2022-12-13T10:34:41Z")
Wordle 542 4/6 **S** LANT CH **O** R **E** **S** M **OKE** **SPOKE** After my second guess, it came down to a coin flip between SMOKE and SPOKE. Sometimes you win the coin toss, sometimes you lose. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7862 "2022-12-13T10:41:11Z")
Wordle 542 3/6\* ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BEARD SPIKE ← 😲 SPOKE ---
**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:** [December 13, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7863 "2022-12-13T11:50:22Z")
Wordle 542 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CRANE TOILS SHOVE SPOKE ---
**Author:** ![chiliwillybing](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chiliwillybing/32/12394_2.png) [@chiliwillybing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiliwillybing)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7864 "2022-12-13T12:48:51Z")
Wordle 542 5/6 ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 NOISE STORE SHOVE SLOPE SPOKE ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7865 "2022-12-13T12:51:31Z")
Wordle 542 5/6\* ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Not a good starting word, today. FAVOR TOKEN CHOKE SMOKE SPOKE ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7866 "2022-12-13T13:09:15Z")
Wordle 542 3/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HEART SPOIL SPOKE ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7867 "2022-12-13T16:00:04Z")
Wordle 542 5/6 πŸŸ¦β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ§ β¬›πŸŸ¦β¬›πŸŸ¦πŸŸ§ πŸŸ§β¬›πŸŸ§β¬›πŸŸ§ πŸŸ¦β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¦ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 ORATE NOISE SHOVE PLUCK SPOKE After three, I had a choice to either sidestep the trap and guarantee a five, or dive in head-first hoping to luck into a four (but risk a six or even a fail). It was not a difficult decision. Sometimes you gotta take the bogey. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7868 "2022-12-13T16:36:18Z")
Aarrgghh. I gotta start going more with my instincts. Wordle 542 4/6\* β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ© β¬›β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨πŸŸ© πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ¨πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 IRATE CHOSE SLOPE SPOKE I had SPOKE before SLOPE, but then I thought… they wouldn’t use another β€˜K’ already, would they? Oh, yes. Yes, they would. πŸ€¦β€β™€οΈ ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7869 "2022-12-13T18:27:22Z")
> **Wordle 542 4/6\* 10/13/2022** > > ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ > 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ > 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > A **P** PLY β†’ One and only one P, placed. Best consonant to lead with is an S, so… > **SPO** RT β†’ Good luck on the O. It’s a bit trappish, though. Try a double, like I didn’t yesterday? > **SPO** ON β†’ Nope. What’s left? An E, though only one letter to go between them… > **SPOKE** > > Might have gone with SPOKE first if I had seen it. Still, not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2022, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7870 "2022-12-13T22:38:05Z")
Wordle 542 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Alien Mouse Store Shove Scope Spoke ---
**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:** [December 14, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7871 "2022-12-14T00:47:27Z")
Wordle 542 5/6 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLANT SERUM SHOVE SCOPE SPOKE I probably should have been more systematic/done more research after getting the S (with position) and E, but I don’t tend to enjoy playing that way. Oh, well. > > [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m gonna have to put together a list like that! It’s made up almost entirely of words I’ve seen in other people’s guesses in this thread (so thanks to all!) πŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![SeaSun](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seasun/32/14820_2.png) [@SeaSun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaSun)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7872 "2022-12-14T04:43:03Z")
**Wordle 542 4/6** ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 GREAT CHOSE SLOPE SPOKE > [@Aspenglow](#): > > I had SPOKE before SLOPE, but then I thought… they wouldn’t use another β€˜K’ already, would they? Oh, yes. Yes, they would. πŸ€¦β€β™€οΈ Same! And the two P’s and L yesterday made it a difficult choice of which word to go with. Wordle being tricksy again, but that makes it more challenging, if you like that sort of thing. πŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![SeaSun](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seasun/32/14820_2.png) [@SeaSun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaSun)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7873 "2022-12-14T04:52:15Z")
nevermind…made a silly mistake ---
**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:** [December 14, 2022, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7874 "2022-12-14T04:57:21Z")
Wordle 542 5/6\* ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 LEAST SNIDE SCORE SMOKE SPOKE Arghh! I thought that SMOKE was less probable than SPOKE so I don’t know why I went with it first. And I see that I wasn’t the only one in the S\_O\_E trap. And didn’t someone say upthread that there seem to be more O words than usual this month? ---
**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:** [December 14, 2022, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7875 "2022-12-14T05:22:51Z")
**Wednesday, December 14th** Wordle 543 4/6 β¬›β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨ πŸŸ¨β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨β¬› β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ©πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 CROPS STALE NASAL USUAL And thus ends my 3 streak. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7876 "2022-12-14T05:35:55Z")
Wordle 543 4/6 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨 🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RATIO LEANS SULFA USUAL This one I count as a loss because I cheated. It took me forever to find SULFA and after that I was completely lost so I resorted to an anagram finder. In my mind doing that or looking at a word list is cheating. YMMV but I want to think of the words on my own but I just couldn’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![QMatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/aeb1de/32.png) [@QMatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QMatic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7877 "2022-12-14T07:55:22Z")
Wordle 543 3/6\* ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 GROVE ASPIC USUAL Felt a bit brave jumping in with the double U ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7878 "2022-12-14T08:22:30Z")
Wordle 543 4/6 β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬› πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨ β¬›πŸŸ¨β¬›β¬›β¬› 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 EARTH LIONS DUMPY USUAL ---
**Author:** ![chiliwillybing](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chiliwillybing/32/12394_2.png) [@chiliwillybing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiliwillybing)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7879 "2022-12-14T11:27:59Z")
Wordle 543 3/6 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 AUDIO SAUCE USUAL ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2022, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604/7880 "2022-12-14T11:28:12Z")
Wordle 543 3/6 _SLA_NT =\> a good start with the, um, _usual_ starting word _LAS_ER =\> thought this might be the solution, but it was a good followup regardless **USUAL** This one was fun. Went off the usual sequence for a second guess that I thought might have been the solution, but if not, was going to be very helpful anyway. When I wrote down the possible positions of the letters I knew after 2 guesses, the solution jumped out at me pretty quickly, but it took a few minutes to make sure I wasn’t overlooking alternatives. And of course, it’s always good to get a 3. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=393) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-1/956604.md?page=395)