"Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 1)

The Game Room
8341

Sunday, January 8th

Wordle 568 3/6

:black_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::black_large_square::black_large_square:
:black_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

CRAMS
TAPER
OPERA

8342

Wordle 568 4/6

:yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::yellow_square:
:white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square:
:yellow_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

RATIO
GROAN
ABHOR
OPERA

Hard to place the letters today. Like PIANO, I seem to always miss OPERA. Although I promise I don’t hate it as much as my guesses seem to indicate.

8343

Wordle 568 2/6*

:blue_square::black_large_square::blue_square::black_large_square::blue_square:
:orange_square::orange_square::orange_square::orange_square::orange_square:

ALONE
OPERA

8344

Wordle 568 4/6

:yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::yellow_square:
:white_large_square::white_large_square::green_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:yellow_square::white_large_square::green_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

RAISE
CLEAR
AVERT
OPERA

8345

Wordle 568 3/6

SLANT
CHORE
OPERA

I wasn’t happy with that solution either. It’s certainly not what I’d consider a commonly used word. I’m sure I’ve never heard it in actual conversation. It’s the sort of word that someone might use once in a long think-piece in the Atlantic or some such periodical. And I suppose it might be a handy word for crossword puzzles.

Wiktionary has frequency tables of word use, including one of the top 100,000 words appearing in all the works in Project Gutenberg. ‘Belie’ is #16784 on the list; ‘Belied’ is slightly higher, at 14961. (True, this is of all words, not just 5-letter words, but there sure are a lot of short words at the top of the list, and they get a lot less frequent further down.)

Of the most frequent 100, 86 have 4 or fewer letters, 11 have 5 letters, and 3 have 6 letters. Of the 11, six (could, first, great, other, their, there) have already been Wordle solutions, and five (about, after, these, which, would) haven’t.

8346

Wordle 568 3/6

:white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::yellow_square:
:yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

CRANE
PAGER - four yellows
OPERA

8347

I saw it in a comic book (with an undercover Captain America trash-talking the sumo wrestler he’s casually outclassing: “I always wanted to meet a fat guy whose speed did not belie his bulk!”)

8348

Wordle 568 3/6

:yellow_square::black_large_square::black_large_square::yellow_square::black_large_square:
:black_large_square::black_large_square::yellow_square::green_square::black_large_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

ADIEU
SNORT
OPERA

8349

Wordle 568 3/6*

:white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:yellow_square::white_large_square::green_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

BEARD
AVERT
OPERA

8350

This one went pretty well.

Wordle 568 3/6*

:white_large_square::white_large_square::yellow_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:green_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::green_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

STORY
OCHRE
OPERA

8351
Wordle 568 4/6* 1/8/2022

:white_large_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::yellow_square::white_large_square:
:white_large_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

LEMON → Time for a consonant hunt - those may be the only vowels I need. Switch 'em and try…
VOTER → Switch didn’t work, but I picked up the R. TROPE is out, but I can try…
GROPE → So, O first, then P, E… oh, my, I did need another vowel…
OPERA

As a confirmed Marxist of the Groucho variety, I should have seen this before.

8352

Another three.

Wordle 568 3/6

:white_large_square::blue_square::blue_square::white_large_square::blue_square:
:white_large_square::orange_square::blue_square::white_large_square::white_large_square:
:orange_square::orange_square::orange_square::orange_square::orange_square:

CRANE
SPOIL - at this point I have all the letters
OPERA

8353

“Mr. Gottlieb, Mrs. Claypool. Mrs. Claypool, Mr. Gottlieb.”

8354

Wordle 568 2/6

:blue_square::black_large_square::blue_square::black_large_square::blue_square:
:orange_square::orange_square::orange_square::orange_square::orange_square:

ALONE
OPERA

Hey, @The_Other_Waldo_Pepper, what’s up? :grin:
I don’t think I’ve ever found 3 vowels on the first word before. Took a few minutes of rearranging them and plugging in different consonants to hit on a valid word. Turns out my other options were OMEGA and CAMEO; if I’d seen either of those first, I probably would have tried them, so a bit of luck for the two!

8355

No 3 for me!

Wordle 568 4/6*

:black_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::black_large_square::yellow_square:
:yellow_square::yellow_square::black_large_square::yellow_square::black_large_square:
:black_large_square::yellow_square::black_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

IRATE
RELAX
SAFER
OPERA

WordleBot made fun of me for ‘RELAX.’ Bite me, WordleBot.

8356

Wordle 568 3/6

:white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:yellow_square::white_large_square::green_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

HEART
AVERT I knew there is no T, just trying to place the A and E.
OPERA

8357

Wordle 568 2/6

:yellow_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::yellow_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

AROSE
OPERA

A lucky first guess (part of my regular rotation) gave me four of the five letters; then it was just a matter of going through the alphabet. (Which actually took a longish time–nearly 20 minutes.)

Still, nice to get one of my rare Twos.

8358

Rats! I was thinking of going with that opener too, but instead…

Wordle 568 4/6*

:yellow_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::yellow_square:
:white_large_square::yellow_square::yellow_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:yellow_square::white_large_square::green_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

RAISE
LEARN
AVERT
OPERA

8359

Monday, January 9th

Wordle 569 4/6

SLANT
CHORE
GIMPY
PIXIE

Happy to get this one in 4.

8360

Wordle 569 4/6

:white_large_square::white_large_square::white_large_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:white_large_square::yellow_square::white_large_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:white_large_square::white_large_square::yellow_square::green_square::white_large_square:
:green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square::green_square:

RATIO
MEDIC
SKEIN
PIXIE

Tough one today.