# "Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 19, 2024, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451 "2024-11-19T10:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 254
**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:** [October 26, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5061 "2025-10-26T15:00:54Z")
Wordle 1,590 5/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 HEART SPOIL PLUNK PLUMB PLUMP ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5062 "2025-10-26T15:01:30Z")
Wordle 1,590 4/6\* ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SNIDE BATCH JUROR PLUMP Lucky guess, condidering there were still many words to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5063 "2025-10-26T15:30:57Z")
Wordle 1,590 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟦⬜⬜⬜ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 CRANE HOIST BUNNY PLUMP Wow, after two whiffs and a single letter, I lucked out. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5064 "2025-10-26T15:35:37Z")
Wordle 1,5 **91** 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 😇 no Ai 🦘 ---
**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:** [October 26, 2025, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5065 "2025-10-26T16:01:40Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I lucked out. _Au contraire!_ You’d eliminated over half the alphabet, and with a U not in the second position, you chance for par came down to a mere coin flip berween PLUMP and FLUFF. I’d call this a game skillfully played. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2025, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5066 "2025-10-26T18:57:50Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > Google says only 41% of Wordle words have been used. Since there have been 1,592 solutions used (games 0-1591), that would mean there are 3,883 words on the NYT list of solutions. That would be a huge expansion from Wardle’s original list of 2,315 solutions. (And some of those were dropped by the NYT because they were thought to be prurient or derogatory.) Wardle’s original list is out there, and of course the set of past solutions is as well. Someone must’ve compared the two, to see how many solutions so far were NOT on Wardle’s list. Knowing that would give us a rough idea of just how many possible solutions the NYT has added altogether. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5067 "2025-10-27T00:02:39Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Wardle’s original list is out there, and of course the set of past solutions is as well. Someone must’ve compared the two, to see how many solutions so far were NOT on Wardle’s list. Knowing that would give us a rough idea of just how many possible solutions the NYT has added altogether. Someone did in fact compare the two, specifically [Mark McLaren](https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/last-month-was-officially-wordles-toughest-month-ever-but-it-could-get-harder-still-heres-why) at [Techradar.com](http://Techradar.com). And through the end of July, there had been 17 solutions that hadn’t been on Wardle’s list: > One notable feature of July’s Wordles was that there were five ‘non-original’ answers among the 31 games. > > When Josh Wardle created Wordle, he and his partner drew up a list of 2,315 words which would form the game’s answer list, then scheduled them to appear one a day for the next six or so years. > > The New York Times removed a few of those when it bought Wordle in 2022, then left the list more or less unchanged for the next year. Then, in March 2023, it gave us GUANO – the first ‘extra’ solution added to the original pool and [the start of a new era for Wordle](https://www.techradar.com/news/todays-wordle-marks-the-start-of-a-new-era-for-the-game-heres-why). > More have followed since then, 17 in total The seventeen non-Wardle past solutions are: ATRIA, BALSA, BEAUT, GOFER, GUANO, KAZOO, LASER, LORIS, MOMMY, NERVY, PIOUS, PRIMP, SNAFU, SQUID, TAUPE, TIZZY, UVULA. This count was through the end of July (Wordle 1503). GUANO, the first to appear, was Wordle 646. So in 858 (or more, depending on when they put the additional words into the pool from which each day’s solution is presumably selected at random) Wordles, there were 17 non-Wardle Wordles. (Say that five times real fast!) That’s slightly less than one non-Wardle solution per 50 games. So through the end of July, there had been 1487 Wardle solutions (recall, there’s a Wordle 0, whose solution was CIGAR). 2315 total Wardle solutions - 1487 Wardle solutions used through the end of July leaves 828 unused Wardle solutions as of July 31. Some of them (e.g. PENIS) won’t be used either, since the NYT just isn’t going to allow certain words. But still, one non-Wardle solution for every 50 Wardle solutions suggests there might be in the ballpark of another 17 non-Wardle solutions, give or take, either that have been solutions in the past three months, or will be solutions sometime in the future. That’s not many, is it? Clearly there aren’t enough non-Wardle solutions in the pool to noticeably lengthen the game. It still comes back to their having already gone through 2/3 of their possible solutions. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5068 "2025-10-27T04:10:43Z")
Wordle 1,591 3/6 ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 RATIO UNTIL FETID ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5069 "2025-10-27T05:02:37Z")
Wordle 1,591 3/6 ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ 🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 AUDIO TEPID FETID ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5070 "2025-10-27T05:13:16Z")
Thanks to RTFirefly for going into details. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > That’s not many, is it? Clearly there aren’t enough non-Wardle solutions in the pool to noticeably lengthen the game. It still comes back to their having already gone through 2/3 of their possible solutions. So 67% of words are used up. (Or slightly less when new (non-Wardle) Wordle words are included.) But my experiments (shown in thread) show 84% (46 of 55) of the words I think of already used-up. My experiments are _biased_ (I think of simple words and overlook weirder words) but that bias should be uncorrelated with a _random_ draw from the bag of Wordle words. But is the draw _random_? My hypothesis is that there are many hard-to-think-of Wordle words that are _rejected_ by the Editor when drawn from the bag of Wordle words. For examples, from the C-words on the wordle-starting-words-not-used-yet-full-list we see Cabby, Cairn, Cavil, China, Clack, Clink, Clung, Copse, Coupe, Covey, Creme, Cress, Crock, Croup, Crump, Cutie. About half of these words I barely recognize and couldn’t define; several look like slang (or foreign words like Creme); and China looks like a capitalized proper noun. The _last_ thing the Wordle editor wants is to annoy even a small portion of Wordlers with words they’ve barely heard of, or otherwise reject. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5071 "2025-10-27T06:09:20Z")
Wordle 1,591 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩🟨🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLATE CHOIR BEFIT FETID After clue #2 I thought of four fitting words; Befit, Fetid and two already-used. Pursuant to my hypothesis I decided the Editor might dislike Fetid (nastier than Penis IMO). Oh well. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2025, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5072 "2025-10-27T09:47:35Z")
Wordle 1,591 3/6\* \begin{aligned} &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \\ &\bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt F} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt D} \\ \end{aligned} ---
**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:** [October 27, 2025, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5073 "2025-10-27T11:22:25Z")
Wordle 1,591 3/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬛🟦🟧🟦⬛ 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧 WOMAN LITER FETID Broke my streak of fives with a nice whiff-to-birdie. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5074 "2025-10-27T11:30:43Z")
Wordle 1,591 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟨🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SPARE DOILY CITED FETID ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5075 "2025-10-27T11:32:22Z")
> **Wordle 1,591 4/6\* 10/27/2025** > > ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ > ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ > 🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜ > 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 > > PLUMP → Whiff. Can’t go with SLATE or its anagrams here, but I do want that A & E, so I’ll go with > N **E** ARS → Placed E and nothing else. I need to try T… and O? First word I see that fits the bill is > _D_ **ET** OX → I is still out there, and if I put it in the logical fourth spot that moves D to the end, which looks like > **FETID** > FETED was also out there, and might be nonbogus. Scoredle ends up with a bogey; it plays a double letter with its third guess, trying to place it, and misses out on the last letter until there was just one word left. It turns out my third guess was key, though Scoredle’s third guess from my position turned out to be even better. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5076 "2025-10-27T11:38:37Z")
Wordle 1591 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 SLANT CHORE DUMPY FETID TWEED had been used. > [@Gordon\_G](#): > > Pursuant to my hypothesis I decided the Editor might dislike Fetid (nastier than Penis IMO). My impression is that there are a couple of distinct categories of words that the NYT dropped from Wardle’s list: (1) sexual/prurient words, and (2) slurs and derogatory words. (E.g. if SQUAW was on Wardle’s list, I’m sure it’s not on the NYT’s list.) Today’s solution doesn’t fall in either category. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5077 "2025-10-27T11:59:33Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > My hypothesis is that there are many hard-to-think-of Wordle words that are _rejected_ by the Editor when drawn from the bag of Wordle words. For examples, from the C-words on the > wordle-starting-words-not-used-yet-full-list we see Cabby, Cairn, Cavil, China, Clack, Clink, Clung, Copse, Coupe, Covey, Creme, Cress, Crock, Croup, Crump, Cutie. About half of these words I barely recognize and couldn’t define; several look like slang (or foreign words like Creme); and China looks like a capitalized proper noun. I would assume that the NYT reviewed the list more than once in the first year that they actively ran the game, and removed all the words they’re going to remove. I recognized and could roughly define all the words I’ve spoilered here, with the exception of one that I figured must be onomatopoetic, and a check of the dictionary confirmed it. ‘Creme’ isn’t foreign anymore, it’s one of the many words of foreign origin that English cheerfully absorbed. (French words? No biggie ever since that fella from Normandy conquered England nearly a thousand years ago.) And ‘china’ is spelled with a lowercase ‘c’ when referring to plates and saucers and so forth. (Ran into another example of that when coming up with possible solutions after my second guess today: ‘Teddy’ has an initial cap when it’s someone’s name, but it’s ‘teddy’ when it’s the item of feminine lingerie. So if it’s not on the list, it’s not because it has to be a proper noun.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5078 "2025-10-27T12:40:39Z")
Wordle 1,591 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 BUYER SEPIA GEOID FETID ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5079 "2025-10-27T12:40:46Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I recognized and could roughly define all the words I’ve spoilered here YOU recognized and know all those words. NYTimes wants to appeal to a very large audience. Using words many are unsure of (or that are unlikely to pop to mind) is certain to annoy. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2025, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451/5080 "2025-10-27T13:02:54Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > Using words many are unsure of (or that are unlikely to pop to mind) is certain to annoy. Hey! That’s a little like today’s Wordle which is not an overly common word… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451.md?page=253) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game-part-3/1010451.md?page=255)