I really like Wordle. I play it every day so I can write my right now’s Wordle reply column, however even when I received a brand new job as an astronaut or undercover agent, I might nonetheless play it, nonetheless analyze my outcomes, nonetheless obsess over my common rating.
Nevertheless, I HATE right now’s sport. HATE it a lot that I would like to make use of capital letters for emphasis.
Don’t fret, I did not fail. My streak remains to be unbeaten at 1,134. Effectively, theoretically at the least – in observe it was way back misplaced to the glitchiness of the NYT’s Video games App, however I do know I’ve performed it day-after-day since January 2022 and I do know I’ve by no means misplaced. What’s that? You were not anxious about my streak? Effectively, thanks.
No, I HATE it as a result of it has a selected format that acts as my private Kryptonite. And I am no Superman.
Significantly, I appear to have a psychological blind spot in the case of fixing Wordles like this one. And nor am I the one one – as a result of right now’s sport has an extremely excessive common rating of 4.9.
Clearly I can not say any extra about it with out spoilers, so cease studying now if you have not performed. Go and get some Wordle hints for those who want them, full the puzzle, then come again and discover out why I HATE it a lot. Perhaps you will HATE it too.
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SPOILERS FOR TODAY’S WORDLE, MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2025, FOLLOW BELOW.
My least favourite Wordle format ever
Wordle is by its nature a sport of patterns. Sure letters are extra widespread than others; some seem extra repeatedly in particular locations; some pair extra readily with others. These guidelines create patterns and for those who play the sport repeatedly you may be taught to identify them. I dug into all this in my evaluation of each Wordle reply.
Immediately’s sport has a superb instance of 1 explicit sample – and as I mentioned above, it is an terrible one.
The sample in query is OO, as in BROOK, GOOSE, GROOM, FLOOD and a few 50 or so different phrases that both have been, or can be, Wordle solutions.
SPOILERS COMING NOW!
Immediately’s Wordle reply is GOODY, and it is nearly essentially the most troublesome OO phrase we have had to date, with a median of 4.9 in response to WordleBot, the in-game AI evaluation instrument.
The one harder OO sport was KAZOO (5.1), which I do not really matter provided that it additionally has an unusual Okay and an unusual Z, plus it is a silly phrase that was added by the NYT for no purpose apart from to troll folks.
GOODY is simply horrible, is not it? It is not a superb phrase – pun meant. I imply what sort of particular person even says ‘GOODY’? A 3-year-old, perhaps, and they need to be watching Bluey or one thing moderately than enjoying Wordle.
I in all probability would not thoughts about that if I might accomplished it simply, however I scored a 5 – the disgrace! – and it jogged my memory as soon as once more that I’ve a whole psychological block in the case of fixing these phrases.
To show how a lot I wrestle with them, I did slightly quantity crunching. I’ve saved a document of each Wordle I’ve accomplished (sure, I’m a enjoyable man) and my common throughout 1,136 video games to date is 3.67. Not too shabby.
Nevertheless, wanting solely at OO phrases it jumps to 4.19 – greater than a half guess increased! That is even worse than my document on ER video games, that different dastardly Wordle format, for which my common is 4.18.
It is not simply me – sincere!
And I am not alone, both. I’ve additionally saved a document of WordleBot’s common rating for each sport because it launched in April 2022, and the worldwide common at present stands at 3.96. However for OO phrases it jumps to a mighty 4.29.
Admittedly, everybody else finds ER phrases even tougher to unravel – the common there’s 4.41. So, whereas the remainder of you do additionally wrestle with OO solutions, you do not hate them fairly a lot as these ER nasties.
In fact the worst attainable format for any Wordle, ever, would due to this fact be a mixture of OO and ER, proper? Oh sure.
We have solely had one such phrase to date, WOOER, again in September 2021 (sport #78). That was method earlier than anybody was truly enjoying Wordle, so I solely accomplished it by way of the Wordle Archive. And I misplaced.
In reality, that is my solely loss to date, from all 1,333 Wordles. It is not a correct loss, as a result of it wasn’t performed ‘stay’ – but it surely nonetheless rankles. Perhaps now you may see why I hate OO phrases a lot.
What’s the issue right here anyway?
Why are OO phrases so troublesome? Effectively, any repeated letter makes a Wordle harder, however I do not suppose it is that as such. Or not solely that. In any case, as my evaluation of each Wordle reply reveals, O is the second almost definitely letter to be repeated, behind solely A.
No, I believe the issue is solely that it is a repeated vowel, and that they’re subsequent to one another moderately than break up up.
Vowels can go subsequent to some other letter, typically, which makes it a lot tougher to slender down the characters both facet of it. And since you do not typically get two ‘A’s, ‘I’s or ‘U’s collectively, ‘O’s and ‘E’s are the one vowels that create this drawback.
For instance, when you have a phrase with two Ls collectively – additionally quite common – you will know they’re nearly definitely preceded and adopted by a vowel, or a Y (which is itself generally a vowel anyway). You would not get a phrase that was spelled -RLLD or one thing – there’s all the time going to be a vowel both facet of these Ls. Identical for many different letters.
However with a repeated O, it’ll have consonants on at the least one facet, in all probability each – and there are way more of these. Is it going to be an OOM phrase like GLOOM? An OON phrase like SWOON? An OOP phrase like SCOOP? Is it going to be preceded by an R like in BROOM or a T as in STOOD? There are simply too many choices.
There is a related drawback at play with ER phrases, the place it is extremely troublesome to seek out the primary two consonants for COWER or BOXER or no matter. However at the least I do know to look out for ER phrases. With OO phrases, they all the time catch me without warning, though right now’s is the twenty ninth to date.
So there you will have it: that is why I HATE OO phrases. Let me know within the feedback under whether or not you HATE them too. I wager you do.
