I like Wordle. I play it day by day so I can write my as we speak’s Wordle reply column, however even when I obtained a brand new job as an astronaut or undercover agent, I would nonetheless play it, nonetheless analyze my outcomes, nonetheless obsess over my common rating.
Nevertheless, I HATE as we speak’s sport. HATE it a lot that I want to make use of capital letters for emphasis.
Don’t be concerned, I did not fail. My streak continues to be unbeaten at 1,134. Properly, theoretically at the least – in apply 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 nervous about my streak? Properly, thanks.
No, I HATE it as a result of it has a specific format that acts as my private Kryptonite. And I am no Superman.
Severely, I appear to have a psychological blind spot on the subject of fixing Wordles like this one. And nor am I the one one – as a result of as we speak’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 should you want them, full the puzzle, then come again and discover out why I HATE it a lot. Possibly you may HATE it too.
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 frequent than others; some seem extra recurrently in particular locations; some pair extra readily with others. These guidelines create patterns and should you play the sport recurrently you may study to identify them. I dug into all this in my evaluation of each Wordle reply.
Right now’s sport has a superb instance of 1 specific sample – and as I stated 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 will probably be, Wordle solutions.
SPOILERS COMING NOW!
Right now’s Wordle reply is GOODY, and it is virtually probably the most tough OO phrase we have had thus far, with a median of 4.9 in keeping with WordleBot, the in-game AI evaluation instrument.
The one harder OO sport was KAZOO (5.1), which I do not actually 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 aside 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, possibly, and they need to be watching Bluey or one thing fairly than enjoying Wordle.
I in all probability would not thoughts about that if I would 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 on the subject of fixing these phrases.
To show how a lot I battle with them, I did somewhat quantity crunching. I’ve stored a document of each Wordle I’ve accomplished (sure, I’m a enjoyable man) and my common throughout 1,136 video games thus far is 3.67. Not too shabby.
Nevertheless, trying 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 stored 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 battle with OO solutions, you do not hate them fairly a lot as these ER nasties.
After all the worst potential format for any Wordle, ever, would subsequently be a mix of OO and ER, proper? Oh sure.
We have solely had one such phrase thus far, 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 truth, that is my solely loss thus far, from all 1,333 Wordles. It is not a correct loss, as a result of it wasn’t performed ‘dwell’ – however it nonetheless rankles. Possibly now you may see why I hate OO phrases a lot.
What’s the issue right here anyway?
Why are OO phrases so tough? Properly, any repeated letter makes a Wordle more durable, however I do not suppose it is that as such. Or not solely that. In spite of everything, as my evaluation of each Wordle reply reveals, O is the second most probably letter to be repeated, behind solely A.
No, I believe the issue is just that it is a repeated vowel, and that they’re subsequent to one another fairly than break up up.
Vowels can go subsequent to another 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 downside.
For instance, you probably have a phrase with two Ls collectively – additionally quite common – you may know they’re virtually actually preceded and adopted by a vowel, or a Y (which is itself typically 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. Similar 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 much 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 downside at play with ER phrases, the place it is extremely tough 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 as we speak’s is the twenty ninth thus far.
So there you’ve got it: that is why I HATE OO phrases. Let me know within the feedback under whether or not you HATE them too. I guess you do.