A first-grade vocabulary is not much to brag about, but I've been pretty good at WORDLE, so please indulge me.For more than two years, I used the same two seed-words, ABIDE and LOUSY. Abide is my favorite Bible verb, and Lousy is essentially the opposite of abiding in Christ. When played together they tell me all the possible vowels.
On March 19, 2024, the winning word was ABIDE. So my WORDLE became flesh. John 15:4, y'all.
Since then, I've led off with LOUSY, knowing that it would eventually be a first-guess winner.
August 16 turned out to be my lucky day. That afternoon in Albemarle, we found out that we're having a grandson. That night, I logged on to WORDLE and entered LOUSY.
Bingo!
Bingo!
On Oct. 18, IDEAL won.
So now I start with AROSE and JUICY. Eventually those will be winners. At the very least, they tell me all the vowels. If the U is not in the second place, I can rule out Q. And E and Y narrow down the possibilities for the final letter.
WORDLE says IDEAL was the seventh time I've gotten the first guess right. Other than ABIDE, I don't remember any of the others. Seventeen times I've needed only one or two guesses.
Mary points out that solving WORDLE in one guess is pure luck, and that two guesses is the height of discernment. AI says the odds against a one-word guess are 1/2,315.
So now I start with AROSE and JUICY. Eventually those will be winners. At the very least, they tell me all the vowels. If the U is not in the second place, I can rule out Q. And E and Y narrow down the possibilities for the final letter.
WORDLE says IDEAL was the seventh time I've gotten the first guess right. Other than ABIDE, I don't remember any of the others. Seventeen times I've needed only one or two guesses.
Mary points out that solving WORDLE in one guess is pure luck, and that two guesses is the height of discernment. AI says the odds against a one-word guess are 1/2,315.
The ones I remember are the ones I missed, or when WORDLE missed me.
On July 31, riding a streak of 666 consecutive games, I solved DAUNT. But a couple of days later, I noticed that the streak had reset after 666. Evidently, WORDLE never recorded that answer. If you miss a day, it's as if you missed a word. (Or maybe WORDLE halts streaks at the mark of the beast.)
So I had to start over.
A few days later, I had _I_TY, and for my last guess I tried NIFTY, when it should have been MINTY. When the streak was intact, I was always careful about cross-checking my final guess. If you're a serious player, you're familiar with lists of all the words WORDLE has previously used, as well as lists of the unused words. If I had checked those, I could have ruled out NIFTY, and MINTY would have been self-evident. But without the streak, I was lazy.
Honestly, I think the streak would have ended a few days later with KEFIR, a word I've never encountered. I'm told it's some sort of yogurt. Not sure I could have ferreted out that one.
The streak of 666 began after I had _ADDY and guessed PADDY rather than DADDY.
The trick of keeping the streak alive is to never miss a day. I was able to play every day when I traveled to Romania earlier this year.
On July 31, riding a streak of 666 consecutive games, I solved DAUNT. But a couple of days later, I noticed that the streak had reset after 666. Evidently, WORDLE never recorded that answer. If you miss a day, it's as if you missed a word. (Or maybe WORDLE halts streaks at the mark of the beast.)
So I had to start over.
A few days later, I had _I_TY, and for my last guess I tried NIFTY, when it should have been MINTY. When the streak was intact, I was always careful about cross-checking my final guess. If you're a serious player, you're familiar with lists of all the words WORDLE has previously used, as well as lists of the unused words. If I had checked those, I could have ruled out NIFTY, and MINTY would have been self-evident. But without the streak, I was lazy.
Honestly, I think the streak would have ended a few days later with KEFIR, a word I've never encountered. I'm told it's some sort of yogurt. Not sure I could have ferreted out that one.
The streak of 666 began after I had _ADDY and guessed PADDY rather than DADDY.
The trick of keeping the streak alive is to never miss a day. I was able to play every day when I traveled to Romania earlier this year.
Bless its heart, WORDLE avoids obscure and archaic words. The hardest ones I've remember are PSALM, POLYP, and SPASM.
Thank you for your applause. I want to thank my Mrs. MacLean and Mrs. Shanklin, my teachers in first and second grade at Concord Elementary School.
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