I like Wordle. I play it day by 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.
Nonetheless, I HATE right now’s sport. HATE it a lot that I would like to make use of capital letters for emphasis.
Don’t be concerned, I did not fail. My streak remains to be unbeaten at 1,134. Properly, theoretically not less than – in follow it was way back misplaced to the glitchiness of the NYT’s Video games App, however I do know I’ve performed it day by day since January 2022 and I do know I’ve by no means misplaced. What’s that? You were not fearful 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 right now’s sport has an extremely excessive common rating of 4.9.
Clearly I am unable to say any extra about it with out spoilers, so cease studying now if you have not performed. Go and get some Wordle hints when 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 widespread than others; some seem extra usually in particular locations; some pair extra readily with others. These guidelines create patterns and when you play the sport usually you’ll be able to study to identify them. I dug into all this in my evaluation of each Wordle reply.
At this time’s sport has 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 shall be, Wordle solutions.
SPOILERS COMING NOW!
At this time’s Wordle reply is GOODY, and it is nearly probably the most troublesome OO phrase we have had thus far, with a median of 4.9 based on WordleBot, the in-game AI evaluation software.
The one harder OO sport was KAZOO (5.1), which I do not actually matter provided that it additionally has an unusual Ok and an unusual Z, plus it is a silly phrase that was added by the NYT for no cause aside from to troll folks.
GOODY is simply horrible, is not it? It is not 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 reasonably 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 an entire psychological block on the subject of fixing these phrases.
To show how a lot I battle with them, I did slightly quantity crunching. I’ve stored a report 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.
Nonetheless, trying solely at OO phrases it jumps to 4.19 – greater than a half guess greater! That is even worse than my report 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 report 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 resolve – 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.
In fact the worst doable 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 approach earlier than anybody was truly enjoying Wordle, so I solely accomplished it through the Wordle Archive. And I misplaced.
Actually, 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’ – nevertheless it nonetheless rankles. Possibly now you’ll be able to see why I hate OO phrases a lot.
What’s the issue right here anyway?
Why are OO phrases so troublesome? Properly, 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 exhibits, O is the second most 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 reasonably than cut up up.
Vowels can go subsequent to some other letter, typically, which makes it a lot tougher to slender down the characters both aspect 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 example, if in case you have a phrase with two Ls collectively – additionally quite common – you may know they’re nearly actually 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 aspect of these Ls. Similar for many different letters.
However with a repeated O, it may have consonants on not less than one aspect, 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 comparable 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 not less than I do know to look out for ER phrases. With OO phrases, they all the time catch me without warning, regardless that right now’s is the twenty ninth thus far.
So there you might have 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.
