I love Wordle. I play it day by day so I can write my today’s Wordle reply column, however even when I acquired a brand new job as an astronaut or undercover agent, I’d nonetheless play it, nonetheless analyze my outcomes, nonetheless obsess over my common rating.
Nonetheless, I HATE today’s sport. HATE it so much that I want 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 least – in observe it was way back misplaced to the glitchiness of the NYT’s Video games App, however I know I’ve performed it every single day since January 2022 and I 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 specific format that acts as my private Kryptonite. And I’m no Superman.
Severely, I appear to have a psychological blind spot when it involves fixing Wordles like this one. And nor am I the one one – as a result of today’s sport has an extremely excessive common rating of 4.9.
Clearly I cannot say any extra about it with out spoilers, so cease studying now if you have not performed. Go and get some Wordle hints if you want them, full the puzzle, then come again and discover out why I HATE it so much. Perhaps you’ll HATE it too.
SPOILERS FOR TODAY’S WORDLE, MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2025, FOLLOW BELOW.
My least favorite 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 if you play the sport usually you can 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 explicit sample – and as I stated above, it’s 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 be, Wordle solutions.
SPOILERS COMING NOW!
At this time’s Wordle reply is GOODY, and it’s virtually probably the most tough OO phrase we have had so far, with a median of 4.9 in response to WordleBot, the in-game AI evaluation device.
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’s a silly phrase that was added by the NYT for no motive apart from to troll individuals.
GOODY is simply horrible, is not it? It is not phrase – pun supposed. 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 reasonably than enjoying Wordle.
I in all probability would not thoughts about that if I’d accomplished it simply, however I scored a 5 – the disgrace! – and it jogged my memory as soon as once more that I have an entire psychological block when it involves fixing these phrases.
To show how much I battle with them, I did somewhat quantity crunching. I’ve saved a report of each Wordle I’ve accomplished (sure, I am a enjoyable man) and my common throughout 1,136 video games so 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 – trustworthy!
And I’m not alone, both. I’ve additionally saved a report of WordleBot’s common rating for each sport since it launched in April 2022, and the worldwide common presently 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 so much 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 so far, WOOER, again in September 2021 (sport #78). That was approach earlier than anybody was truly enjoying Wordle, so I solely accomplished it by way of the Wordle Archive. And I misplaced.
The truth is, that is my solely loss so 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. Perhaps now you can see why I hate OO phrases so much.
What’s the issue right here anyway?
Why are OO phrases so tough? Effectively, any repeated letter makes a Wordle more durable, however I do not suppose it’s that as such. Or not solely that. In spite of everything, as my evaluation of each Wordle reply reveals, O is the second most certainly letter to be repeated, behind solely A.
No, I suspect the issue is solely that it’s 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 much tougher to slim down the characters both facet of it. And as a result of 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 example, if you have a phrase with two Ls collectively – additionally quite common – you’ll know they’re virtually definitely 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 at all times going to be a vowel both facet of these Ls. Similar for many different letters.
However with a repeated O, it’s going to have consonants on at 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’s extremely tough to seek out the primary two consonants for COWER or BOXER or no matter. However at least I know to look out for ER phrases. With OO phrases, they at all times catch me without warning, despite the fact that today’s is the twenty ninth so far.
So there you have it: that is why I HATE OO phrases. Let me know within the feedback beneath whether or not you HATE them too. I bet you do.
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