The Wordle Postgame Report is a brief analysis of a game of Wordle, the five-letter-word guessing game now owned by the New York Times. If you do not play Wordle, we encourage you to please skip this item. The existence of the Wordle Postgame Report does not constitute an endorsement of playing Wordle, not playing Wordle, or of the New York Times.
October 21, GROVE, 4/6
IF THERE WAS a reason the word SPLAY had lodged in my mind, I couldn’t remember it. Wordle couldn’t think of a reason to have played it, either, returning five grays. TREND got a green R and yellow E. Nothing seemed likely to use the E before the R, so I moved it rightward, with GRIEF. No to the new position of the E, no to the I, but yes, the beginning was GR-. GR something something E, then. GRU- ? No. GROVE. Another answer firmly planted with all the others in the 4’s.
October 22, SPIEL, 4/6
THE LAST FEW starters all seemed to be recycling parts of each other, so it was time for a complete break: POLKA. Not only fun but productive, with a yellow P and L. Time to find their proper slots: CLUMP? Good word, but not the right one. Still yellow, and no new letters to add. JULEP wouldn’t work, because that spot was gone for the L already. Another location, instead: REPLY. Still they were yellow! And now a yellow E joined them. The vowels were nearly used up, and the consonants had each already been in 75 percent of the available wrong spaces. There had to be an I. SPIEL? The story finally reached its end.
October 23, MUMMY, 3/6
LOOKING FOR A solid, tactically sound opener, I went with STAMP. The M was green. Time for another methodical round: CRIME. Again, nothing but the green M to show for it. All those high-frequency consonants buried already, and A, I, and E along with them. What could the M plausibly lead into but a Y, at this point? And by now, it was starting to feel like a diversified, tactical approach was cursed. What if it was just MUMMY? It certainly didn’t have to be. It could be GUMMY or DUMMY, or who knows what else in another letter-guessing chute; it could be MOMMY. Maybe it could be something ending in -MO, if I bothered to think of it. But MUMMY was dumb and I was tired of playing smart. MUMMY. Straight green. All wrapped up.
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