Wordle Postgame Report CATCH-Up, February 17–19, 2023
GAMES OF SKILL AND CHANCE DEP'T.
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, Indignity encourages you to please skip this item. The existence of the Wordle Postgame Report does not constitute an endorsement of playing Wordle, of not playing Wordle, or of the New York Times.
February 17, 2023, CACHE, 3/6
THERE WAS NOTHING but gray to be had from BLOND; still, that was five letters out of the way. SCARE got a yellow C and A, and a green E at the end. Where could the C go, without an S or N to keep it company? And what would fill the two-letter gap between the E and the A when the A moved out of the middle spot? There almost had to be an H in there. MACHE would fit, but I will never believe it can be a Worldle answer. CACHE, though—green straight across. Another three-round win to add to the hoard of successful games.
February 18, 2023, AVAIL, 4/6
THE CHATBOT DISCOURSE was still going on, and I realized I'd never tried opening with THINK. That got a yellow I, and I moved it off center with LIVER. The L, I, and V were all yellow—and the E was gray, which seemed to limit the things the V could do. I tried writing out the possible permutations and it felt like playing with Roman numerals. VALID was a real word and it fit the possible patterns, but it came up with yellow on the first three letters and with only the I in green. At least the permutations were easier to look at now; the V and the L would have to be in the second and fifth spots, one way or the other. And what word could end in -IV? So blank-V-blank-I-L, with an A in one blank—or both. AVAIL. All green. It was what was handy and would work.
February 19, 2023, KIOSK, 3/6
THE QUEST BEGAN with GRAIL, but that only got a yellow I. I moved it to the center, with NOISE, and got a strong but baffling signal: yellow O, yellow I, green S. The most available spaces for the vowels were the ones that made the least sense, at the beginning or the end of the word. I-blank-blank-S-O? O-blank-blank-S-I? The only way they would fit in the middle of the word was as an awkward -IO- combination, in blank-I-O-S-blank. I kept trying to wedge PIOUS in there but the S was unmoving. I stared at the permutations, at the remaining letters, at the permutations again. This had to be the endgame because nothing was working at all. Then I realized: not only was there only one combination that would fit the form, there was only one letter for both spaces. KIOSK. Post another victory on the board.
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