Within no more than ten minutes, its over. The day is now practically ruined. What was supposed to take all day, my daily mental exercise (my escape!) will have to wait until tomorrow. Wordle can be like that, which I have come to accept.
For those who have never taken part, Wordle is a game that was originally created by the brilliant Josh Wardle, initially for his partner. Amidst humble beginnings, there were no ads, nor an app to download. A website, where you try to guess a five letter word by process of elimination in as few opportunities as possible.
It isn’t a Crossword puzzle, Sudoku or any of the other entertainment section of the newspaper puzzles, but it has quickly earned a spot in the puzzle world. This year’s flavor of the week, Wardle sold his brilliant Wordle to the New York Times, though he was likely bought out of the million dollar idea. In any case, the game is likely here to stay. Copycats are already out the woodworks, which only compliments the flattery.
Is is now a part of every day. Part of Wordle’s quirk is the ability to immediately share your completed puzzle, with anonymously blanked out letters. I don’t post my results on social media, but I do send the results to my wife without flinching. We often gripe about it when we both finish the day’s word. I’ve noticed that the difficulty spikes on certain days, though it’s probably just in my head. Fridays, for example, tend to be the trickiest, while Monday puzzles typically can be solved with less issue (a tactic that weekly crossword puzzles also exercise).
Some words take all day to solve. Unfortunately, we can’t work on our Wordle all day. Sometimes my job gets in the way, though I do have those short spurts of attention to give the game. I get to flex my mental chops for a minute or two, eliminating word combinations, in hopes of solving in 3 chances, a true sign of accomplishment for the day. Forget the day’s actual tasks, my real ambition is to go pro solving puzzles on my phone. One Wordle at a time.
One thing I have noticed is that there is hardly ever a positive opinion to be shared. Being a naturally pessimistic/skeptical/generally negative person, this surprises nobody who actually knows me. However, my love of solving these puzzles balances out my desire to complain about how the day’s word was either too uncommon, was picked because nobody would guess certain word combinations, or that there are too many probable guesses in the word, causing many wasted guesses.
Love it or hate it, I think about it every day. Death, taxes, and Wordle. Before I can anticipate the inevitable question in my house “Did you do Wordle yet?” I need to finish today’s puzzle. I’m on my fourth guess and I refuse to solve it in five.