The games my wife and I play are all on the New York Times platform. Spelling Bee is my wife’s game, and she has gotten two Queen Bees in the last month or so. This has nothing to do with Beyonce, BTW. It’s that she found every word in the puzzle.
But she has been so single-minded about the game that she has forgotten to finish her Wordle, which takes far less time. If she asks, I will help her with the Spelling Bee. But I’m not great at finding the pangram, using all seven words. One recent one we both missed was FACTOTUM, a word I used to know but have since faded from my brain.
Connections
My wife and I play together, and we’re pretty good at sussing out the purple, the most difficult. For instance, on New Year’s Eve, the purple was:
- Starting with bodies of water: BAY LEAF, CHANNEL SURF, SEA BASS, SOUND BARRIER
It often is words that rhyme in a category. Perrier was really terrier. On December 29, it was the Car brand homophones: INFINITY, MINNIE, OPAL, OUTIE. But figuring the rest of the order was dodgy.
- Happy New Year!: BALL DROP, CHAMPAGNE FLUTE, FIREWORKS, NOISEMAKER
- Places where things disappear: BERMUDA TRIANGLE, BLACK HOLE, COUCH CUSHIONS, DRYER
- Associated with Philadelphia: BROTHERLY LOVE, CHEESESTEAK, LIBERTY BELL, ROCKY
I figured that the disappearing stuff was Blue, the next hardest, and Philadelphia was easier. Nope. Philly was BLUE. At least the NYE clue was yellow, the easiest.
Wordle
First, best wishes to Nola, who had a 938-game streak but has not been able to play regularly due to medical issues. She’s been a big supporter of my streak.
My daughter was watching a YouTube review of a book titled A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James. The video, and at least a couple of the GoodReads print reviews, indicate that, despite having a 300-game win streak, the main character has NO idea how to play the game.
The great thing about Wordle is that I send my results to my Wordle buddy Matthew. I always start with AROSE. If I get a void, or just one yellow letter, I play TULIP….
Wordle 1,652 4/6
AROSE 200
TULIP 12
NATTY 6
BATCH
Even though TULIP was used in the last 50 turns
Wordle 1,629 2/6
AROSE 238
TULIP
If I have a green letter or more than one yellow letter, I use the letters in TULIP. If I have an S in the wrong place, I’ll almost always start with an S. There are a lot more S words than others, I believe. Also, I try to account for seasonal influences.
Wordle 1,651 3/6
AROSE 58
SLEET 4
SPEED
Sometimes, I go with my gut. GRASS is green, and I’m Green.
Wordle 1,642 2/6
AROSE 7
GRASS
I was thinking Scrooge
Wordle 1,638 2/6
AROSE 30
MISER
This felt most Christmasy, whatever THAT means.
Wordle 1,650 2/6
AROSE 13
PRISM
Sometimes, I screw up!
Wordle 1,654 4/6
AROSE 45
TRILL 1
DRUID muff!
FRUIT
Occasionally, it isn’t easy.
Wordle 1,643 5/6
AROSE 43
TULIP 9
RUNNY 3
RUMMY 2
RUGBY
Other times, it’s a gimme.
Wordle 1,635 2/6
AROSE 1
ERASE
One time, I decided to look for a word with an R and two Ys. But then I remembered the season.
Wordle 1,644 3/6
AROSE 43
TULIP 1
MYRRH
In the last 100 games, I’ve had 0 1s, 16(!) 2s, 38 3s, 37 4s, 9 5s, and 0 6s. That’s an average of 3.39. Overall, my average is 3.784. I’ve said before that if I got four every day, I’d be fine.