INTEL 🥳🎈🎊🤩 Frankenstein Day (Mary Shelley b. 1797)
Daily Feedback
#1898 SUN 08/30/2026
Spoilers OK here. For today’s puzzle, post your comments, replies, wins, rants, or any observation. Feel free to paste in your green + yellow box solution share, Scoredle, or WordleBot results.
150 responses to “#1898 SUN 08/30/2026”
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Current Odds.
REPEATs – 8.6%
ADDs – 37.1%
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Averages since CIGARREPEAT average is 10.5%
ADD average is 10%
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Since we are coming up on Day 6, wouldn’t the Current Repeat Odds be higher than the 10.5% average? Or are you basing odds on only 6?
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Nope.
This is all from Wordle Tools.
Solutions are known (to them) till 10/4 which is 35 days from now.
Only 3 REPEATS are scheduled in that time frame.
3/35 = 8.6% (1 out of 11 days)
10.5% is the average rate of what already happened. (This makes the 20-sided die theory all the more interesting, actually.)
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So, again, you’re thinking of it the wrong way.Just because so many days have passed doesn’t suddenly make it more likely on a particular day.
So, the clustering behavior is pretty apparent especially in the last 24 days.
GRIPE – Repeat
FEIGN – RepeatCLUNK – ADD
GEODE – ADD
ASPIC – ADD
TRACE – Repeat
RUNNY – ADD
CLICK – Repeat
CAPON – ADDTWEEN – ADD
INTEL – ADD
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re: “Solutions are known (to them) till 10/4 which is 35 days from now.”
Ok. That’s based on future information. I only use past.
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We’re trying to predict the future (not the past).
The averages tell you what the past is.
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GRIPE – Repeat
FEIGN – Repeat
-(1 day)-
CLUNK – ADD
-(4 days)-
GEODE – ADD
-(1 day)-
ASPIC – ADD
-(4 days)-
TRACE – Repeat
-(2 days)-
RUNNY – ADD
CLICK – Repeat
CAPON – ADD
-(1 day)-
TWEEN – ADD
-(1 day)-
INTEL – ADD-
Re: Coin flip.
Yes, after 10 heads in a row the odds are still 50/50.
But as you have pointed out, there is nothing coin-flip in any of the patterns we’ve seen with the repeats. There is human bias or rules. It is Pseudo Random with an apparent deadline.
Which is why as we get in the 11 to 17 range the odds go way up compared to the 1 to 7. That is the basis of my “odds” warning because past behavior is a strong indicator of future with human decisioning.
(Had to put this here because we ran out of thread down there!)
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Interjecting again where I haven’t been asked, and speaking as someone who I think plays Wordle even further than Jeb to the ‘the less specifics I know about the system the better’ side, I would suggest that Jeb is simply approaching the game (and the Five Forks main page) differently and as such is trying to calculate repeat odds in a different way that doesn’t incorporate *any* known future information.
It’s like two people talking strategy about playing Scrabble. But one plays Scrabble competitively and the other plays cooperative Scrabble.
JD, in the same way you wouldn’t want clues from Australia about the ‘future’ word of the day, Jeb doesn’t want to incorporate ‘future’ information to determine repeat odds, despite that information being available somewhere reputable.
So, JD, do you have any specific suggestions for Jeb to calculate repeat odds (for Five Forks) based solely on looking at past data without incorporating future information like it being said that the next 35 days will have 3 repeats? Because I imagine he’d be interested if you do.
If not, … well, … nothing.
You’ll each just carry on with your own repeat odds predictions with somewhat distinct calculations.
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My understanding is someone(s) cracked the game code to look at the future allowed guesses and allowed answers and ADDS, etc. I call that “peeking”. That is not playing the game as designed since it involves looking under the hood. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t fun!
My sibs think keeping a past list is “cheating”. I say it is like baseball stats, and it *is* playing the game as designed- past answers are known and (for now) matter.
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I get your point. You guys are more purists.
I regard all of this as public information.
If you choose not to look at it, I respect that choice. I am not here to tell you how you should play.
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In regards to predicting REPEATs in particular it’s a matter of understanding how odds work.So, let’s take the example of flipping a coin.
If you flip a coin, what are the odds that it comes up “heads”? The answer is easy 50%.
If you have already flipped the coin 10 times, and it’s come up “heads” 10 times, what are the odds that on the 11th time that it will be “heads” again? The answer to this question tells me whether you understand current odds.
Asking this another way… If the Seattle Seahawks played the New England Patriots in a Superbowl rematch for 10 weeks and the odds favor the Seahawks 58% of the time and the Seahawks win 9 times in a row. What are the odds that they will win the 10th time that they play?
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How are you calculating the current odds?
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See above.
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I think an extreme example is to ask Glenda in New Zealand (and tomorrow), “Is tomorrow a repeat?” She says “No”. So then you can calculate the odds are 0%.
I only use past information on the main lists and stats.
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I would never do that.
In fact, I have asked her not to even give me a hint on it.
I think she did (accidentally) one time.
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Yeah—it actually took me a while to understand where you’re coming from, Jeb. Only because the NYT had already posted the list and the list is partially posted daily through the bot for every wordle analysis—both past and future words. I take note of all that information on the fly. So I didn’t think of it as “looking under the hood”. That concept didn’t compute because all the lists I have (past & future) came directly from NYT not from cracking a game code (I have zero skills at that—but you should see my nunchuck skills…)
Having said all that … I 💯 understand now💡🔔🔔🔔 Thank you for your continued patience… 🙃 but stay tuned for future shenanigans.
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I double checked this. They have published approximate counts and yeah, you can do a little reverse engineering with WordleBot. Although I find the Bot reports guessing past answers when I have “knowledge of past answers” enabled, which is odd.
I’m not against playing with any of this information at all. I think the NYT would love everyone in the After Party because they are so engaged with the brand! However, I’ve had to draw a line on information provided in the main lists combined because many visitors depending on “no spoiler” information. I drew the line at past, accessible information in the game and game archives.
Thanks for your response. It lines up with Google A.I.:
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The Benevolent Slater. Cracks me up every time.
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I’ll give Jeb the point about “looking under the hood”, because the OG (2315 list) was created by looking at the Wordle code itself.
The Weighted Bottles list comes from the Wordle Bot code.
I really think NYT should have encrypted both sets of code. It’s all to easy to “inspect element”.
Where I differ in opinion is that they are NOT telling us what the answer will be on a specific day. THAT would be cheating for sure.
If I were looking at the daily answer every day, I would just probably stop playing Wordle. What’s the fun in that?
If they did encrypt the code, I would probably play this game the exact same way. I would have just come up with my own list of common 5 letters words without plural S, and ED endings, and offensive words. Or, the Wordle experts out there would have already done it, and I would just use their list. (That would be more likely actually).
In the end, I don’t think those word lists would have been much different. Although, my list would probably not have included words like PSHAW and GUNKY. LOL.
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@JD, the OG (2,315) list was decidedly NOT created by looking under the hood. NYT Wordle had a link to the list posted in 2022 on the NYT wordle page online. It said something like “here’s the list, feel free to look at it if that’s of interest to you and those who want the element of surprise don’t look at it.” I still have the original link. Now when you go to the link, it says something like “we no longer publish the list and it has changed and there are numerous other places online you can still find the list”.
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I didn’t know that they posted it publicly!
Thanks for sharing that.
These guys are making me feel bad for using this information, and now I am relieved.
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Yes, it was actually publicly listed right on the NYT online page! Which is why I was always so 🌽fused about this whole “looking under the hood” stuff on the OG list.
I refuse to feel bad about it and you shouldn’t either. We’ve said it many times—we aren’t really here for the game, we’re here for the analysis and the party afterwards! 🎉
I’m super happy/grateful that Jeb has created this fun space and I also don’t think anyone is judgy-maybe a little teasing sometimes. That’s okay by me.
Party on!!! 🥳
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I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel bad at all. I was explaining a line I needed to draw for the main list when people started to ask me to publish other information. I thought about it a lot and decided the list needed to be just what it has always said– it is “Past Answers.”
I’d like to take a look at that old 2022 URL if you still have it. I’m more curious about their attitude than the information. Maybe it is on the WayBackMachine!
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Wordle 1,898 3/6
⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 Stare
⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨 Colin
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 IntelCongrats to all those who got it in 2!! I will put Steal in my list of possible starter words. Stare-Colin has been a good starter pair for me lately.
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STARE is an AERST word. The yellow score is 783.
STARE #1290 is actually the second best word in this group for green score.
The best is TASER.
TASER green score is 254, STARE green score is 226.
TASER would be an ADD with a Weight Bottle score of 51.38% (much higher than PSHAW).
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STEAL is an unplayed OG word. This is why people are playing it.STEAL is a AELST word. AELST words yellow score is 735.
The best green score in that group is SLATE with a green score of 257.
SLATE (257), STALE (237), TALES (212), SETAL(209), STEAL (192).
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While STEAL probably gives you the best chance at an ACE (Albatross), STARE is much better, and TASER is even better than STARE.TASER gives you a lower chance for an ACE, but there is still a chance for it.
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Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬛🟦🟦⬛🟧
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧STEAL left 6 possible, but 4 were used. Both remaining options would be adds, but I was be surprised to see BETEL as a possibility (seems very obscure). INTEL was the right choice.
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🦅✨ a superstar that’s what you are! 🌟
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Nice!
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🏴☠️🦜 I wonder if kralc 🤯 has gone on a voyage on the high C’s 🌊 and is off-grid 🪫. I don’t know that we have heard anything from him in the last 3-4 days? 🧐
Where is The Barrrrrd, our Creek Philosopher?
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His last post. Hope it wasn’t something I said.
https://www.fiveforks.com/wordle/daily/1895-thu-08-27-2026/comment-page-1/#comment-10576
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Nawww… what u sed wuz rite inn line w/kralc humour! 😎🩲 🏴☠️ (those little green things are underwear FYI 😜)
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⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩 DRAWL
⬛🟨⬛🟩🟩 STEEL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELCool added word, was surprised to find out this wasn’t in the original solve list. Have started with it a couple times before I knew that
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Congratulations
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Wordle 1,898 3/6*
⬛🟨🟨🟨🟨 STILE
🟨🟨🟩🟩⬛ LITER
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELWordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 68/99
NYR AVG. 3.5I thought LITER was more of a “real” word than INTEL, and that was unfortunate!
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Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 SLANT
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELWordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 83/99I usually do the Wordle by writing out every possible combination of letters and blanks left, then trying to figure out all possible words to determine my best guess. Thankfully, this time I decided to just try INTEL rather than trying to work through the 16 letter combinations to find others!
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That’s awesome! 🦅✨
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Yay!
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Wordle 1,898 3/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ROUST
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 ALINE
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTEL -
Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬛🟨🟨⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
STEAL
INTELI thought if ‘Motor Hotel’, could become Motel, ‘master of ceremonies ‘ could become Emcee, then intelligence is also ‘intel’
The world is creating words and jargon over time that are eventually used regularly and added to MW Dictionary
142 ‘got in 2’ badges now!
My 2nd 2 in August!-
🦅✨✨ nice Teelee!! That’s a lot of deuces!
I hear you about all the words and jargon the world is creating. Just hung out with two 19-year olds and they nonstop say “lowkey” instead of kinda.
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Do you think kinda and sorta will be regular words one day, too? Or they already are?
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I long press on the word and if it’s in the oxford dictionary, it gives me the definition. Sorta and kinda both are in that dictionary. Low-key is in there too even as slang “to some extent” as in “this is low-key freaking me out” … If it’s REALLY freaking you out, then is it high-key? 😜
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I found out they are informal words. Gonna wanna sorta kinda looky at all kinds of 5 letter words, haha
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Looky is kinda sorta cute and words people often use unlike betel.
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I’m gonna start using high key as much as possible from now on
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Charles I’m going to high key hold you to that promise!
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Good job!
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My 123rd 2-solve overall, 10th 2-solve in August, and 26th Beat the Bot.
Wordle 1,898 2/6*
⬛🟨🟨⬛🟨SLEPT (27)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩INTELWordleBot
Skill 77/99
Luck 88/99-
Wow! Nearly a twelfth of your 2s have been this month. That’s amazing!
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Thanks! All of my August 2-solves had SLEPT as the starting word. I’m holding out for a third 1-solve.
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🦅✨ that is amazing!
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Really great!
Can’t wait to hear what everyone’s monthly totals are tomorrow!
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Not a very intelligent performance today
Wordle 1,898 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 SAUCE
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 FELON 7
🟨🟨🟨🟩⬜ LINED 1
🟩🟩⬜🟨🟨 INKLE. I
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELI only had 1 word left, intel wasn’t a word , it was a company…I had an inklingl it was inkle, which Bot says is not in its list. I didn’t notice the e couldn’t be the last letter…that’s my story…
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Wordle 1,898 3/6*
🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛ TREAD
🟩🟩⬛🟩🟨 INSET
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTEL[The Baited Trap]
Well that worked out nicely.
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Great choice in highlighting Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein today, Jeb! It’s a genius novel.
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Wordle 1,898 4/6
⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ adieu
🟨🟨⬜🟩⬜ nicer
🟩🟩🟨🟩🟨 inlet
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 intel -
Wordle 3/6
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 CLEAT (23)
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 UTILE (3)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELWordleBot
Skill 86/99
Luck 70/99 -
Saner gave me the same pattern today as two days ago, so I played the same second word with better results this time:
Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ Saner
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Intel-
🦅✨🆒🫘
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Congratulations!
What word will be next with that pattern?
I usually work on it as soon as I get the 2, because I need a new “2nd guess” for next time. I have a special sheet in my spreadsheet for “2nd guesses” on each combination.
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The Wordle Solver on the Word Finder site indicates 6 unused common words after ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ Saner.
Three of those are past tense: Ended, Kneed, & Noted. I’ve heard that NYT isn’t using past tense -ED words as Wordle solutions.
The remaining three are Hymen, Lumen, and Unwed. Would NYT consider any of those to be obscure, insensitive, or offensive?
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Great question! There are taboo words beyond the 6 initial rejects of SLAVE, LYNCH, FIBRE, FETUS, etc.
The easiest way to figure this out is to just look at the words Weighted Bottle score.
The Weighted Bottle score comes from Wordle Bot. Wordle Bot is a NYT created tool. No ADD or OG word has been played with a score less than 40% (PSHAW).
Judging this list of words, I don’t think words with Weighted Bottle scores less than 37% are serious contenders.
Below 37% are words that score 36%, 31%, 27%, 16% and then a HUGE jump to 3%.
I removed the words less than 4% from my unplayed OG list.
Words that don’t have a Weighted Bottle score at all are typically unplayed words that are not on the OG list and are NOT being considered.
For example, BITCH and PENIS do not have WB scores, and it’s easy to understand why. (But, I think they go too far! IMHO.) Hey, it’s their party, and they can cry if they want to. LOL. They can include or not include any word they want. They don’t need our approval.
The past tense verb ED words are largely off the list.
ABLED has a WB score of 0.00%. That’s not even a past tense ED word! NAKED is 58% TG!
So, if no WB score, do not play it.
https://wordletools.azurewebsites.net/weightedbottles?SortOrder=ByWeight&submit=Submit
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Thanks, JD. I forgot about the Weighted Bottles tool. Based on the percentages there, the next time I see ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ for Saner, I’ll probably try Unwed 58% as my second word.
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If it were me, I would probably play LUMEN, because it plays the “L” and would lead directly to HYMEN matching the “men” at the end. It also leads to UNWED, because of the U and N in the wrong position, but E still in the right position.
I think UNWED would also work assuming that these are the only 3 words left, but it plays the “W” which is a low frequency letter.
I think LUMEN hedges any uncertainty a bit better; so, it seems safer to me.
However, if your ESP / gut says UNWED, then go with that.
I mean, I played CLOUT over UNCUT; so, she is apt to play the less common word on occasion.
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Thank you!
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Scoredle 3/6*
14,855
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ AUDIO (1,387)
🟨🟨🟩⬜🟨 LITRE (1)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTEL💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Wondered if Intel was jargon or slang, so I checked my Mirriam-Webster Dictionary and 😎
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Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 RAISE
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELRAISE eliminates ALL unplayed OG words.
Lucky for me, because there are 36 words that fit this pattern from the OG list.
The only REPEATs lower than #236 are
HELIX #33 and LINEN #51 / #1718
If she repeats the REPEAT, I think we all go mad! People will quit Wordle at that point!
Potential ADDs with WB% over 36%
EMOJI – #1826
INTEL – 58%
LEGIT – 58%
LIVEN – 58%
PETIT – 58%Again, if EMOJI is the answer. Madness follows.
I chart the 4 ADDs plus HELIX.
LIVEN and INTEL are the best filters.
Whoever said “it pays to think alphabetically”, thank you!
INTEL was it
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The operating table used for Frankenstein’s monster.I RAISE my pencil
Write down possibilities
Successful INTEL-
This is awesome JD … you used 🧠 and 🔮!
A continuation of my story from 2 days ago … I got the 2 kiddos to BTS concert on time and afterwards made them walk 1/2 hour to Jewel-Osco grocery store/Roosevelt station where I was waiting for them at midnight. I had never driven downtown Chicago before but it wasn’t any more difficult than St.Paul/Minneapolis—it was just on a much larger scale.
I❤️Chicago. My kid is majoring in museum studies and archeology and her dream is to work at the Field Museum (our favorite midwest museum). So cool you live there JD! 🌭🍕🌃💨🐻
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I love the Field Museum. The other museums are pretty cool too.
Aquarium, Planetarium, Science and Industry (a must), Art Institute.
In a parallel life, I could have studied anthropology / archeology. I’m way into all those shows on the History channel. I took a few anthro classes in undergrad. I’ve been to Egypt (which was pretty awesome), Italy, Greece, Scotland etc. I love ancient civilizations. My wife is getting “ruin” fatigue. LOL.
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JD that is so cool… thanks for sharing! … we are kindred spirits … my kiddo & I went to some of the other museums u mention & more but Science & Industry is still on our bucket list (as well as Greece).
Other kids were going to Disneyland…. mine was going to museums, historical sites, off-the-grid rustic camping, cliff-jumping into Lake Superior, canoeing trips…. Yes! We are also all about ancient civilizations and history documentaries.
Have you gone to some of the prehistoric ruins out west in the 4 corners region? Pre-kid era, I did a vision quest in NM and afterwards meandered over to the Chaco ruins, fell in awe of it all (also one of the darkest places in the US) and immediately bucket-listed all of the 4-corner ruins. I took said kid to Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings (Colorado) recently-it was surreal. 🤯 (nod to kralc wherever he is)
Come to think of it, our car also broke down on that trip outside Denver and two big guys helped us there, too. 🤔 I’ve come to the conclusion that when these things happen it provides an opportunity to show us that contrary to popular belief, people are good. Mostly. I’ve also come to the conclusion that I might be done with hybrids.
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Great haiku today
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Thanks. I am relatively new to them, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. I think they are as challenging as doing the puzzle.
It’s all part of my subtle campaign for HAIKU to be an ADD.
Tracy, are you reading this?
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“RAISE eliminates ALL unplayed OG words.”
Wow! Great INTEL, JD.
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Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨slate
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩intelAlmost went with relit for the R. But it’s weighted at 49%. So…
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Brilliant use of WB data!
Great result!
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I should have used WB—I just never think of it. After slate there were only 2 og nu wl, betel 56.5% and intel 58%.
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In that situation, I probably would have played BETEL also.
I’ll explain the relative odds of the unplayed OG words, vs the unplayed ADDs (WB score over 30%) and the unrepeated REPEATs before #237 in a post tomorrow (probably).
The relative size of the pool of words in each group skews the odds.
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🤔 i tried usin’ warner brother’s data but all i got was “deebeda, deebeda, that’s all, folks” and “i tawt i taw a puddy tat!” 🤷♂️🤓
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Good One! LOL.
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⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨SLATE… 2 nu og wl
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩BETEL… 1 nu og wl
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩INTEL👁️🔮ESP was telling me INTEL but I listened to my 🧠brain instead-letter frequency placement was better for BETEL.
Proving yet again that 👁️🔮>🧠💭🍃“The leaf of an evergreen tree that is chewed in South America as a mild stimulant” … I mean, why is this word even on the list, anyway? 🗣️ I protest!!!
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I used BETEL 2 days ago when I get E in the wrong position on RAISE. It’s the perfect filter for that pattern. Lots of L’s and EE’s.
You can blame Josh Wardle for that word.
You could also blame NYT for not screening the list too.
BETEL has a WB score of 56.55%
So, they like it more than PSHAW.
Regarding ESP, I wish had that ability like you and Kim do.
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I blame NYT for not screening it, but it is interesting that Josh W. picked it in the first place, right? Why would he do that?
I know there are some big-time Sunday NYT crossword puzzle players on this feed who know of these obscure words, but the average wordle player does not.
Wordle is an exceptionally EASY game and that is its wide appeal. Out of the almost 2million daily players, almost 99% win most days. If TB dumped in a bunch of obscure words like BETEL, I really do think people would start to drop off.
A negligible amount of people even chose BETEL at any guess today. Maybe TB will never use it?
Pshaw is a word people use or have heard before—I would think way more than betel regardless of the WB score.
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The answer comes from who Josh Wardle created the game for. His partner.
Here is the background on his partner (from Gemini):
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Josh Wardle’s partner is Palak Shah, who is of Indian background. Her involvement is directly relevant to the list curation:Curating the List: When Wardle originally created the game, Shah played a major hands-on role in narrowing down the roughly 12,000 allowable five-letter words to the core ~2,300 to 2,500 solution candidates.
She went through the massive word list item-by-item to filter out obscure jargon and select words she recognized or deemed common enough for daily puzzles.
Cultural Vocabulary: Words like BETEL (referring to the betel leaf/nut, which is deeply rooted in South Asian culture and everyday vocabulary) likely entered or remained on the main solution list during that personal review process, as opposed to being filtered out as obscure filler.
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Further Reading (Origin of the Allowable Word List)
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The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was almost certainly represented in the mix, alongside common Scrabble and open-source lexicon files like SOWPODS (Collins Scrabble Words) and TWL06 (Tournament Word List).When developers compile raw word lists for games or open-source software, they typically scrape aggregate digital dictionaries that combine multiple major sources:
OED & Collins (British English):
Heavy inclusion of UK/Commonwealth spellings and terms (FIBRE, LORRY).
Merriam-Webster & American Heritage (American English): Standard US spellings (LITER, COLOR).Because these digital master lists are essentially “unions” of standard British and American dictionaries, they retain regional oddities from both sides of the Atlantic.
When Wardle pulled the initial ~13,000 allowable guess list, it contained virtually every valid 5-letter combination recognized by any major English lexicon—including the OED. That is why the initial unfiltered pool had a mix of British vocabulary, American spellings, and obscure terms before Palak Shah trimmed it down to the core solution list.
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aha, that makes sense how that evolved. When I was younger and my grandma was alive, I used to play scrabble with her and she’d get so impatient with me and she’d always win. I’m like, really, my 90 year old grandma is beating me? So, I bought several scrabble dictionaries and started memorizing 2 & 3 letter high point words and other useful words for when you get a q with no u, etc. Those were the days.
But that’s exactly why I think we deserve to have the wordle dictionary available to us! With scrabble, we know the set of acceptable words. It always seemed stupid and pointless to me to play wordle without knowing the rules. I think guessing games are boring.
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Christine, interesting that you brought up
Scrabble. I just mentioned Scrabble in an above post. Scrabble seems like a good analog to Wordle, in that people can find enjoyment playing it in very different ways.
Your description of memorizing the Scrabble dictionary list of short words sounds like competition level play to me, which is not for me. Sounds too much like chess, where the game is the study and not the play.
I like my Scrabble a bit more on the casual side: trying to make the most out of the chance of drawing tiles, mixed with a brain stretch of rooting around in my own brain for useful and playable words that match the tiles or could match if my later tile draws are lucky enough.
That’s pretty much all there is to my Wordle play. The only guessing game aspect I don’t like is the memory aspect of what words have been played, which is why Five Forks has been so great.
— — —I highly recommend cooperative Scrabble for very different interactions with the game board and the other player(s).
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Yes, to everything you say Mike S and it’s probably a good idea to avoid rooting around in my own brain… 🧠
I actually think a lot about chess strategies and concepts in comparing to wordle and TB, though I know almost nothing about chess and have always disliked it.
I like to think of TB as now playing an “end game” and I love to look at how our After Party community members thinks she’s playing it. It’s highly entertaining.
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*think
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I have a whole spreadsheet dedicated to Scrabble / Words With Friends (Scrabble’s evil cousin). I haven’t done anything with it in a few years.
That’s another game where’s there is even more game theory.
When I used to play Scrabble as a very young person (10 years old) with my older brother and sister who had enormous vocabularies, it was frustrating.
I fought back. I took our old OED dictionary and started to memorize the 2 letter words. In that dictionary “zo” is a word. That got me into trouble years later, because it’s not a word in Scrabble / WWF now. Although, the less legitimate “za” is a word. In that dictionary, it means the same thing as “zho” and “dzho”. It was a real word. I digress. It was easy for me to understand that most of the notes in the musical scale were 2 letter words (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti). Then, I was able to play some parallel words.
I also learned the power of the “s” to create 2 words at once.
This told me that these games are more about math and position (once you know the right words).
Years later, I got into WWF. I went through the same process. I immediately started learning 2 and 3 letter words. It’s literally the first thing the experts tell you to do if you want to be any good at it!
The differences between Scrabble and WWF are very interesting too. The way you play each game is a bit different in regards to leveraging board position.
I would say that WWF is actually an improvement over Scrabble, but the Scrabble purists / tournament players would disagree. This is mainly because Scrabble favors the way they play which is by memorizing 7 and 8 letter words from the SOWPODs dictionary. I think this is why I would never pursue a Scrabble tournaments, because the prep work sounds daunting and boring. The difference here is that when you play a “bingo” (playing all 7 tiles) the bonus in Scrabble is 50 points. In WWF, it’s only 35 points.
Mike mentioned chess. Legitimately, that is my favorite game, but I can hardly find anyone who wants to play me. I am a very good player, but I am not a master. I was chess champion in my junior high school 2 years in a row. Talk about a game with game theory! There are a million books on it! I didn’t push it much past high school. In a way, I like it because it involves NO LUCK. It’s pure skill. It’s like arm wrestling someone with your brain.
I love games, and I like to figure out how to win every game.
That’s why I love game theory even more.
For example, Monopoly. Did you know the best properties are the orange ones? New York, St James, Tennesee. This is because, statistically, people go to Jail a lot in Monopoly. These properties are about 6, 8 and 9 squares away. You’re most likely roll with 2 dice is a 7 (and a bell curve from there).
The other tip is that there is a limited amount of houses in the game. So, they tell you to not build hotels at all. Just put 4 houses on each property and use up all the houses; so, your opponents can’t get them.
It’s really interesting once you start digging into each game.
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JD- every time you wrote WWF, I couldn’t help but think you were referring to the World Wrestling Foundation!
💪 🤼♂️
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I think we have some striking similar personality traits, JD—we both said “hold my tots” when we were beat at scrabble. 😆
However, I mentioned elsewhere that I never got into chess—so this is where our personalities part sharply. I grew up playing cards, specifically euchre. And, tons of board games. My all-time favorite game was Clue and on the box I have written “Chris is always Miss Scarlet”. Solving mysteries is where it is at for me.
I’ve heard of WWF, but have never ever played. I did get really into NYT’s scrabble-ish game WordPlay for a few months until I found the After Party which is much more interesting and fun. Also, I rarely lost at WordPlay, ho-hum they don’t make it hard enough. Any of the people in the After Party would be in the same boat.
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So many things, I have to make a list:
– I thought ZA was PIZZA.
– The most enjoyable game of Monopoly I’ve played (and not many have been enjoyable) was played with a full player count and with the most ignored rule: all properties that are landed on are put up for sale; the player landing on a property has the option of paying the listed price; if they choose not to the property goes up for auction with all players able to bid. One of the players in my game was an auctioneer! So much fun.
– I like many abstract games. But the pure open knowledge games, usually being two player games, are often very one-sided in casual play. I really like a chess-like game called Hive. I regularly defeated my wife when we played. In fact, I’m not sure she ever won a game. She bought me a Hive t-shirt, which was nice, but the catch was that she never had to play it again.
– There are two issues I have with open knowledge abstract games. The first is the studying. Now it’s true with most games that the play itself is study, which is why my Father-in-law has occasionally said, “Okay, let’s play a game of ‘Mike wins’” when I”ve introduced them to a new game. Because I’d likely already played the game, and have played so more other games than them that I had a general edge on strategies. But a game like chess has been examined to death. If I play a game of chess with someone who has read ten books on the game, it’s not a game of my mind against another’s, it’s my mind against at least 11 others. I liken this to Magic the Gathering, at least a certain era of it. Whoever builds the best deck likely will win. But it’s also likely that whoever spent the most money to accumulate the best cards will best be positioned to build the best deck. So what’s the real competition.
– An subset issue with study is what can be lost with expertise. I have a cousin in Australia who was so good at bowling that he went pro. Then he plateaued. Then he dropped out of the professional level. Now he can’t enjoy the game as an amateur because it’s no longer play. This is why I don’t listen to comedians talk about comedy, because I like comedy too much.
– The second issue for me with pure abstracts is lack of story. I like some drama in my games. Chess, and Go, and Hive, and similar games tend to have one kind drama: a steady hum of light tension until a wall falls on one player’s head, usually because that player made a mistake. I don’t need the wild creativeness of a role playing game. But I do like the highs and lows that can come with games with more chance, or the fuller story arc that can come with more thematic games.
– My abstract game of choice is Backgammon. There are certainly strategies that are better than others. But thanks to the chance of the dice rolling, there is room for risky play that might lead to bigger advantage. There is also the doubling cube that can increase the stakes for a single game, or, if a player feels a game is already lost, can end a foregone conclusion and more quickly lead to setting up another play.
– I thought WWF was the World Wildlife Foundation.
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No—I didn’t know that about monopoly!
And, I didn’t dig into how to win in the same way or to the extent you did. I mostly studied people—I sat at the tables observing the adults playing cards and absorbed it. My dad was a euchre champion, so I was studying someone who was pretty good. Euchre is a pretty simple game but what is fun about it is that the winners usually are the ones who are the most confident risk-takers. Confidence wins as much as luck or skill. Plus, there was a lot of beer involved.
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Mike—That’s hilarious “let’s play a game of ‘Mike Wins’!” 😆 I think you and JD are in the elite gaming category unlike me, a coffee shop amateur, but I’m still having fun! 🥳
JD brought up a funny story once about his in-laws, too. In spite of JD’s extensive wordle knowledge, they don’t believe him when he said that re-peats just started this year.
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PS Mike ZA is pizza, yes! And, a great way to score triple 10s twice with the right placement on the board. Qi, too.
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You and my wife would get along well, because Clue was her favorite game. I think we currently own 3 copies of it from different eras.
We dressed up as Colonel Mustard and Mrs. Peacock for Halloween.
In a parallel way, I enjoy making the costumes more than I like going to the party. It’s like doing the game theory / research on Wordle vs. actually playing it.
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Yes. ZA is slang for pizza.
I have never heard anyone use it in normal speech.
How lazy do we have to be to say “ZA” instead of “PIZZA”? Even the lazy people I know say “PIZZA”. I digress.
I think Scrabble just wanted to have a 2-letter word using a Z, because otherwise, how do you get rid of it out of your tray? Same thing with QI (Although, that word may be more legit.) I wish the would have just adopted “ZO” instead.
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Wordle 1898 5/6 (Bot)
🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ tango (38)
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ stink #14 (11)
🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ nifty (9)
🟩🟩🟨⬜🟨 inert #309 (1)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 intelTwo repeat bets — goose 🥚🥚.
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That does look like a Frankenstein of a grid. Happy Birthday Mary Shelley!
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😵⚡️🚶🏻♂️ Why is there not a Frankenstein’s monster emoji? My kid is reading 10 gothic horror books for a college class this semester and Frankenstein is #1… yes Happy Birthday Mary Shelley! So cool you chose this theme today, a man named Jeb.
Today, I can’t not think of Abby Normal 🧠🫙 & “Puttin’ on the Riiitz” 🎩🦯
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OMG, also… Phil Hartman … “Fire bad” 🔥
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Fred Gwynne walks in and says, “What, no ‘Frankenstein vs. Baragon’!? … Peter Cushing isn’t going to believe this.” 😁
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And then Fred Gwynne says “what’s a yout?” … oh wait, that’s from our Fred Gwynne Cousin Vinny discussion several weeks ago not the Munsters. 😜
Are you a fan of Hammer Horror? I lowkey got hooked on it just last year but have only watched a few.
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I’ve enjoyed a lot of the Hammer movies I’ve seen. But there are definitely major titles I haven’t seen, like The Quatermass Xperiment.
Mostly I’ve watched them sporadically, so I’m no expert.I’ve seen a lot of the earlier Hammer versions of the classic Universal monsters and have some later ones still on my ro be watched shelves.
As far as the non-standard titles, I really liked The Gorgon (1964). And even though The Lost Continent (1968) was a bit slower, I was very much taken by it’s weird ideas and great sets.
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Mike S, I’ve copied your post into my “movies/shows to look into” note. Thanks! Somehow this discussion made me think of Godzilla vs Mothra. 🦋⚡️🦖
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Perhaps you heard the soothing and mysterious simultaneous singing of two miniature women calling out to their island denizen, 🎶Moth-r-a, Moth-r-a🎶. ..
Or maybe it was just the mention of Frankenstein vs. Baragon. That’s a kaiju movie.
Weirdly, the last two movies I watched each ended with a walking castle/kaiju trying to throw a bomb/itself into Mt. Fuji to try to destroy Japan/the world.
A trophy to anyone who can come up with those two very disparate movie titles.
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Great Knockers!
What a classic.
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He would have an enormous schwanzstucker.
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@jeb I keep meaning to ask: when you post the numbers in ( ) – it’s the remaining possible words, yes?
Do you learn that info after you compare your results with Wordlebot’s results?
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They are the “words left” from the WordleBot analysis. I try to indicate that with the (Bot). I used to use Scordle until I figured out how to use the WordleBot each day. Safari has a “Hide distracting items” feature that lets me remove the NYT cross-sell ad that appears on top of WordleBot.
You can also use Incognito or Private mode, play, and NYT lets you use the BOT since you are a “new” (no cookie) user.
And yes, I do this after playing because the BOT analyzes your finished puzzle.
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Thank you!
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Wordle 1,898 2/6*
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩 STEAL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELWordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 90/99This is why I like to have 1 known letter in its place. Fewer letters to rearrange.
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Samesies… I’d trade 2 yellow squares for 1 green square any day.
Although in this case…I played the same letters as you (SLATE with 3 yellows) and only had 2 words left same as you with STEAL (1 green & 2 yellows). 🤷♀️
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The beauty of anagrams!
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Congrats!
Matching 3 letters always helps especially if 2 of them are consonants.
I think matching consonants have a higher value than matching the vowels.
I matched 2 vowels with RAISE and lucky for me all 36 OG words were played already. Plus 5 ADDs matched. If this were puzzle #0, I would have had 41 words to choose from!
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Wow… I had intel in my chart already so I just assumed it was OG. 😜
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Wordle 1,898 2/6*
🟨⬜🟨🟩🟨 LUNET 1 wl
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELWordleBot
Skill 99/99
Luck 99/99
🙏
sUmmer of U-words from Professor Mike – aUg. 30; LUNET sponsored by PondNWoodsI can’t improve on WordleBot : “LUNET is a strong opening guess. And it was extraordinarily lucky today.”
Good ☀️/🌃 to all!-
Tremendous! A 99 for both skill and luck!
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Least was a genius word,
Thanks for noticing!
My luck scores are rather like a limbo contest: on the recent FLICK-CLICK game, I reached my all-time nadir of 18.:-)
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Amazing. You matched 4 letters out of the gate and still played the “U”.
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JD,
I originally planned to do one month of U words, but I ended up doing all three months. I got more solves in three than usual and even some twos. I’m still more of a verbal wordie than a mathematical one, but it was fun!-
Hey, whatever brings you joy, you should continue to do.
We all play this game a little differently. That’s what I like about this blog.
I am definitely the mathematical wordie (in regards to the game).
I love studying word origins too though.
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As Bill G says “There is no wrong way to Wordle.”
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🦅✨ awesome!
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Wordle 1,898 4/6
⬛🟨⬛🟨🟨SLATE
🟨🟨⬛🟨🟨LEGIT
🟨🟨🟨🟩⬛TILED
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩INTEL -
Wordle 1,898 5/6*
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 arose
🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛ enemy
⬛🟩⬛🟩⬛ unwed
🟩🟩🟨🟩🟨 inlet I zigged when I should have zagged
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 -
Wordle 1,898 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 QUASI 478
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 OLIVE 31
🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ LIEGE 10
⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ HELIX 3
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩LIEGE an unforced error.
Went for HELIX PU as I wasn’t sure if INTEL was an acceptable word-
Well you got a spectacular Green Flash!
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Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬛🟨🟨⬛🟩 STEAL
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELWow, Steal left 2 choices – Betel & Intel.
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Yahoo! (ADD, 56% WB score)
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🦅✨ you chose wisely
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Wordle 1,898 3/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨arose
⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜unity
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩intel -
Wordle 1,898 2/6
⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩 STEAL 6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 INTELFirst word worked out. INTEL spoke to me more than BETEL (the only other NU word of the 6 possible). Still didn’t beat the bot
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Impressive!
Meaning you tied the bot or it got it in 1? (I don’t think I can see the bot – it’s behind a paywall, right?)-
If you clear your browser cache or use an incognito tab, you can access the bot feedback.
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Nice One !
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We played the same game!
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I don’t know why you didn’t get a Beat the Bot badge. I earned one and we played the same words – as did “Hi there!”
Just shows some irregularity in the software.
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In standard mode, 🤖got it in 2 with “use prior knowledge” toggled OFF and in 3 with it ON. Kind of the opposite of what one might expect. So, it depends on what you have toggled in your settings.
If you don’t have a NYT subscription, you can still play and have the 🤖 analyze for FREE & even toggle on/off “use prior knowledge”. The only difference is that you will have an ad to skip and your scores will not be saved by NYT each day.
Having my games saved since 2022 by NYT is the only reason I still pay the $5/month to NYT. For that enormous monthly fee, comes everything NYT offers, too. (yay wirecutter & NYT cooking app). I would rather pay the 60$/yr than type all my games into a spreadsheet.
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In order to get the “Bot” comparison, I have to do the ‘incognito’ browser thing. I don’t have that subscription.
I have lost my record log multiple times.
That is why I created that list on the spreadsheet. (Admittedly, I already had a spreadsheet at that point, but it was just tips, observations and things I could find online).
Since, I had screen captures of all my games from the beginning (6/21/22 – puzzle #367) (which is more evidence that I am so crazy about games), it was easy to build and it didn’t take that long (1-2 hours tops). I can touch type.
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Yes—on safari, I have to go to a private screen
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Aw no, it was one of my ADD-list words (last used 27 games ago)
felt it was an S word ( no S since 12 words ago)
way off my mark today – not even tuned in – 2 unforced errors- solved in 4sad face – wont last long tho
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I gather you didn’t even like your grid art?
I felt like I meandered to get my 5 today.
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I was cross with myself… C-
changed my start word from SLEPT (which would’ve given me LET) to swept
then repeated the E in wrong position
then repeated the T in wrong position
😣
now, thank goodness, its yesterday’s news
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Where is your puzzle? I don’t see it.
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“not even tuned in”
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I didn’t even want to give it ‘air’ time JD 😑👎
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OK, sorry I asked. Better luck tomorrow (or maybe today)..
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All good JD & yes, better luck (2moro) for me 😊
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Wordle 1,898 4/6*
⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ Audio
⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 Prise
⬜🟨🟨🟩🟨 Filet
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Intel-
I had to look up “prise” vs. “pries” vs “pry”. The founders of Wordle were from the U.K. so that slips in at times.
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