Play Phrazle

I love coming across new and creative variants of Wordle. Phrazle is one such addictive Wordle variant. It is a mixture between Wordle and Wheel of Fortune, and as the name suggests, your goal is to determine the mystery phrase of the day. The main difference between Wordle and Phrazle is that in Phrazle, a tile can turn one of four different colours. In Phrazle, if a tile turns….

Green= The letter is in the correct place in the correct word.

Yellow= The letter is in the correct word but in the wrong place in that word.

Purple= The letter is somewhere in the phrase but not in that word.

Grey= The letter is not in the phrase.

There is a new Phrazle to play every day. Like in Wordle, your statistics are recorded in Phrazle, so you can keep track of you winning streak, winning percentage and guess distribution. Can you solve today’s Phrazle? Play it here: https://phrazle.gg/

Play CoWordle!

I have recently become obsessed with playing CoWordle. At its essence, CoWordle has made the individualistic game of Wordle into a competitive, multiplayer pastime. There are two modes in CoWordle- aptly named mode 1 and mode 2.

Mode 1

Mode 1 involves two players trying to guess the same mystery word by taking turns. You make a guess and your opponent sees your guess and what squares are highlighted yellow and green and makes their guess accordingly. This process goes back and forth until someone guesses the mystery word. There are some tactics at play here. For example, you don’t want to guess words that will narrow down the possible word pool to a single word.

Mode 2

Mode 2 is my preferred CoWordle version. In this variant, two players are trying to guess the same mystery word on different boards. This means that you can only see your guesses and your opponent can only see their guesses (although you can see how many tiles they have that are yellow and green, but not what letters they are). The game is classical Wordle; however, the goal is to guess the word before your opponent. It doesn’t matter if you take 6 guesses, as long as you are faster than your opponent. Mode 2 is extreme, fast-paced Wordle. I find that it’s advantageous to play on a laptop with a keyboard in which you can type at a faster speed than perhaps on your phone. My general tactic is to play SOARE, CLINT, HUMPY (or BUMPY- depending on if the C comes up). After typing these words as quickly as possible, I try to guess the mystery word. I recommend Mode 2 if you like thinking quickly.

Both modes can be played with a complete stranger, who you will be automatically paired up with. Alternatively, you can send a friend the link and you can challenge them. Play CoWordle here- https://cowordle.org/

Play Cluedle- The Cryptic Version of Wordle

Cluedle is the cryptic version of Wordle. You are given three chances to solve a cryptic clue. The first hint is available immediately and the second hint is available after your first incorrect guess. There is a new Cluedle to solve daily.

Can you solve the Cluedle posted above? You are after a 6-letter word and the clue is “Begrudge being posted again”.

Scroll down for a clue and further down for the answer.

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Clue: The answer begins with the letter ‘R’.

Scroll down for the answer.

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Answer: RESENT.

Something that is ‘posted again’ is RESENT.

Also, the definition of ‘begrudge’ is to RESENT.

Try today’s Cluedle here: https://cluedle.theoutlier.co.za/

Play Hardle!

Hardle is another spin-off of the popular game, Wordle. Hardle is identical to Wordle except for two key differences. Firstly, you are permitted eight guesses. Secondly and most importantly, the meaning of the coloured tiles changes every day. As a result, you won’t know if pink or blue indicates the correct letter being in the word or the letter being in the correct position in the word. In the example pictured above, you can be sure C, A, R and T are contained in the answer. However, you don’t know if A and R are in the correct positions or if C and T are in the correct positions. This slight tweak to traditional Wordle makes the game exponentially more challenging. Try to solve today’s Hardle here: https://hardle.herokuapp.com/

Play the Angle Spin-off of Wordle

There are now hundreds of Wordle spin-offs, ranging from the addictive to the bizarre. The Angle Game arguably fulfills both of these categories. Each day, you are shown a new angle. Your challenge is to guess the number of degrees in this daily angle. You are given four guesses and the answer is always a whole number. You are also provided with two pieces of useful feedback to help you. Firstly, an ‘up’ or ‘down’ arrow is shown. This informs you if you need to guess higher or lower than your previous guess. Secondly, you are provided with a temperature, telling you how close your recent guess was. The closest temperature is ‘boiling’ followed by ‘hot’ and ‘getting hot’. Considering the nature of the game, only ‘boiling’ indicates that your guess is close. There is a new angle each day. Can you guess how many degrees are in today’s angle? Play the angle game here: www.angle.wtf

How To Become The World’s Best Wordle Player

This article explains how to become one of the world’s best Wordle players by simply memorising a set of words.

Essentially, the first word in Wordle that you play with this technique will be a constant. Depending on the day, you will then receive some combination of yellow and/or green letters. By memorising the best possible second word that associates with each permutation of these yellow/green letters you will have reached Wordle nirvana. This article explains the best second words to play in Wordle depending on different scenarios as well as techniques to remember these second words.

I have previously written about the statistics of the optimal Wordle opening words here. In summary, the best opening word in Wordle depends on your goal- do you want to solve the Wordle as quickly as possible but risk a long solve? Do you want to reduce the word pool to the fewest potential remaining words? For the purposes of this article, I will use the word ‘ROATE’ as the optimal opening word. It is the best word at reducing the number of words remaining in the Wordle pool. It reduces the Wordle pool to an average of 60.4 average words remaining. It also provides the lowest average guess solution- 3.49 guesses.

After playing ‘ROATE’, you will have some combination of grey, yellow and green blocks. I have used the Wordle solver database at the appropriately named ‘not fun at parties’ website to find the optimal second word in each possible scenario that will reduce the Wordle pool as much as possible, depending on which combination of grey, yellow and green blocks you receive. To become one of the best Wordle players in the world, I believe that it is necessary to memorise the optimal second word for each combination of grey, yellow and green blocks that you may receive. This isn’t as daunting as it sounds and this article will explain my technique to simplify this memorisation process.

The Method

Each possible yellow and green block combination can be numbered in a logical order. If you memorise the optimal second words for each combination, you will play the optimal Wordle game. Further down this article is a technique that explains how to memorise these words easily.

*Scenarios 1 to 5 are simply the yellow square moving along by 1 space.*

Scenario 1.

63 possible words left.

Play SLICK

2.

66 possible words left.

Play SLINK

3.

112 possible words left.

Play SLING

4.

63 possible words left.

Play SHUNT

5.

106 possible words left.

Play SPIEL

*Scenarios 6 to 15 involve two yellow squares moving from left to right.*

6.

57 possible words left.

Play GRIND

7.

35 possible words left.

Play MARCH

8.

29 possible words left.

Play CRUST.

9.

102 possible words left.

Play SPIED

10.

33 possible words left.

Play CLOWN

11.

26 possible words left.

Play PUNCH

12.

19 possible words left.

Play DEMON.

13.

50 possible words left.

Play UNTIL

14.

55 possible words left.

Play PENAL

15.

56 possible words left.

Play SLEET

*Scenarios 16 to 25 involve three yellow squares moving from left to right*

16.

28 possible words left.

Play ARMOR

17.

21 possible words left.

Play SNOUT

18.

10 possible words left.

Play FREED

19.

12 possible words left.

Play TARDY

20.

42 possible words left.

Play GLEAM

21.

29 possible words left.

Play ENTER

22.

17 possible words left.

Play BLOAT

23.

4 possible words left.

Play OCEAN

24.

8 possible words left.

Play DETOX

25.

25 possible words left.

Play SPLAT

*There is only a single 4 yellow square scenario. There are no 5 yellow square scenarios*

26.

3 possible words left.

Play ABORT

*Now onto the scenarios featuring only green letters.*

*One single green letter for scenarios 27 to 31*.

27.

4 possible words left.

Play RUGBY

28.

71 possible words left.

Play SCOLD

29.

71 possible words left.

Play SLICK

30.

21 possible words left.

Play SLIMY

31.

83 possible words left.

Play SLING

*Scenarios 32 to 41 have two cycling green letters.*

32.

6 possible words left.

Play DUCHY

33.

No possible scenarios.

Remember BLANK

34.

1 possible word left.

Play RUSTY

35.

7 possible words left.

Play LUSTY

36.

5 possible words left.

Play LOAMY

37.

12 possible words left.

Play BUSHY

38.

22 possible words left.

Play SLUMP

39.

1 possible word left.

Play SWATH

40.

42 possible words left.

Play SLUMP

41.

10 possible words left.

Play SUSHI

*It is not worth memorising scenarios with 3 or more green blocks as the situations are essentially forced and easy to solve.*

*Scenario 42 has no green or yellow letters*.

42.

195 possible words left.

Play SLIMY

*The remaining scenarios all involve one yellow and one green letter. Situations with more yellow/green letters than this are typically easy to solve quickly and there are few options to play*.

*Situations 43 to 62 involve the one green letter starting in position 1 and the yellow letter cycling around it. The green letter then slowly moves to positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 whilst the yellow letter quickly cycles around it*

43.

3 possible words left.

Play RIGOR

44.

15 possible words left.

Play CHILD

45.

1 possible word left.

Play RIGHT

46.

21 possible words left.

Play PLIER

47.

18 possible words left.
Play DUCHY

48.

16 possible words left.

Play LUCID

49.

26 possible words left.

Play CUMIN

50.

21 possible words left.

Play VINYL

51.

51 possible words left.

Play SWING

52.

2 possible words left.

Play PIANO

53.

23 possible words left.

Play SLINK

54.

11 possible words left.

Play CHILD

55.

6 possible words left.

Play MIDGE

56.

8 possible words left.

Play CHUNK

57.

18 possible words left.

Play SPINY

58.

12 possible words left.

Play PITHY

59.

39 possible words left.

Play PRISM

60.

30 possible words left.

Play SLICK

61.

45 possible words left.

Play GUILD

62.

17 possible words left.

Play CHILD.

A Summary

To summarise what you need to memorise:

1-5 = yellow 1 space

6-15 = yellow 2 spaces

16-25 = yellow 3 spaces

26 = yellow 4 spaces

27-31 = green 1 space

32-41 = green 2 spaces

42 = all grey

43-62 = 1 green and 1 yellow with the green moving slowly from left to right and the yellow cycling around it quickly.

The summary of the list of words that you need to memorise for each number is:

1. SLICK

2. SLINK

3. SLING

4. SHUNT

5. SPIEL

6. GRIND

7. MARCH

8. CRUST

9. SPIED

10. CLOWN

11. PUNCH

12. DEMON

13. UNTIL

14. PENAL

15. SLEET

16. ARMOR

17. SNOUT

18. FREED

19. TARDY

20. GLEAM

21. ENTER

22. BLOAT

23. OCEAN

24. DETOX

25. SPLAT

26. ABORT

27. RUGBY

28. SCOLD

29. SLICK

30. SLIMY

31. SLING

32. DUCHY

33. BLANK (no possible scenarios)

34. RUSTY

35. LUSTY

36. LOAMY

37. BUSHY

38. SLUMP

39. SWATH

40. SLUMP

41. SUSHI

42. SLIMY

43. RIGOR

44. CHILD

45. RIGHT

46. PLIER

47. DUCHY

48. LUCID

49. CUMIN

50. VINYL

51. SWING

52. PIANO

53. SLINK

54. CHILD

55. MIDGE

56. CHUNK

57. SPINY

58. PITHY

59. PRISM

60. SLICK

61. GUILD

62. CHILD

Divided into groups this is:

Group A (just yellow letters)

1. SLICK

2. SLINK

3. SLING

4. SHUNT

5. SPIEL

6. GRIND

7. MARCH

8. CRUST

9. SPIED

10. CLOWN

11. PUNCH

12. DEMON

13. UNTIL

14. PENAL

15. SLEET

16. ARMOR

17. SNOUT

18. FREED

19. TARDY

20. GLEAM

21. ENTER

22. BLOAT

23. OCEAN

24. DETOX

25. SPLAT

26. ABORT

Group B (just green letters)

1. RUGBY

2. SCOLD

3. SLICK

4. SLIMY

5. SLING

6. DUCHY

7. BLANK (no possible scenarios)

8. RUSTY

9. LUSTY

10. LOAMY

11. BUSHY

12. SLUMP

13. SWATH

14. SLUMP

15. SUSHI

Group C (1 green letter and 1 yellow letter)

1. RIGOR

2. CHILD

3. RIGHT

4. PLIER

5. DUCHY

6. LUCID

7. CUMIN

8. VINYL

9. SWING

10. PIANO

11. SLINK

12. CHILD

13. MIDGE

14. CHUNK

15. SPINY

16. PITHY

17. PRISM

18. SLICK

19. GUILD

20. CHILD

Plus all grey letters= SLIMY

How To Memorise This List

There are two key manners in which to view this list.

1. One method involves breaking the list into three groups. Group A contains the numbers 1-26 which denote just yellow letters. Group B contains the numbers 1-15 which denotes just green letters. Group C contains the numbers 1-20 which denotes 1 green and 1 yellow letter. There is also the additional all grey letters scenario.

2. The second method involves keeping the list as it is and memorising the list in its entirety.

The best method to memorise the list is to create a memory palace. In scenario 1, you will think of three separate memory palaces. In scenario 2, you will just use a single memory palace. A memory palace is a building, location or journey that is familiar to you. This may be your house, a friend’s house, your journey to a location such as where you work or a trip to a holiday destination. If you wish to use a house, break the house down into rooms or segments of rooms. Location 1 may be at your doorstep, location 2 may be inside your hall, location 3 may be in front of the door to your bedroom, location 4 may be on your bed. The important thing to be aware of is that each location should follow a path that you can easily recall the order of.

If this was the start of your memory palace, you may have
1. Doorstep

2. Hall

3. Bedroom door

4. Your bed.

The first four items on the list are:

1. SLICK

2. SLINK

3. SLING

4. SHUNT

To remember these items, you may picture a person with SLICK hair knocking on your door. You may then imagine a SLINKy sliding down the hall. A SLING shot is leaning on your bedroom door and you may imagine yourself pushing a train on your bed (SHUNT). It is important to make your story as vivid and graphic as possible, with the words interacting with where they are located

I recommend memorising option number 1 in that you use three separate memory palaces to memorise the items on the list. This makes it easy to recall and breaks the items into the three distinct categories of just yellow letters, just green letters and one green and one yellow letter.

Guessing Third Words

Once you have memorised the words in the lists, practice as much as you can at playing the first two rounds of Wordle. You can play an unlimited amount of Wordle here: https://hellowordl.net/.

You are now employing the optimal strategy of playing the best (or close to it) first word followed by the best second word depending on which letters turn yellow and green. In the vast majority of scenarios there will only be a handful of possible words remaining that can be the mystery word. For your third turn you must now go through each possible permutation of letters that fit and write these down on a piece of paper. Depending on what words are left, the optimal Wordle strategy now divides into two distinct paths:

1. It is worth trying to guess the mystery word on your third guess. In this scenario, there may be e.g. four potential words left that can be the mystery word. In some cases it doesn’t matter which word you guess (I generally recommend picking the most common word as the creator of Wordle chose well-known words for the mystery word list). In some cases it does matter which word you pick as one of the four words may have enough letters in common with the other three words on the list to force a win on your fourth turn.

2. It is not worth trying to guess the mystery word on your third guess. In this scenario, there may be e.g. eight potential words left that can be the mystery word. You want to guess a word that isn’t necessarily one of these eight words that will be able to eliminate as many of these eight words as possible based on shared letters.

After each game of Wordle, check this website to see if you missed brainstorming any words that may have fit.

Conclusion

The above tactics are what I believe to be the best strategy in Wordle. Once you have created three memory palaces, placing the words into them and memorising the numbers of the words should be relatively simple. The initial word doesn’t need to be ROATE. By using this link you can change the initial word to any other word e.g. SOARE or RAISE. I have written about the statistics of opening Wordle words in more detail as well as additional Wordle tips here: https://puzzleaday.wordpress.com/2022/01/31/the-optimal-wordle-strategy/ There is also scope for further memorisations for more likely scenarios e.g. having all grey letters for the first two turns or memorising the 30 scenarios with 1 green letter and 2 yellow letters.

Does all of this memorisation and strategy take away the fun from what is essentially a basic game? Perhaps. If you want to be an expert Wordle player and wear what is akin to a skinsuit for a casual day with the family ice skating then use the techniques in this article and you will be victorious at Wordle versus your friends, family and co-workers.

Play Antiwordle

Most of the world is now familiar with the game Wordle. One of the many Wordle spin-offs is Antiwordle. Like the name suggests, Antiwordle is the antithesis of Wordle. In Wordle your aim is to guess the mystery word in as few guesses as possible. In Antiwordle, you want to avoid guessing the mystery word and take as many tries as possible to guess it.

There are some rules to Antiwordle. If you guess a letter and it turns gray, you can’t use that letter again. If you guess a letter and it turns yellow, this indicates that the letter is in the mystery word but in the wrong position. All of your subsequent guesses must include the yellow letter. If you guess a letter and it turns red, this indicates that the letter is in the correct position in the mystery word. All of your subsequent guesses must include the red letter in the same position.

Similarly to Wordle, Antiwordle has a new word every day. How many guesses does it take you to solve today’s Antiwordle? Play here: https://www.antiwordle.com/

Play Dordle

Wordle has quickly become the world’s most popular game. Dordle is a variant of Wordle in which you must solve two 5-letter Wordle puzzles simultaneously. This increases the difficulty factor of Wordle as you must continuously be mindful of both the left and right mystery words. If you focus your attention on one word, you will neglect the other word. Consequently, your guesses require a deeper level of thought and planning. Can you solve today’s Dordle? Play Dordle here: https://zaratustra.itch.io/dordle

If Dordle is too easy for you, then how about Quordle– you need to solve four 5-letter Wordle’s at once! Play Quordle here: https://www.quordle.com/?mode=daily

Geography Versions of Wordle

Worldle and the Globe Game and two geography versions of the popular Wordle game. In both games, your goal is to determine the mystery country (Worldle also includes territories).

In Worldle (https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/), the shape of a country appears (as in the above image) and your challenge is to guess the country. After each guess you make, you will be informed of the direction of the mystery country from your guessed country as well as the distance from your guessed country to the mystery country. An example is if you guessed Jamaica for the image above, you would be told ‘14,488km east’. You need to use this information to tailor your next guess. The distances displayed are from the centres of each country.

In the Globe Game (https://globle-game.com/) when you guess a country, that country will turn a shade of red depending on how close you are. If your guessed country is far away from the mystery country, your guessed country will turn a colour that resembles white. If your guessed country is close to the mystery country, your guessed country will turn a dark shade of red.

Each day there is a new Worldle and the Globe Game mystery country. Can you work out the mystery countries for today?

Absurdle

Wordle has been the world’s most popular game in 2022. There are some variants of Wordle that are just as addictive. Absurdle is one such variant that is more challenging than the original Wordle. All of the game play of Absurdle is identical to Wordle except for one key difference- the secret word changes after each of your guesses. Absurdle starts with 2,315 possible words up its sleeve and always responds to your guess by keeping the maximum number of secret words as wide as it possibly can.

The optimal opening word combinations that you play in Wordle (such as the combination in the above image) aren’t the best game play to do well in Absurdle. Your first guess in Absurdle is almost never going to result in any coloured squares. To do well in Absurdle, you need to refine your opening words from Wordle and you need to set traps for the AI.

Play Absurdle here: https://qntm.org/files/absurdle/absurdle.html

There are several 4-word solutions. Can you find them?

I have written an article about the optimal Wordle strategy. This article also includes information about how to best play Absurdle: https://puzzleaday.wordpress.com/2022/01/31/the-optimal-wordle-strategy/