“I have a huge advantage in Wordle because I have had the alphabet memorized for over 10 years.” — Daniel Kibblesmith
No doubt about it, Wordle is still as popular as it ever was. I’ve even seen fifth-graders trying to figure out that elusive five-letter answer during their free time! Earlier this year, NPR even took a look at the game in a piece called “Here’s what’s behind the Wordle C-R-A-Z-E.”
But before we get to the H-E-A-R-T of today’s column — starter words and strategies — I want to note that Wordle was created by software engineer Josh Wardle of Wales for his American girlfriend, Palak Shah, to play during one of their pandemic lockdowns in Brooklyn. That’s relevant because several of his game’s 2,000 available words (enough to last almost 5 ½ years before they need to be reused) are British, which can occasionally lead to some unexpected G-R-I-E-F. For example, one day’s puzzle raised some eyebrows in the United Kingdom when its solution was F-A-V-O-R instead of the accepted British spelling F-A-V-O-U-R, which obviously wouldn’t have fit in the game’s five-letter format.
Anyway, theories about the game’s best starter words for revealing the day’s five-letter word in six guesses vary among the “experts” (whoever they are). Some prefer filling in the first five squares (which are actually called “bricks”) with as many vowels as possible, which makes A-D-I-E-U the perfect first word.
Others think that the “Wheel of Fortune” strategy of using common consonants is a better one, and suggest S-N-O-R-T as the star starter. One self-proclaimed “scientist” splits the difference and says that L-A-T-E-R is the best starting word.
As you’d expect, everybody has an opinion about the best starting word(s). The website word.tips lists 25 of them, including: sauce, movie, juice, noise and abuse, while selections from another site include: irate, stare, arise, learn and soare (an obsolete word for a young hawk).
Even if you happen to choose the perfect starting word for the day’s puzzle, solving it can still be a huge challenge. But, just in case you’re confident enough in your Wordle wizardry to want more of a challenge, I suggest clicking on the settings icon in the game’s upper right corner and turning on “Hard Mode,” which tersely informs you that “Any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses.”
If Hard Mode is still too easy for you (I’m jealous) there’s always Quordle, which challenges its players to solve four Wordle-type puzzles in nine guesses. The good news is that Quordle gives players the solutions to any of the puzzles they were unable to solve.
Every morning at Word Guy World Headquarters in suburban Lewiston, Mrs. Word Guy and I work together to solve the day’s Wordle puzzle on two separate devices. We each have come up with a favorite starter word and a favorite second word that we use every day. (None of them are listed above, by the way.) She types hers on her iPad while I type mine on my little laptop. We chose our words to have as few common letters as possible, so our daily fishing expedition begins with 18 different letters and two common letters among the four words. The eight letters we haven’t used yet are written across the top of our notepads to remind us of what’s left. Now we’re ready to get to work solving the puzzle on our third guesses. (I think the Wordle gods might not be happy with our approach. I say that because the correct Wordle word on my birthday was L-O-S-E-R. Really.)
Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at jlwitherell19@gmail.com.
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