Do you have a strategy? A go-to first word?

I’ve started experimenting with the following opening:

ADIEU
STORY

That finds all the vowels and usually at least one consonant. I only recently started it, but I’ve solved in either 3 or 4 since I started this method.

What about you?

Initially I used random words but switched strategies after reading some people’s analysis.

I did ADIEU and SHORT (or STORY) for a while.

Now I’m using

CAPER
DOILY
SHUNT

Usually get it in 3 or 4. It’s a really effective strategy for Dordle.

I'm working on a book about codebreakers during World War II, and one of the books I read for research gave a list of most common letters--e,t,o,n,a,i,r,s. I didn't look for primary sources to see if this was true. I just found it memorable, because of the words Eton and airs.

At first, I used starter words based on these letters, like toner and stone. Then I realized that there are some wrinkles with Wordle that may skew the statistics a bit. For example, the word is rarely (maybe never?) a plural that ends with s. In English, if you exclude the huge number of words that fit that category, then s is probably lower on the frequency list.

Also, and this may just be how my mind works, I find consonants more helpful in guessing the word. I'm pretty random when it comes to first words, because it's a game and I like to make it fun, but now I gravitate towards words with fewer vowels, like ghost. Then I might try to ferret out more vowels with the second guess.

This method usually works in 3 or 4. I got it in 2 once, but that seems to me to be more luck

A couple of times lately, I've found myself with four letters and a few turns left, but with multiple remaining letters that would make a word, so I had to guess. I still got it in 4 or 5, but flat-out guessing isn't fun. Going for consonants instead of vowels may reduce the odds of getting put in that corner.

I start with ARISE.

I kind of go back and forth between starting with a strategically chosen word and just grabbing a word out of the air -- when I do that, I do make sure to use one that doesn't repeat letters.

There are two (that I know of) versions of Japanese Wordle, and one uses four and the other five letters. Both give you more guesses than English wordle. The five-letter one is actually harder because there are not as many five-letter words as four-letters (believe it or not) and it's super hard to find words to use to eliminate letters.

BTW, Japanese doesn't actually have letters, it has a phonetic alphabet with symbols called kana that are either a stand-alone vowel or a consonant-vowel combined as one syllable, and then there are diacritics to change the sound, so for example there's a symbol for ha は and then the symbol for pa is ha with a circle by it ぱ . There are also some symbols that are subscripted for pronunciation purposes. So there are 46 base symbols but then you add all the diacritics and subscripts and that number balloons out...

So while the "keyboard" for English Wordle has 26 keys, the keyboard for Japanese Wordle has almost 100 keys.

How or where do you play?

Original Wordle is here:

https://www.powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle/

I have two words I alternate starting with, depending on how many letters I get, I either type in the second word or I make a guess at the actual word. I often get it in three or four. I usually start with “toile”. (Today I got it in three)

I have been solving Spanish wordle too. Knowing the first two words then guessing “Spanish sounding” words after that. It’s kind of funny.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I start with ARISE.

I use AROSE. Same idea.

The NYT puzzle guy Will Sheetz also uses arose, as done the friend I’m competing against. We’re about even.

I looked at some word use frequency tables and it looks like “I” and “O” are nearly equal.

I tried it a few times, but I had to quit.

First day I used "pizza". Then I stopped for a mid-day binge session.

I tried again that afternoon with "candy", but the sticky caramel eventually made my teeth hurt.

I gave it one more try that night with beers, and ended up needing to run out for a second six pack.

It's just unhealthy for me.

Yeah, the three vowel movement is the smart play. I sometimes use it, but often I just pick a two-vowel word with three useful consonants (S, M or N, and T). Something like SMITE or TEARS. Statistically, probably not the best ploy. But I haven't "lost" the game yet, so I don't worry much about behaving "sub optimally." And varying things a bit keeps it from getting too staid and boring.

My opener is OPERA. Depending on what I get from that, my next word is UNITS.