Wordle Bulletin # 489 (October 21, 2022)
A real tricky one with two sets of orthographic neighbor words.
Target Word: GROVE
Typical Wordle Word Construct: 2 Vowels and one compound consonant (2 letters or 3 letters; seen with >50% frequency)
Today’s Wordle Word Construct: Typical; 2 vowels (E, O); 1 compound consonant (GR)
# Of Guesses: 4.4 WordleBot average per Marc McLaren*; 4 for WordleGuru
Seed Word: SOARE
Seed Word Revelations: 2 vowels (E & O), 1 in exact position; 1 consonant (R) but not its position
# Of Possible Solutions after the Seed Word: 18 possibilities including 2 sets of orthographic neighbor words [PRONE, KRONE, DRONE, CRONE], [DROVE, GROVE, PROVE, TROVE]
Second Word: PRINT
Since most Wordle words have two and we already know 2 vowels from the seed word, there is no need to search for additional vowels. This gives us an opportunity to deploy the EnotE (Eliminate-not-Enumerate) Strategy.
I could not come up with a word that would eliminate 17 of the 18 possibilities. So, I had to look for the second-best option. After a lot of noodling and thinking, I narrowed the choice to PRINT. Please notice that I used “I” as a vowel with two sets of compound consonants. Even though “I” is not expected in the target word, PRINT gave me the best option as an elimination word.
Revelations from the 2nd word:1 consonant (R), in the 2nd position; equally important if not more important finding is that the target word doesn’t have the letters P, I, N or T.
# Of Possible Solutions after the Second Word: 5, including one set of orthographic neighbor words [DROVE, GROVE], BROKE, ERODE, and FROZE.
I didn’t think FROZE is likely to be the answer, so I overlooked it in coming up with the second elimination word. I had a hunch that the answer is likely to be from the orthographic neighbor set, i.e., either DROVE or GROVE. I chose DROVE since it had the potential to eliminate 4 of the 5 leaving me with the answer.
I always prefer one of the possible answers as the elimination word since it gives me an opportunity to solve the puzzle at this very step.
Third Word: DROVE; it eliminated all with the exception of GROVE.
Revelations from the 3rd word: The letters R, O, V and E in positions 2-5.
# Of Possible Solutions after the third Word:1 – the target word GROVE
EnotE (Eliminate-not-Enumerate) Strategy deployment: This Wordle is a good example of the power of the EnotE strategy, even though we had to apply it twice.
Gutfeel: The target word will be one of the orthographic neighbor words.
Final thoughts: Wordle outcome has a lot to do with luck, not just skill. It’s clear that LadyLuck was partially on my side today. On the other hand, WordleGod was up to his old tricks with 2 sets of orthographic neighbor words.
© 2022 Ashok Gupta All rights reserved.
Wordle and WordleBot are trademarks owned by the New York Times.
*The WordleBot score I refer to comes from Tom’s Guide by Marc McLaren. Marc writes his post at around 7 AM U.K. time.
https: //www.tomsguide.com/news/what-is-todays-wordle-answer#section-previous-wordle-answers
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My other work you may find interesting
I write Rhyming Prose (Prose that rhymes). My work in this area can be found on my website, Rhyming Prose — … when a poem won’t do it!
I have also started writing free-verse poems. My work in this area can be found on my website, Budding Poets Corner – Poet Laureates of Tomorrow
