Another tiny moment that sparked joy for me this year happened on July 14 when the solution to the New York Times daily Wordle puzzle was FIEND. I couldn’t share it with anyone at the time because spoiling or providing hints is a big no-no. However, I took a screenshot to commemorate the moment when I realized how deeply the word FIEND has become ingrained in my self-identity.
I play Wordle every day. It is usually the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning. I have found that it is an easy way to fire up my neurons before committing to getting out of bed. I want to say that I am good at Wordle, but the reality is that it isn’t a very difficult game. Most people who play it daily solve the puzzle on the fourth guess.
To amp up the sense of the challenge, Wordle also keeps track of each player’s “streak” of correct answers. That ratchets up the pressure to play every day AND make sure the answer is correct. I know for a fact that there are people in my orbit who cheat to preserve a streak. I don’t care enough to do that.
However, I had one situation that I think is in the gray area. I may have cheated, but I’m really not sure. In that instance, I started into my game and had three of the five letters locked in after the third word. Unfortunately, I realized that there were a lot of letters left and that guessing a plausible word in my remaining moves was a low-odds play because there were a lot of legal options.
The strategy for that situation is to guess words that are not the answer to eliminate or confirm the remaining letters. There were so many in that case that I decided that I needed to give it deeper thought. Also, I had to run to the airport to catch a plane. I captured a screenshot of my place in the game and decided to work out my two elimination guesses during the flight.
Fortunately, while waiting for my plane to push back from the gate, a guy across the aisle pulled out his phone and started playing Wordle. I watched with rapt attention, realizing that his play could help me eliminate letters. In fact, I took a picture of his final (incorrect) guess.
Once I had access to all his incorrect guesses, only two legitimate words remained in my game. I “solved” the puzzle on my fourth move. The question is… did I cheat by effectively shoulder-surfing his play? I didn’t get the correct work directly off his screen, but it was extremely helpful.
In any case, the day that FIEND was the Wordle solution sparked joy for me.
