Spelling out the Wordle craze
Are you a nerdle? Have you fallen in love with Wordle, the new five-letter word craze? Or are you confused by yellow, grey and green boxes bombarding your social media?
We asked New York Times Crossword Editor Will Shortz to explain: "Wordle is a game of logic involving words. You try to guess a five-letter word. The computer tells you which letters are in the correct position of the answer, and which letters of your guess are correct, but in the wrong position."
You get six guesses. One day you're a smug genius 'cause you got it in two or three, but the next, you're on your knees after five. My advice? Try some FAITH."
Wordle is the pastime for our current time, because it's an addiction you don't have to feel bad about. There's only one a day; if you miss it, it's gone (FLOWN!).
Wordle is a HABIT you can't BINGE.
And the first word you choose can be an existential statement, or a strategy. Shortz explains: "I always go with AROSE for a start. It's got common letters, three of which are vowels. So, this gets you off and going."
It's something that connects us with only positivity, and maybe some healthy competitiveness.
It's satisfying to feel like a word detective every morning and exercise my "little grey cells" as I quaff my coffee.
Oooh – QUAFF is a good one!
Wordle offers us a spiritual lesson: you've gotta fail to win. You have to journey through the grey to find life's answers.
And here's the best part: it's just a word we're all looking for, no subtext. In a world where words are constantly being redefined and claimed and defended, where one word can mean so many different things, Wordle asks us only to arrange five little letters in a way that brings us closer.
Wait, that doesn't fit … CLOSE!
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Story produced by Young Kim. Editor: George Pozderec.
