Wordle Lovers - Play the NYT Daily Game

[Orodruin]

In the interest of performance - it used to take more than half an hour - I do the calculations for only 237 possible outcomes (even though $3^5 = 243$). Some like should be impossible to get. I might have made a mistake by removing one too many, but I don't think so.

Indeed, that pattern is of course impossible. However, I compute by word, not by pattern. For each word I check what pattern it would have been sorted into for a given seed and then I make a histogram of how many words fall into each pattern. The additional 6 patterns (why 6, though? with 4 green and one yellow there should be 5 choices for the yellow) are just a simple sum to zero and does not cost much extra computation wise.

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,327 3/6

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,327 4/6

[ARISE] 32 left
[GLINT] filter - 5 left: FECAL FELLA HAZEL LEACH PEDAL
[HAZEL] filter + possible answer - 2 left: FECAL PEDAL
[PEDAL]

The suggested 3rd guess was FETCH which would have filtered every possibility. However, I was sure FECAL wasn't the answer, so I went with HAZEL which, at worst left me with FECAL and PEDAL where PEDAL was the obvious choice for me.

why 6, though?

I eliminated all greens as well, which is 1 for every word, so you need to add 1 to each total, but that doesn't change anything relatively speaking.

 

[Orodruin]

[GLINT] filter - 5 left: FECAL FELLA HAZEL LEACH PEDAL

Do you check scores also for words that are not possible solutions? If so, what score did you get from GLINT?

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 14/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[jack action]

Do you check scores also for words that are not possible solutions? If so, what score did you get from GLINT?

As a seed word, GLINT has a score of 5184.

Otherwise, no, I do not check scores for other guesses. I only do a simple and quick check for the most popular [new] letters for as many letters as possible. I first check the possible answers, then the answer list, and then the word list. It is not perfect. Sometimes, I have a choice of filters and human intervention is necessary. In this case, I only had GLINT, but for my 3rd guess, I had CHAFF and FETCH where clearly it was looking for words with letters CFH. (It most likely first searched for words with DPCFH, then PCFH, and it would have dropped a least popular letter (alphabetically?) until it found a word.)

It is a remnant of my initial program when I did not count scores for my seed word.

 

[kuruman]

Sometimes, I have a choice of filters and human intervention is necessary.

Please help me understand. What is your goal? It sounds like you are perfecting an algorithm that will find the solution without human intervention using as few guesses as possible after eliminating previously used words. Is that right?

 

[jack action]

Please help me understand. What is your goal? It sounds like you are perfecting an algorithm that will find the solution without human intervention using as few guesses as possible after eliminating previously used words. Is that right?

At first, I just wanted to use regexes to determine the best next guess. I thought easy-peasy. Then I included an automatic daily updated list of possible answers. Then I tried to get the best seed word based on that list, which led me to a more math-involved technique.

I just have more fun watching a program I made solve the puzzle than solving it myself. I always prefer watching a machine I made do the work rather than do the work itself. I find it more gratifying as: 1) You need to clearly understand what you are doing (Intellectual labor); 2) You did some work anyway (Manual labor); 3) You are often more efficient. Win-Win-Win.

And then discussing and sharing how I did it with others and finding out how they solved it for themselves is the cherry on top.

 

[Orodruin]

Please help me understand. What is your goal? It sounds like you are perfecting an algorithm that will find the solution without human intervention using as few guesses as possible after eliminating previously used words. Is that right?

That’s - kind of but not really - what I try to do. To select among the possible answers the one that has the lowest expected entropy after the guess, i.e, the lowest logarithm of the number of remaining words.

Technically there will be situations where a word that can be discarded will be a better choice, but that can be kind of handled by hand. It is about making an informed choice.

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,327 5/6

SLATE
EARLY
ANGEL
IDEAL
PEDAL

I don't keep track but I feel like my scores are getting worse. I believe as more and more words are used, the game gets harder if you do not look at the list of previous solutions. Looking after the fact, I see that my first three guesses are previous words.

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,327 5/6

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 328 4/6

Spoiler: Google sheet analysis

ARISE:

Ouch! One of the absolutely worst possibilities apart from all blanks. 58 remaining words and the best expected remaining entropy after the next guess being 1.65 ... DIMLY it is:

Ok, worse than expected, but still a guaranteed solve in 4. Not really attracted by FOLIO so going with TULIP.

Had a feeling ... but did not consider LOGIN or TULIP to be improbable words either so did not want to risk that. Only the second 4 since starting to use the sheet though.

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,328 4/6

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 15/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,328 4/6

[SANER] 117 left
[DOILY] filter - 5 left: CIVIL FILTH PUPIL TULIP VIGIL
[CIVIL] possible answer +filter - 1 left
[PUPIL]

Ouch! One of the absolutely worst possibilities apart from all blanks.

Got you covered here!

the best expected remaining entropy after the next guess being 1.65 ... DIMLY it is

I have to ask: my proposed filters for my second guess were DOILY NOILY ROILY SOILY. Obviously, OILY were the 4 most popular letters remaining. I went with DOILY because the N, R, and S were already in the seed word. How does that word score on your spreadsheet? I don't see it on your top 5 words, and there is only one with an O.

I tried using DIMLY as my 2nd guess which left me with 5 words: BLITZ CLIFF FOLIO PUPIL TULIP. TULIP was suggested as my 3rd guess which guaranteed an answer.

 

[Orodruin]

I have to ask: my proposed filters for my second guess were DOILY NOILY ROILY SOILY. Obviously, OILY were the 4 most popular letters remaining. I went with DOILY because the N, R, and S were already in the seed word. How does that word score on your spreadsheet? I don't see it on your top 5 words, and there is only one with an O.

You don't see it because it is not in my list of possible solutions. Currently the sheet also only computes what the expected entropy was for the first guess so I cannot currently score a word not in the possible solutions list. Might include the computation for it later guesses if I feel the urge.

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,328 5/6

CRUMB
LIONS
UTILE (is that even a word?)
QUAIL
PUPIL

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,328 3/6

 

[Orodruin]

I have to ask: my proposed filters for my second guess were DOILY NOILY ROILY SOILY. Obviously, OILY were the 4 most popular letters remaining. I went with DOILY because the N, R, and S were already in the seed word. How does that word score on your spreadsheet? I don't see it on your top 5 words, and there is only one with an O.

I tried using DIMLY as my 2nd guess which left me with 5 words: BLITZ CLIFF FOLIO PUPIL TULIP. TULIP was suggested as my 3rd guess which guaranteed an answer.

Ok, I did the upgrade to the sheet. DOILY got an expected entropy remaining (EER) of 2.17 with ARISE as the opening. Compare to the 1.65 I got for DIMLY.

With your opening SANER, the entropy remaining (ER) is 6.87 (ufff!). The best guess among the available solutions is DIMLY with an EER of 1.68 (see image for top-11), while DOILY has an EER of 1.69. The words are very similar statistically, with DIMLY just barely getting the better score (with the additional benefit of also being a possible solution).

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 329 4/6

Spoiler: Google sheet analysis

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,329 4/6

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 16/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,329 4/6

[AROSE] 33 left
[CLIPT] filter - 3 left: HASTY STANK SWATH
[HASTY] most probable
[SWATH]

most-probable method count update (Success/Fail): 57/33 - 63.3%/36.7%

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,329 3/6

TERSE
STALL
SWATH

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,329 4/6

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 330 3/6

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,330 3/6

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,330 3/6

[LEAST] 7 left: ESTER SMOTE SPITE STEEP STEER STOKE SUITE
[IMPRO] filter - 1 left
[STEEP]

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 17/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,330 3/6

SCRAM
THING
STEEP

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,330 4/6

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,331 3/6

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 331 3/6

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,331 3/6

[LATER] 103 left
[LOUSY] filter - 1 left
[BONUS]

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 18/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,331 5/6

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,331 4/6

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 332 4/6

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,332 5/6

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 19/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,332 4/6

[ALERT] 103 left
[LOUSY] filter - 10 left
[DWALM] filter - 1 left
[GOODY]

I really thought it was the day for WOOZY. (ref.: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/wordle-lovers-play-the-nyt-daily-game.1016903/post-7240637)

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,332 5/6

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,332 4/6

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 333 5/6







Human error. For some reason I had recorded SCORE instead of CHORE for the solution to #1324. Came back to bite not even two weeks later. Amazing! After guess 4 I was out of remaining words so went to extended 14k list. No new words. Took some serious detective work to keep the streak.

 

[OmCheeto]

Wordle 1,333 4/6

 

[jack action]

Wordle 1,333 2/6

[PARSE] 3 left: SCORE SNORE SWORE
[SCORE] most probable (I could have used CLOWN for a sure win in 3 but, so close to the Super Bowl, what else could it have been?)

most-probable method count update (Success/Fail): 58/33 - 63.7%/36.3%

 

[kuruman]

Assured solution method count update. (Success/Fail): 20/0 - 100.0%/0.0%

 

[gmax137]

Wordle 1,333 3/6

 

[dwarde]

Wordle 1,333 5/6

 

[Orodruin]

Wordle 1 334 2/6

Spoiler: Google sheet analysis

ARISE

Only 7 left and 2 of them are perfect filters. I am liking CHAIR as a solution but it is a terrible filter in comparison whereas RAPID doesn't seem that unlikely.

On a happy note, having RAPID out of the picture also makes CHAIR a better guess next time this pattern comes up: