In case anyone is wondering about my absence, I decided to stop posting my assured solution method to the daily NYT Wordle offering. After doing the whole 2331 words on the limited list twice, once starting with the same seed, SLATE, and then again with the fixed triple seed ORATE LIMNS DUCHY, I gradually lost interest.
Instead, I undertook the more challenging task of exploring what can be done with the extended list of all 5-letter words, assuming random selection, i.e. no discarding already used words. This is a daunting task, and I am slowly chipping away at it. The list has 12972 words. I decided to use a quadruple filter, CARED BEWIG LUMPY KNOTS. I also increased the number of attempts to 7 because it quickly became apparent that a triple filter results in groupings of many candidates with high degeneracy.
My goal now is to explore and see if I can find a path to all 12972 words with no more than 7 guesses and without consideration of previously used words. The thrill of success in the face of failure when the outcome is uncertain is what keeps my interest alive. It is an ambitious but cumbersome process. I have completed 2252 (17.4%) paths up to now. My hope is to complete 1% a day, but that is not always feasible.
The screenshot of my spreadsheet shows the distribution of scores. The minimum possible score with 4 guesses already spent is a 5. Half-integer scores are awarded to 50-50 pairs. Thus, a score of 6.5 means that a 50-50 pair was produced by guess 5.
Note that, so far, there are only 3 scores of 7. The first word on the list is AAHED (as in "I oohed and aahed with wonderment"). Now there are 130 words on the extended list that fit the pattern _ A_ED. The 4-word filter reduced that number to 10. It was possible to find a path for each of the 10 words using the remaining three guesses. Would it be better to use a three-word filter and have 4 guesses left? My guess is probably not because that would increase the number of candidates fitting the pattern.
I will report back from time to time, especially if something monumental or catastrophic happens. The worst case scenario is that, when I am done, I will have to conclude that the filter I chose was inadequate.
