Saturday is upon us as we tip-toe ever closer to fall—though you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking summer was already over. School is back. Nights are getting cooler. In some northern reaches, the leaves are just beginning to shed their green, trading it in for a hint of yellow or orange.

Some ignore equinoxes and solstices and just go by months. To these strange folk, September 1st marks the first day of autumn. September, October and November all fall under this season. Then December, January and February are winter. March, April, May comprise spring. And June, July, August make up summer.

In a way, that is simpler than the official seasons, which all change over around the 20th of each respective month. The next four season shifts occur on the following dates:

I suppose I have a natural fondness for this way of thinking about the seasons because summer often begins on my birthday, June 20th. But it’s certainly harder to remember!

Okay, Wordle time!

The Hint: To drag another from slumber.

The Clue: This word has more vowels than consonants.

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After each Wordle I solve I head over to the Wordle Bot homepage to see how my guessing game was.

I began today’s guessing game badly—or, rather, with bad luck—and ended it in the opposite fashion.

Triad only got me one yellow box and, I discovered later, left me with 199 words to choose from. Not great.

Chore turned that into two yellow boxes, one green box and just 8 words to choose from. At this point, I could think of a few of them and decided to go with one that used as many vowels as possible just to make sure I’d ruled them all out. I debated between rogue and rouse and eventually settled on the latter—and lucky me! Every box turned up green!

I get 1 point for guessing in three but unfortunately I tied the Bot today. That gets me zero. 1 point total is in the green, however! Huzzah!

The word "rouse" has its origins in Middle English, where it was spelled as "rowsen" or "rowsien." It ultimately comes from the Old Norse word "rausa," which means "to rouse" or "to provoke." Over time, it evolved into the word "rouse" in English, retaining its meaning of stirring or awakening someone from a state of inactivity or slumber.

I’ve been playing a cutthroat game of PvP Wordle against my nemesis Wordle But. Now you should play against me! I can be your nemesis! (And your helpful Wordle guide, of course). You can also play against the Bot if you have a New York Times subscription.

You can either keep a running tally of your score if that’s your jam or just play day-to-day if you prefer.

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