Welcome to The Wordle Review. Be warned: This article contains spoilers for today’s puzzle. Solve Wordle first, or scroll at your own risk.
This month’s featured artist is Mark Pernice. You can read more about him here.
★★★★
Wordle 642 3/6
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My relationship with Wordle is like a toddler’s with a beloved toy, or Gollum’s with the Ring of Power. I love Wordle, and I hate Wordle. Sometimes, I do one at 11:55 p.m. and the next as soon as it posts a few minutes later. Sometimes, when I don’t get an obvious word until attempt six — or not at all — I boycott Wordle for a few weeks in a particularly foolish form of protest. “I don’t need Wordle to remind me I don’t know anything about words,” I sulk. “That’s what Goodreads is for!”
I try not to speed through Wordle. I always do it on my computer, rarely on my phone. I vary my starting words — a Twitter person referred to this method as “choosing chaos.” (Actually, the word chaos is a solid opening guess.)
But to do a public Wordle, where I cannot hide my failure if I don’t get it? This means bringing out the big guns. The words I know won’t let me down. This means I start with ARISE.
Victory! Three letters, all in the wrong place. Still, I have essentially been handed this word on an alphabet-encrusted platter. If I don’t get it on try two or three, I will be humiliated for life, in The New York Times, no less.
I’m sweating. I need chocolate. I need coffee. I need pen and paper.
The letter I not being in tile three immediately eliminates the word that popped into mind when I saw the other letters: saint. I also eliminate the word waist, and any words that start with A.
A few S- and B- words come to mind. But S is the first letter of my name, so it feels lucky. I am known for ruthlessly murdering characters in my books, so I go with one of my favorite words: SLAIN.
Close! Close enough that I must get it right or I’ll never show my face at a Wordle convention again. All the letters I already knew are in the right place, but I’m missing two. I rule out swain, another of my favorite words. Now for the pen and paper. Swaig? Not a word. Spaij? Sounds like a piece of Ikea furniture. Snail? No L or N. Smail? A made-up word for a mollusk, perhaps. Sadly, not in the dictionary.
Then it comes to me, in the image of a buttoned-up snail, going about his business in a tiny suit and tie. STAID
Victory in three. Phew! My reputation is safe. I give this Wordle four stars. Basic letters, but artfully arranged. Still, I would have preferred Slain.
Today’s word is STAID. According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, it’s an adjective meaning “fixed” or “resisting change.”
Today’s Statistics
The letter pattern in today’s word is distinctive enough that the answer can be found using elimination strategies within six guesses, and the word has no letter repeats.
Our Featured Artist
Mark Pernice is an award-winning illustrator, art director and designer. He runs the multidisciplinary design studio OOO alongside his creative directing partner, Elana Schlenker. Pernice injects his personality and style into brand illustrations using a variety of details, textures and messages. “I’m not that interested in making obvious illustrations, and I don’t want to shoehorn in overused visual iconography unless there’s a bit of a fun twist or mystery,” he said in an interview with It’s Nice That.
Further Reading
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