Defend The Indefensible: Wordle

But I don't see how my skill is less than the NYT average, or how their determination that I'm lucky is actually because of luck.

From the bot it seems like the NYT players' score averages are amazing for this, with a very high skill level

im with you on the nyt average thing. pisses me off to see how close i am to the average whenever i think im on an absolute hot streak. i think part of the problem is the way they normalize the scores there’s very little variance, so you might have a skill 1 or 2 points higher than nyt average but be at the 90th percentile. at least that’s what i tell myself..

A terrible 5 today with three attempts to guess just the first and final letter.

If you can recall any past solutions, until 2027 your chances should slowly improve.

What is this sorcery?! I can rarely remember yesterday's word

Ha ha - my recall can't claim to be very good but some more distinctive words do stick in my head. And it helps that I'm in a WhatsApp group for it with three pals as the associated discussion might help to lodge things a bit better.

I hate it when my first word leaves me with an A in the middle and an E at the end, which has happened at least a few times in recent memory. No matter how many consonants or vowels I think of to add to the second choice, there are so many possibilities that answer is always elusive

yesterday's was a close SHAVE - on my fifth guess I had SHA_E, with V M D K and L still available

Yeah, I had SHAME on my second guess, but it took me all 6 to get to SHAVE argh.

I got that one in 3 which is about the only time Wordle has been kind to me in the last few months

Back to 4 today sigh

Can I complain about Connections in this thread too? Because I have an issue with today’s.

i love to gripe about connections, let's hear yours!

xp hero?
I've only recently started playing it but today's was the first I didn't get in time. for a UKer some of the options are a bit baffling.

Yes, hero. That’s a sandwich (in parts of the US) not a type of bread.

noun. a large sandwich, usually consisting of a small loaf of bread or long roll cut in half lengthwise and containing a variety of ingredients, as meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Notice it doesn’t say “usually consisting of a small hero,” because that’s completely wrong.

my american colleague says "an american regionalism... very New York. “Would you like that on a hero or a roll?”"

Which may explain why a NYT puzzle setter would think that’s well known. I’m in Minnesota and have never heard it.

There are definitely regionalisms in terms of words and associations in Connections! Idk I consider both to be part of the assumed cultural capital… as in, even if you don’t live in/near NYC, you should know these NYC-isms… the “purple” ones also assumed certain cultural capital

The descriptions for the connections are often not how I would articulate the connection…

my american colleague says "an american regionalism... very New York. “Would you like that on a hero or a roll?”"

idk, what about a sub or a hoagy?

jfc it was bad enough having to know about american sports!

i get it, it's basically revenge on all those cricketing terms in uk cryptic crosswords.

Xp … yes a sub and a hoagy and a hero and a grinder… I see as different names for the same thing?

Xp ledge … it took me way too long to figure out what a “spag bol” was … i thought it referred to a bowl of spaghetti

See I would consider the hero bread to be a kind of roll!

That’s my issue with this. It’s a hero roll, some people are just skipping the “roll” part. “Do you want that sandwich made as a roll or a hero?” The bread itself is not a hero. But whatever. Sandwiches, that’s where I’m a Viking!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoagie_roll

But it’s the description of the connection that is the problem, as opposed to being able to identify a hero as a type of sandwich that is connected to the other three terms as “sandwich related “

At least that’s my issue

I love all of the fronting as if the UK doesn't pack five different bread-roll-based shibboleths in an area the size of NYC.

yeah exactly; meanwhile the UK has more words for "bread roll" than any other word in the English language and this didn't have any of them

How many ilxors playing connections got the purple one first today? I am guessing a lot of you did too

yes

Yes

yep

Haha, yes!

I got the green and yellow no problem but couldn't get the blue and purple! I swore loudly when I rushed into getting it wrong so I could see the solution. I'm almost ashamed to show my face around here tbh.

I didn’t believe purple was what it was and did yellow first

yes, I got purple first as well

For me the tipoff was seeing Nicks and Mercury. I always see if I can figure out what to do with the oddball words.

yup

I did wonder if GALL was also part of the group though

pretty straight forward one today (though I’m kicking myself I subbed in an option from the yellow line to the blue line)
https://i.postimg.cc/Ghv92JqL/IMG-0602.jpg

today's is ridiculous...got in 6 and guess-learned a whole new word en route

Wait did we have the same puzzle? Because I thought it was average

Yeah I got it in 4, was pretty straightforward once I had 4 letters

I had a lucky combination of things in the second word and got it in 3. Hitting the right consonant early makes such a huge difference.

are we talking about today's wordle? they told me I had higher skill level but worse luck, like often, and that I didn't even solve it as well as the NYT average person, which is insulting.

these wordlebot comments and NYT averages are depressing and I'm coming think are meant to intimidate

if we are talking about today's connections, I only got the blue tier because it was the only category left

lol wordlebot can be so enraging but I can't help myself.

I got today's in 4. Might've been able to get it in 3 if I hadn't spaced and played that move as if my last two letters were yellow instead of green.

I got it in 4 -- might have gotten it in 3 but I perversely tried PUBIC for that guess.

Xp DanS … that was me except the green tier … I had 3 of the 4 at first and then moved on to a different connection because I didn’t want to waste guesses on figuring out the fourth… my initial 4th included “duck (duck goose)”

spoiler for today's...never had this happen before

https://i.imgur.com/13pA9t1.png