I’m sort of appalled at how reluctant I have become to try new things.
For the last few years, I have been doing crossword puzzles and other word games in an effort to give myself a fighting chance to stave off dementia as I age.
I got pretty good at the New York Times and Washington Post puzzles, although the Post actually uses the Los Angeles Times puzzle. I especially enjoy the Spelling Bee game in the Times.
But I never tried Wordle — until today.
I’m not sure why. A number of people I like and respect, including my sister and her son, seem to really enjoy it. At least a few of my friends post their score on Facebook every day.
Part of the problem is that I am very much a guy. And being a guy, I tried it without bothering to learn the rules.
I’ll bet you didn’t ask for directions if you’re lost …
You would win that bet.
So I understood about starting with a five-letter word. I figured that if any of my letters came up green, that meant I had a correct letter in the correct place.
Being such a guy, though, I didn’t know what the yellow letters meant.
My first guess had one green letter and one yellow. My second guess, with the green letter in the right position but dropping the yellow one, had one green letter and two yellow letters.
Since I hadn’t stopped being such a guy, I ignored the three yellow letters I had found and typed in another word. I got yet another yellow letter, giving me one green letter and four yellow ones.
Finally, I asked myself what the significance of the yellow letters could possibly be.
Maybe right letters in the wrong place?
If that was true, then I had all five letters for the correct answer. And since I’m pretty good at unscrambling words, I got it on the first try.
SPOILER ALERT …
Is that like Wienerdude Alert?
Sometimes I really miss California.
If I had understood sooner, I might have solved it in one less step. Then again with C being the last letter I got, I might have guessed H and come up with SHARE. Or P and guessed SPARE.
At least for now, I think I still like Spelling Bee better, but anything thyat staves off dementia is a good thing.