Some days are diamonds.
I used this line to start a newspaper column 37 years ago when I was sports editor and columnist for the Greeley Tribune in Colorado.
I had gone bowling, something I enjoyed quite a bit back then. I was about as average a bowler as a guy could be. I remember reading that the average male league bowler in the U.S. had a 155 average. I was in a league in St. Louis in 1986 and one in Greeley a year later and my average in both was 154.
But I had gone to the lanes one afternoon to practice. I was going to bowl three or four games, but I left after one. In that one game, I had the best score of my life. Anything else would have been anticlimactic.
I started slowly, with a spare followed by another spare followed by two splits for open frames. After four frames, I had a score in the 40s. I rolled a strike in the fifth frame … and the sixth … and the seventh. That was the most I had ever had in a row, and I was pleased.
Then I had another one in the eighth … and the ninth … and the 10th.
Six in a row. On my second ball of the 10th frame, I left one pin standing. I picked it up on my last shot and finished with a 222.
I don’t bowl anymore. I’m twice the age I was then, and my daily exercise is mental. I generally do six different puzzles a day trying to stave off dementia, and some days are better than others.
First I do Keyword on the Washington Post website. Fill in the missing letter in six words to create another word. Six is a perfect store, but the time counts too. Today I filled in the blanks and got the word B-E-H-E-S-T in 18 seconds.
That was really good.
Then I do Connections on the New York Times website. That’s a tough one. They give you 16 words and you sort them into four groups of four. You’re allowed three mistakes.
I solve it more often than not — maybe two-thirds of the time — but it’s no more than once or twice a week that I get it without making any mistakesw.
Today I did, and it took me about two minutes.
An excellent day so far.
What got me to the big one — Wordle. Today was the 637th day I have played Wordle, a game in which you have six guesses to guess a five-letter word. In 636 days before today, I have only had 11 times I failed to get the word.
That’s not a big deal. In fact, I feel bad if it takes me all six guesses, which it has 29 times. My goal is to have more I get in two guesses than in six, and to date, it’s 31-29.
Mike, what about getting it in one guess?
With all the five-letter words there are, getting it in one is just a fluke. My friend Katie Dyer has done that twice, but I think she guesses the same first guess every day.
Getting it in two takes skill.
Getting it in one takes luck.
So after doing so well on Keyword and Connections, I thought it might be a good day for another two. I actually had a five-day streak of getting the answer in three, so I entered the first word that came to mind (as I do every day).
And guess what?
How about that?!
Some days really are diamonds.
Still got three puzzles to do, but I’ll do what I did at the bowling alley that day in 1987. Anything else I do can only be worse, so I’ll call it a day.