Q: When does a Wordle not make a Wheedle?
A: When you fail to solve the Wordle. This happens to some of the best people. I know because I’ve been one.
This blog entry is a spin off from the Wheedle challenge, which in turn is a spin off from Wordle, the online word game. Click on the link above and you’ll see how to play it.
In Wordle much depends on the first and second guess. These early words rule out key letters, or rule them in. Sometimes, by a stroke of luck the first word puts two letters in the correct places.
It’s more difficult if the winning word uses a letter more than once. Also if it starts with a vowel.
But now a new issue has developed for some. If thinking of writing a Wheedle, it may affect the words you choose for Wordle. Aaaaargh!
Today, for example, I longed to enter ‘TRYST’ for my Wordle first guess, but this would have used up two Ts at the start without eliminating any vowels. Much more sensible to go for TEACH or TEARS. (Mind you, TEARS is not bad for the first line of a Wheedle.)
Thus the writing of Wheedles affects Wordle choices.
Thus the writing of poems affects your attitude to words in other places throughout your whole life.
Thus a person can develop an obsession.
Should you, by any chance, have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s the Wheedle challenge, set up by Eddie Gibbons and myself, with over twenty-five participating poets. Eddie came up with the idea first. I admit I egged him on.
The results (see Wheedle pages) have been fascinating. The final word is the same for every person, and yet the ways of getting there are so many and various! I really hadn’t anticipated that ‘epoxy’ could be rhymed so variously. Constraints breed ingenuity.
No more commmunications about Wheedles, I promise. It’s not for everybody.
But for those who like to play at tricks with poetic forms, the game continues on FaceBook and Twitter where you can post your daily results using the hashtag #wheedlexxx (where xxx is the number of the Wordle solved). Best not to post until the day after the relevant Wordle (avoid putting spoilers out there).
And for inveterate addicts, Eddie has suggested sharing your Super Wheedle at the end of each Wordle week….
