So, what is today’s Wordle answer for #335?
Tags: gamedev, wordl
Published: 2022-05-20 10:38:44

So, what is today’s Wordle answer for #335?

It's GAMER!

We don't know where to begin. This may be due to the fact this was really, truly, really difficult. Was it difficult? It was a pleasure to solve it. WordleBot, the NYT's [wordle today](https://wordletoday.io) tool claims that it is being solved by people in an average of 4.5 guesses. However, Wordle 335X, which is trending already on Twitter, suggests that this will continue to rise over time. The 'too many possibilities' aspect of the puzzle is what makes it so difficult.

It's both commonplace and rare as a word. It ranks 21.393rd in Word and Phrase Info’s list English words most frequently used. It seems very obscure. However, I think this is more due to the sources used to compile that data. GAMER is a popular word in Tom's Guide's Wordle world. In fact, every Wordle user is a gamer.

This is a positive thing. There are no unusual letters. My analysis of every Wordle response shows that although the M (16th) and the G (17th) aren't very common, there's a huge difference between letters from their ilk, and really rare ones like X and J. G still appears in 13%.

It's not uncommon at the beginning of any word. In fact, yesterday's answer started with it (see below). This is due to the fact that most of the letters are quite common. As usual, I started with STARE, which is one of the most common Wordle words. It gave me a yellow B, R and E.

WordleBot says that I narrowed down the answer to 47, but I can see many more right away. The problem was how to proceed with them. One option was to end ER. Then I could see that I could also play the likes LAYER CAPER, and indeed GAMER.

I also came across many answers that began with an R: CREAK. Others had an R, such as RELAY, REGAL and REPAY. Or, you could have played CLEAR.

I had too many choices. CREAK was my final choice. This was partly because it didn't seem like an 'A-ER' game and partly because C, K and I were in many of the possible answers that I had found. This was a bad choice. WordleBot loved it and gave me 71%. They also told me that I'd reduced the options down to 22, but that in retrospect I should have chosen something that would have helped me narrow down those -A–ER words.

I needed to determine the format so I played LAYER. I was completely unsurprised when the A, E, and R turned green. I understood the scope of the problem and set out to find the best solution.

Wordle stated that I could find nine answers at this stage. I found 11 so Wordle said a couple were guesses, but not answers. With three guesses left, I was in trouble.

The obvious thing was to use a throwaway phrase that I knew would not be correct but would greatly narrow the choices. FUDGE did that, which theoretically rules in or out WAFER WAGER, GAZER GAMER and FADER.

This was a good thing. But once the G turned yellow, it was clear that I was in trouble. Because I still had five choices and only two guesses to make, it was difficult to decide which one I wanted.

GAMER and GAZER were my options. WordleBot said PAGER was not an option. I then played GAWPS to help narrow things down. I was hopeful that the W would turn green and reveal WAGER. However, it didn't.

It was a 50/50 split for the final guess, GAMER or GAZER. I didn't know if both were Wordle answers. Even if I did, it wouldn’t help me choose. M is a common letter in the game, and I chose to use it. I could also have chosen Z.

I was lucky to get the correct answer and guess correctly. I was not very good at it -- I should have started to narrow things down sooner -- but I'm sure that I'm not the only one struggling today. Anybody who has tried hard mode might have found it extremely difficult.

Let me know how it went in the comments or via Email. If you've already reached out, then I apologise for the delay in responding. You will soon receive a reply!