I recently ditched my morning routine of playing word games, such as the New York Times mini crossword and Wordle puzzles. Instead of relying on published online tips for solving Wordle, I thought it’d be interesting to craft my own tool using a unique algorithm. This algorithm considers the number of words left in the dictionary that include the revealed letters from the Wordle puzzle, while also taking into account the frequency of those letters in other words.
Surprisingly, my algorithm has performed quite well. The Wordle bot, which seemingly aims for perfection using a “bits of information” approach, often rates my method as less lucky and skilled. However, my algorithm still solves puzzles in fewer guesses on average. I’ve reached out to the New York Times staff with screenshots of these results, but they haven’t responded. They have, though, adjusted their luck and skill calculations, yet I still occasionally outperform the Wordle bot.
