NYT Wordle #1156: How I solved it

 

Image courtesy: www.nytimes.com/

Today, the 18th of August 2024, is game 1156 of NYT Wordle. I try to solve this daily and have completed 325 of these over the last couple of years. So here is my Wordle journey for today, which includes my guesses, thought process, some statistics, and, of course, the ANSWER!

I always start my Wordle with 'Trace'. Let's see what that led to:

After the first guess:

⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛

1 yellow. Way too many possibilities. I tend to use alphabets like 'P', 'S', 'H', 'L', 'M', 'I' etc. as early as possible. But I'll make a list of common words I can think of in about 3 minutes and make a list of possibilities with A at different spots first.

🅐✖✖✖✖

Avoid

Axiom

Awash

Affix

Aloof

✖🅐✖✖✖

Mason

Basin

Basil

Laugh

Oasis

✖✖✖🅐✖

Modal

Shoal

✖✖✖✖🅐

Mania

Panda

Ninja

Polka

What a crazy set of possibilities. Not many guesses which would eliminate too many possibilities for guess 3. I will need some luck with this one for sure. The only things I can think of are to have 'A' either at spot 1 or 2, have either or both of 'I' and 'O', and maybe throw in a few consonants among 'N', 'S', 'M', 'L', 'P', 'F', 'H', and 'B'. 

'Mains' is the first word that comes to mind. 'Basil' or even 'Loins'/'Lions' wouldn't be too bad, except that the latter will not provide me with any info on the placement of 'A'. Let's go for 'Mains' and hope for the best.

After the second guess:

⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛

The analysis will be interesting. I don't think I did a great job here. But let's first focus on finishing this one in 4. 

As per the info I got, let's make a new set of possibilities:

🅝🅐✖✖✖

-

✖🅐🅝✖✖

Panda

Banal

Banjo

✖🅐✖✖🅝

Either I am getting a brain fade, or 'Panda' seems to be the only real possibility left. I mean 'Banal' and 'Banjo' are not outside the realm of possibility but they are far from common as words go. I also really hope that I am not missing out any ✖🅐✖✖🅨 words. 

Without overthinking it, I think I should just go for 'Panda' and see what happens. 

After the third guess:

⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛

Ya, was a brain fade for sure. Not having the best Wordle day I am afraid. 

I think I will have to consider ✖🅐✖✖🅨 words too, like 'Lanky' and 'Hanky'. I am sure these words are more likely to be a Wordle solution than 'Banjo' ever will be. So once again, I will not overthink and try and put an end to this misery by guessing 'Lanky', as that seems to be a more likely answer than any I have considered. If that doesn't work, I will go for 'Banjo', I promise.

After the fourth guess:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

For me, a 4/6 is not ideal, but it's kind of ok to get. The skill wasn't that much of an issue as much as luck was today. 

Not a very easy one today. So not much to complain about a 4/6. 

See you!