WordBot and Words, My Wordle Assistants - Cleve Moler on Mathematics and Computing

[poster]

I am late joining the Wordle craze. Over a year ago, MATLAB programs for solving Wordle puzzles were described by Adam Filion as a guest blogger on Loren's blog and by Matt Tearle with a YouTube video. But my programs for Wordle Assistants are different. WordBot doesn't try to solve any puzzles and Words just supplies lists of possible words. I enjoy providing the solution logic myself.

Here are two examples, taken from recent Wordle puzzles in the New York Times.

Contents

• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Four Days in March
• Software

Wednesday

WordBot has a list of 4676 possible words, but knows nothing about their probabilities, so I don't ask for any assistance with the opening guess.

I like to use mathematical words whenever possible. I usually start with RATIO, which has three vowels and two popular consonants. RATIO was a good opening move for the puzzle in the Times on Wednesday. It received a green R and a gold A. I informed WordBot of our good fortune using 2, 1 and 0 to indicate green, gold and gray. My faithful assistant responded by reproducing the first graphic in the Times.

WordBot ratio 21000 Words is my suite of programs that produce lists of acceptable words for various scenarios. In this situation with an R as the first letter, an A somewhere in the last three letters and T, I and O on the gray list, Words finds 25 words, starting with REACH and ending with RUMBA.

The last of those 25 words got my attention. I decided to try RUMBA on my second move. I knew RUMBA was unlikely to succeed but would be spectacular if it did. Sure enough, Wordle didn't want to dance.

WordBot rumba 20001 Three more letters gray-listed and A limited to two slots reduces the number of possible words from 25 to 18. The first word on the list is still REACH.

WordBot reach 22100 There are now 11 possibilities.

READSREADYREALSREAPSREARSREGALRELAXRELAYRENALREPAYRERANI need to relax.

WordBot relax 22120 I don't need another list of possibilities. I can quickly see the previous list has only two words that end in L. The choice between "fit for a monarch" and "pertaining to kidney function" is clear. I have solved Wednesday's puzzle in five moves, including the Hail Mary at move two.

WordBot regal 22222 closeThursday

Thursday's puzzle in the Times offered different challenges. As always, I started with RATIO. This time I get only one gold letter.

WordBot ratio 10000 I need an R somewhere in the last four positions and can't use A, T, I or O. Words knows 229 qualified candidates. I choose another mathematical word.

WordBot perms 01100 I now must have an R and an E and can't have any of those seven grays. Words offers 72 possibilities. Have I been in an accident?

WordBot wreck 21200 Well, that's much better. Two greens, one gold, and nine grays. There is only one possibility. The solution must be WHERE.

WordBot where 22222 closeFour Days in March

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

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Software

This code is immature. Be gentle and let me know how it works for you.

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Published with MATLAB® R2023a