It is saturating. I have never been part of a trend that has spread this fast. Forget Ukraine, Voter’s Rights, the Goulding of Aaron Rodgers. This is all anyone wants to talk about.

Just give me my Wordle and go away for ten or twenty or thirty minutes. I will let you know when I have finished and you can disturb me once again.

I had never heard of Wordle until about two weeks ago when I read a New York Times article describing the newest fad. An online game, the official version of which can only be played one time a day, it is best described as Mastermind for word geeks.

Guess a five-letter word by guessing other five-letter words and seeing what letters match up with the secret word. It is not all chance. There is some logic involved and a decent vocabulary and knowledge of letter frequencies in words help in solving the puzzle.

The ‘net abounds with sites that tell you the best word to start with. I ignore those. I prefer to look around the room and pick the first object I see with a five-letter name. Or close my eyes and pick the first five-letter word that pops to mind. To me, that is more fun than using someone else’s prescribed starter.

Six misses and you are done for the day. Get it right in less than 6 attempts and you get…just about nothing. No balloons, no fireworks, no fanfares. But the one thing you DO get is the chance to post your results to your favorite social media.

And that is the super-spreader Wordle event. Post the little grid that shows how many guesses it took to nail the word of the day and watch the “Comments” pour in. Those in the know applaud your efforts (you got it in two!) or mock you (it took you 6????) And those who don’t know what you are talking about ask questions and are soon hooked. The proliferation of this thing makes Omicron look like a real piker.

Until a vaccine is discovered, I will keep up with the daily challenge. My best effort is solving in two turns (please hold your applause) and I have only totally shanked it once. I usually muddle along in the three to four range.

And I think it is time for today’s game–just leave me alone for the next half-hour.

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