Merry Christmas Wordlers! I thought today I’d simply open with a J.R.R. Tolkien quotation. These are some of Thorin Oakenshield’s last words to Bilbo Baggins, and they capture—for me at least—the spirit of the Christmas holidays perfectly:
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
It’s not about the gifts or the magic rings or glowing baubles. It’s about food and cheer and song, family and friends and companions. That’s the real adventure!
If you’re looking for movies or shows to watch this fine, winter weekend check out my streaming guide. I also published my big list of the very best Christmas movies. What are your favorite holiday films?
Wordle time, baby!
How To Solve Today’s Word
The Hint: To call forth a thought or feeling.
The Clue: This word has a double letter in it.
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See yesterday’s Wordle #918 right here.
Wordle Bot Analysis
After each Wordle I solve I head over to the Wordle Bot homepage to see how my guessing game was.
Yesterday I lucked out and got my second-ever Wordle hole in one! I had come up with the following a list of possible Christmas-themed words and just went down the list. Today, I picked the second on my list, angel, as an opener. It did not go as well!
With just one yellow box, I later learned I had 275 words remaining to choose from. I lucked out quite a bit picking smoke, which is coming out of all the chimneys in the neighborhood right now, and slashed that number to three.
Alas, the three words remaining were all quite different. I actually only came up with Choke and broke and didn’t even thing of the actual answer. But I was worried that there were others out there and didn’t want to get into a guessing game that could eat up the remaining guesses, so I went with chair since it would at least determine if one of my words was the right answer. Shockingly, all grey boxes turned up and I had to put my thinking cap back on. At last, I came up with evoke for the win!
Today’s Competitive Wordle Score
Wordle was not in the Christmas spirit today. I guess getting it in one yesterday used up all my luck and good cheer. I get 0 points for guessing in four and -1 for losing to the Bot. Oh well!
Today’s Wordle Etymology
The word “evoke” originates from the Latin term “evocare,” which is a combination of two parts: “e-” (a variant of “ex-“) meaning “out” and “vocare” meaning “to call.” Hence, “evocare” literally translates to “to call out.” Over time, the word evolved in meaning and usage, coming to signify the act of bringing something to mind or eliciting a response, not just in a literal sense of calling out, but also in a metaphorical or psychological sense. This development occurred as the word passed through Latin into Old French and then into English, where it retained a similar meaning but broadened to include the idea of conjuring up emotions, images, or memories.
Play Competitive Wordle Against Me!
I’ve been playing a cutthroat game of PvP Wordle against my nemesis Wordle But. Now you should play against me! I can be your nemesis! (And your helpful Wordle guide, of course). You can also play against the Bot if you have a New York Times subscription.
Here are the rules:
- 1 point for getting the Wordle in 3 guesses.
- 2 points for getting it in 2 guesses.
- 3 points for getting it in 1 guess.
- 1 point for beating me
- 0 points for getting it in 4 guesses.
- -1 point for getting it in 5 guesses.
- -2 points for getting it in 6 guesses.
- -3 points for losing.
- -1 point for losing to me
You can either keep a running tally of your score if that’s your jam or just play day-to-day if you prefer.
Read the full article here