Wordle might save your life

Epoxy. Nymph. If you read those words and went “a-hah!” then you, like me, may be addicted to Wordle.

Those were this weekend’s answers to the five-letter daily puzzle. Tough ones, I thought.

I’m on day 54 of my current streak… and the word “streak” makes me think of “steak”, which is a pretty good starter word for Wordle, right?

My current favourite starter is “cause” – three vowels, a useful S, a cunning C – although some days it might be groin or radio.

I begin each day with Wordle, still in my PJs, then message my family my score.

Next, I do Quordle while I boil the kettle; Quordle being the four-word version of Wordle, also with a new puzzle daily.

While drinking my tea, I do Globle, which is the geography version, with a daily country to guess on an online globe with no borders marked – just darkening shades of red the closer you get to the solution. Globle is improving my geography: I can now find Turkmenistan on a map.

Finally, I attempt Heardle, which is basically “name that tune” based on popular song introductions, but I’m not great at it because I’m getting old, so banging young people’s music eludes me. I sense a gap in the market for an era-based Heardle, starting with ‘80s music, please.

When I’m finished I feel elated, then crash, wanting more. This, then, is why I’ve never done drugs, because I know how addicted I’d get.

However, even I have my limits. Octurdle – the eight-solution Wordle, the oxycontin of word games – proved too much. So too did Wortel, the Afrikaans Wordle.

I don’t feel these efforts are a waste of time, though. I’m done before I’ve finished my second cup of tea, and I feel my brain-stretching, reaching… Or maybe I’m deluded.

Anyway, Wordle might save your life.

A woman in the USA messaged her daughter in Canada her daily score. One day, the daughter received no message.

Concerned, she contacted the neighbour. The neighbour couldn’t locate her either, although her car was there.

She called the police.

It turned out a crack addict had broken in, robbed her, and then locked her in the basement – panicking, without food, water or her phone.

I’m guessing she was panicking that her Wordle streak might be broken.

NOW READ: ‘Wortel’ – Afrikaans version of Wordle to leave you guessing for good