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⬛ ⬛ ⬛ How to win Wordle | Morning Newsletter

And an unseen genius.

To win at Wordle, players should think of letter frequency and also how they are arranged, which is a bigger challenge in English than many other languages.
To win at Wordle, players should think of letter frequency and also how they are arranged, which is a bigger challenge in English than many other languages.Read moreTOM AVRIL/STAFF
    by Ashley Hoffman
    Published 

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

🌥️ It’s sunny and cold, with highs expected in the upper-30s but minus those face-numbing winds that made being outside yesterday mighty unpleasant.

If you’ve seen people sharing braggy grids of black, yellow, and green squares on social media, then you’ve come across Wordle, the puzzle game distracting millions. We crunched the numbers to tell you how to ace it.

And today I’m remembering one of the most captivating stories we’ve talked about in the newsletter, Fran Ross’ 1974 novel Oreo. Ross was an unseen genius in her time, but today the West Philly author’s survival story is considered a literary masterpiece.

📪 Do you want to shout out someone you know doing something great for the community? We want to feature the most heartwarming examples. Tell us in 75 words or less. And see us at the bottom of the pop quiz for an experiment with a word game of our own.

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Let’s master Wordle in 5 sentences

It’s Wordle’s world and if you’re not wordling in it yet, playing the game that’s suddenly everywhere doesn’t have to be intimidating. You just need to make right moves.

How it works: Players get six chances to guess a five-letter word with colorful cues along the way. We turned to linguistics and computer science experts to help you crack the code in five sentences.

⬛ B-O-O-S-T your odds by picking words with letters that appear the most often.

⬛ L-O-O-K for rules that govern where certain letter combos appear, a.k.a. “phonotactic constraints.”

⬛ T-R-Y the letter combos you see the most, too, and in that same order.

⬛ F-O-R example, you’ll find usual suspects like C-K at the end of words.

⬛ G-E-T to the answer quicker by starting with the word SALET, a mathematician who knows a thing or two says.

It’s intuitive, you’ll get it. If you’re seeing green, you’re in the right zone. Our reporter Tom Avril has the 10 best starting words and the 10 worst starting words. The blank squares beckon.

What you should know today

  1. The jumbled Pennsylvania GOP primaries will stay that way. Here’s why.

  2. It’s morning so time for doughnuts. But this doughnut our weather guru Tony Wood tells us about isn’t edible yet a delicious factoid about the Philly area’s snowfall.

  3. Val Arkoosh dropped out of the Senate race.

  4. A Chester County surgeon was fired after she allegedly prescribed bogus COVID drugs through the restaurant Taste of Sicily.

  5. Bobby Henon got some help from his former Council office as he looks for a softer prison sentence.

  6. Our columnist Jenice Armstrong says parents need to teach Black history themselves.

  7. Ready with a teaching assist is Smith Memorial Playground in Philly’s Fairmount Park, which yesterday opened its Black History Month exhibit, “Leaders and Legends.”

  8. Here’s how you can test your toddler for COVID-19.

  9. Meet the 20-year-old Bucks County Olympian speedskater who’s gliding for glory.

  10. Our restaurant critic Critic Craig LaBan devoured Delco so he can tell you where to go in the land of hoagie dip and scrapple fries. Cross the county line to Sandwich Country.

  11. And relentlessly positive Sixers star Tyrese Maxey talks to us about navigating the aftermath of a house fire.

  12. Local Coronavirus Numbers: Here’s your daily look at the latest COVID-19 data.

❓Pop Quiz ❓

Remember one of Pennsylvania’s most colorful politicians James “Jimmy” Tayoun’s antics from touring our Hall of Shame of Philly politicians?

And while we have each other, sign up for Clout to get the early word on all the shenanigans around people, power, and politics.

1. Which of these jobs did James “Jimmy” Tayoun never have?

A) sportswriter

B) attorney

C) kitchen manager at a federal minimum-security prison

D) newspaper publisher

2. What was the title of his advice book?

A) What’s Cookin’ With Jimmy

B) Going to Prison?

C) Jimmy Rides Again

D) Be nice. Smile. Only Say What You Know.

Find out the answers here.

Get wordy with us

While we’re talking words, can you unscramble this anagram?

COOKIE RILIING

⛸️ Hint: It’s the Jersey ice skating rink where you might spot former Olympians.

📪 Send us your answer.

For today’s Sunday track, we’re listening to...

🎶 And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning. “You Belong to Me, I Believe.” And someone says, “you’re in the wrong place, my friend. You’d better leave.” And the only sound that’s left after the ambulances go is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row. 🎶

👋🏽 Master of ceremonies Kerith will be back with you tomorrow. Drink and eat well. Look, a Fletcher Cox tomato pie.