Pete's Log: Puzzling
Entry #2513, (Word Games and Puzzles)(posted when I was 45 years old.)
Today's Wordle (#1037) tripped up nearly 30% of solvers. I survived, but barely.
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I generally play according to the rules of "hard mode" but do not have the setting enabled. After turn four above I saw the trap and did not stick to hard mode. I don't like the idea of letting things come down to luck. But I did some reading up just now and apparently even in hard mode, all Wordles should be solvable. It just takes ideal play. And probably not starting with a different word every day.
Sometime in the past year or two the NYT Games app added Sudoku puzzles. Perhaps around the same time that they renamed the app from NYT Crossword to NYT Games. So I started playing them. They offer three puzzles a day - easy, medium and hard. Once a month or so one of the hards would give me some grief and the forums would suggest advanced techniques such as "skyscraper" or "two-string kite" and my eyes would glaze over a bit.
For a little while when the three NYT puzzles weren't enough for one day, I gave sudoku.com a go, but after a while I realized their hardest puzzles were starting to feel familiar. I learned the reason for this is that they only have a few puzzles constructed at that level, and mix things up by permuting those puzzles. You can rearrange rows or columns or switch the numbers and still have effectively the same puzzle, just looking different. So for some time I cut back again to just the NYT Sudoku.
Until recently, that is, when I discovered sudoku.coach. It's a well-designed site and includes a neat campaign mode that has actually taught me skyscraper and x-wing and two-string kite without my eyes glazing over. There are still many advanced techniques to go, like Swordfish, W-Wing, Finned Jellyfish and 3D-Medusa. We'll see how far I get with those. But for the time being, sudoku.coach has become my latest puzzling addiction.