(old puzzle, no spoilers)Screenshot: Hurdle
You guys know I’m a fan of the devilishly hard Wordle variations, like Antiwordle and Squardle. But sometimes I just want to play a Wordle variation because I like Wordle and would like to have another serving of it, please. Hurdle obliges, with only a slight twist.
In Hurdle, you have to solve five Wordle-style puzzles. That’s almost as many words as Squardle, but you get to attack each one separately and with the same strategies you use for regular Wordle. The idea is that each puzzle represents one of five hurdles that you must clear to triumph each day.
What makes this different from any of the “infinite Wordle” variations (just google “infinite Wordle,” there are roughly an infinite number of them) is that the five puzzles are linked. The solution of the first puzzle gets automatically filled in as the starting guess of the second. The solution of the second is the starter of the third, and so on.
This continues until the final hurdle, which is the hard part. All four of the previous solutions get filled in as guesses, leaving you only two opportunities to guess your own. But the genius of Hurdle is that even if you lose the fifth game, you’ve still already had the satisfaction of solving the ones before it.
I’m not sure if the fifth hurdle is always solvable, but I suspect it is. The previous words tend to give you plenty of clues, and you have two shots at the answer. I usually get it, although at least once I didn’t. (Sadly, the cookies don’t seem to stick in my browser, so I don’t have a running streak or any stats to boast about.)
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Aside from the pressure on that last, tough puzzle, I find that the format actually makes the game a bit more chill. Regular Wordle is easy enough that I end up challenging myself to solve it in three guesses, and I get disappointed when I get it in four. With Hurdle, I’m a bit more adventurous, more likely to try a double letter or a less common word just to see what happens; after all, I have 23 total guesses to spend before I’m done. So if you want a new form of Wordle that’s interesting without being too hard, give Hurdle a try.
