Today’s Wordle #729 Hints, Clues And Answer For Sunday, June 18th

Happy Father’s Day to all those fathers out there solving Wordles and taking care of the hard work that raising a family entails. This is a great day to sit and reflect on what it means to be a father, or what your father means to you. For some of us, it’s a day of joy and celebration. For others, perhaps a day of loss or regret. Not all of us are lucky enough to still have our dads, and some don’t have very good ones.

Being a father is hard but rewarding work. Exhausting at times, but mostly gratifying. It’s also a learning experience that has a very, very long learning curve. My parenting style now compared to when my kids were young has undergone a massive evolution. Robert Jordan wrote, in his fantasy novel The Fires Of Heaven, “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” I am the willow. Some fathers are oak.

I’m not sure that I am wholly unbroken, however, but I bend with the wind and survive.

In any case, here’s to the fathers of the world, including my own who longtime readers of this column may recall, used to write up clever little etymology passages for the daily Wordles. Those were fun, but a lot of (unpaid) labor on his part.

Alright, on to the Wordle!

How To Solve Today’s Wordle

The Hint: When you do something in a way that is neither confident or boisterous.

The Clue: This word has a double letter.

The Answer:

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.

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Shyly!

Wordle Bot Analysis

My winning streak continues today with a frankly bizarre bit of good luck on my part, though it still took three guesses to get the answer. Whale was a phenomenally good opening guess today, landing me two green boxes and slashing my remaining solutions down to just five—though of course I didn’t know that at the time.

I decided to keep the green letters in place and guess a word that seemed a likely choice. Besides, I could think of three different words that started with “CH”—child, chili and chill. I picked one at random and got nothing.

Here’s where things got surprising. I could not for the life of me figure out what words would even work at this point. I didn’t realize I only had one possible solution remaining and had to really go over each letter until finally it occurred to me that the ‘Y’ might be the missing piece. Sure enough, shyly was the answer. That’s a tough one!

Today’s Score: A banger of a game today. I got it in three which is worth 1 point and I beat Wordle Bot, who guessed slate / krill / scold / shyly, which gets me 1 more point for a total of 2! Huzzah! Huzzah!

Today’s Wordle Etymology

The word “shyly” is derived from the adjective “shy.” “Shy” originated in the late Middle English period and can be traced back to the Old English word “sceoh,” which means “timid” or “frightened.” The word “shy” itself has remained relatively unchanged in terms of its basic meaning over the centuries.

To form the adverb “shyly,” the suffix “-ly” is added to the adjective “shy.” The suffix “-ly” is a common way of forming adverbs in English, indicating the manner or way in which an action is performed. It has its roots in Old English and is related to the German “-lich” and the Dutch “-lijk.”

Therefore, “shyly” describes the manner in which someone behaves or acts with timidity or reserve, reflecting the underlying meaning of the adjective “shy.”

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 Erik
• 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 Erik

You can either keep a running tally of your score if that’s your jam or just play day-to-day if you prefer.

I’d love it if you gave me a follow on Twitter or Facebook dearest Wordlers. Have a lovely day!

As always, I’d love it if you’d follow me here on this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel and my Substack so you can stay up-to-date on all my TV, movie and video game reviews and coverage. Thanks!