What strange times we live in. The world is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation (which corresponds mysteriously with record corporate profits) has made food, lodging and pretty much everything else more expensive than ever. The news is always bleak and depressing.

I suppose much of this sense of doom and dread we feel is exacerbated by social media and the internet and the 24 hour news cycle and all the divisiveness and endless bickering. Maybe things are bad but they could be worse. Maybe we have to find ways to be resilient and not let it get us down—or turn us into the things we claim to hate.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I like unifying things. One thing I love about games is that they really, truly are for everyone. Maybe not every game for everyone, but there are so many different kinds of games—card games, board games, video games, sports, puzzle games—and the one thing that unifies all of those is the fact that in order to participate you have to play (or watch others play, at least).

And play is a wonderful thing. The only other time outside of gaming (or the theater) that we use that word is to describe children. Children play with one another. They don’t even have to be playing games. Just spending time together as children doing nothing, running around outside, getting toys out in your room—it all counts as play. And as we get older we let that go in many respects. Now we “hang out” and we work and we do Very Important Grownup Things.

But at least if you’re doing Wordle every day, for a few minutes you’re playing again. And if that’s not enough (and it’s not enough) there are so many other things to play, from Call Of Duty and Elden Ring to basketball and tennis to cribbage and gin rummy. Play! Play lots! Play with your grownup friends! More play, less hatred. More play, less doom and gloom. Work hard, play hard. All that jazz.

Let’s do this Wordle.

Today’s Wordle Guide & Solution — Spoilers Ahead!

The Hint: Old, musty, dry.

The Clue: You’ll get there in two if you use Wordle Bot’s favorite today.

The Answer:

Well what can I say? I lucked out, but not as much as Wordle Bot and his adoring followers. Anyone who guessed slate today knew exactly what the answer was for Guess #2. I almost guessed stale myself, actually. I was trying to come up with a word that was very…