A Wordle puzzle from December.

This is why we can't have nice things. Apparently all of the upcoming answers for Wordle, the simple word-guessing game that's earned so much social buzz, are hidden in the game's code. We know this because of a tweet from a man in India I'm linking to here, but won't embed, because it supposedly shows the words that will be puzzle answers soon. 

WARNING:  If you click on that above link, don't say I didn't warn you. It actually SHOWS the winning words coming up. People are already asking (begging?) the original poster to take down the image, as it's possible to stumble across it innocently while surfing Twitter. 

I'm a prime example. I accidentally saw tomorrow's answer and now I'm more than a little irked. I guess I could cheat and pretend I got it on one try, but no one who knows me will believe that, and what's the benefit? Now I'll have to find some other way to distract myself from midnight tonight to 12:05 the following day. Thanks a LOT, Twitter. I reached out to Wordle creator Josh Wardle for comment on the tweet, but didn't get an immediate response.

CNET writers have happily jumped on the Wordle bandwagon. It's a long, cold winter in the middle of a pandemic and damn, we deserve a five-minute daily break from thinking about the world situation. Here are staff members' favorite starter words and tips, a fun batch of Wordle memes, and other word games you might enjoy.

Cheaters, here's another way to cheat

And if you really want to cheat at Wordle (WHY?), I can tell you another way. I'm not endorsing this, mind you, but it's  a wee bit less blatant than just reading the answers in the game code. 

So start playing Wordle, make a few guesses, and once you are completely stumped, with just a few green squares indicating correct letters in the correct spots, go to a crossword solver, such as this one. (Some online crossword solvers require you to type in the clue the puzzle gives you -- Wordle doesn't have any clues, but the link I provide here doesn't ask for those.)

Once you're at the link, set the number of letters to 5, since all Wordle puzzles are five letters long. Type in only the green-square letters you know, and be sure to put them in the right spot. Leave the ones you don't know blank, even if you know some letters but don't know their position. You'll be given a list of words that fit those requirements -- one of them is likely the Wordle answer. It's still cheating, but at least you made a few guesses on your own first?

Wordle will probably fall from grace soon, joining the pile of past pandemic pursuits, such as Dalgona whipped coffee and Tiger King. But until it does, don't cheat yourself. The world is only too eager to take your little pleasures away -- there's no need to hand them over willingly.