Hardle Solver - Bulls and Cows Word Puzzle Helper
2 min read
I built a Hardle Solver — a companion tool for Hardle, the Bulls & Cows word puzzle.
How Hardle differs from Wordle:
Instead of per-tile color feedback, Hardle gives you just two numbers after each guess: how many letters are in the correct position (green) and how many are the right letter but wrong position (yellow). This makes it significantly harder — you know how many are right, but not which ones.
How the solver works:
• Type your guess (or click a suggestion)
• Enter the two numbers Hardle gives you
• Hit Submit — the solver filters all 12,000+ candidates to only words consistent with every guess
• Suggestions update in real-time, ranked by positional letter frequency
• Keyboard dims letters that can’t appear in any remaining candidate
The core algorithm:
For each candidate word, the solver computes what the bulls/cows score would be if that word were the answer, given your guess. If the computed score doesn’t match what Hardle told you, that candidate is eliminated. After a few guesses, you’re usually down to a handful of possibilities.
Built with the same 12,970-word list as our Wordle Solver, vanilla JavaScript, no frameworks needed.
Try it out → Read more...
How Hardle differs from Wordle:
Instead of per-tile color feedback, Hardle gives you just two numbers after each guess: how many letters are in the correct position (green) and how many are the right letter but wrong position (yellow). This makes it significantly harder — you know how many are right, but not which ones.
How the solver works:
• Type your guess (or click a suggestion)
• Enter the two numbers Hardle gives you
• Hit Submit — the solver filters all 12,000+ candidates to only words consistent with every guess
• Suggestions update in real-time, ranked by positional letter frequency
• Keyboard dims letters that can’t appear in any remaining candidate
The core algorithm:
For each candidate word, the solver computes what the bulls/cows score would be if that word were the answer, given your guess. If the computed score doesn’t match what Hardle told you, that candidate is eliminated. After a few guesses, you’re usually down to a handful of possibilities.
Built with the same 12,970-word list as our Wordle Solver, vanilla JavaScript, no frameworks needed.
Try it out → Read more...