Last time, we saw some of the benefits of an ample vocabulary. As promised, this time we’re focusing on five-letter words that might appear in Wordle — if the game were to use words more recondite than it actually does. In the Oxford English Dictionary, these words appear on frequency bands 2–4, meaning that they’re neither common nor impossibly rare. Let’s get straight to the quiz. Don’t check your results till you’ve committed to all 25 answers.

alary /ay-luh-ree/: (a) suffering from nerve damage; (b) unsettled, troubled, distressed; (c) having or involving wings; (d) shriveled.

algid /al-jid/: (a) involving algae; (b) painful; (c) chilly, frigid; (d) creepy.

besom /bee-zuhm/: (a) a male breast; (b) a broom or other implement that sweeps away impurities; (c) simile; (d) metaphor.

bosky: (a) deprived of light; (b) relat- ing to dusk; (c) confusingly tricky; (d) full of thickets, bushy.

bruit /broot/: (a) to beat playfully; (b) to tinge with an umber color; (c) to spread as a report or rumor; (d) to demagogue.

cairn /kayrn/: (a) a pyramidal landmark raised as a memorial; (b) a small child; (c) a petroglyph; (d) an ancient Scottish wall.

chine /chīn/: (a) a backbone; (b) a glossy enamel; (c) a carnivorous fish; (d) a bumpy surface.

churl /chuhrl/: (a) an insult; (b) a rude, boorish person; (c) a curling athlete; (d) a Norwegian frozen-yogurt delicacy.

cozen /kuhz-n/: (a) to cheat or deceive; (b) to covet what is impossible to possess; (c) to prize one’s possessions; (d) to hide coweringly.

davit /dav-it/: (a) a curved piece of timber or iron projecting from a ship’s side; (b) the pedestal on which a finial is placed; (c) an Elizabethan column; (d) a Greek column that integrates Corinthian and Doric attributes.

fucus /fyoo-kuhs/: (a) a deciduous tree suitable for indoor potting; (b) a type of ancient hieroglyphic script; (c) seaweeds with leathery fronds; (d) a blowfish that lives near the ocean floor.

glebe /gleeb/: (a) a portion of land; (b) a diving bird with feet way back and almost no tail; (c) a guilty plea; (d) a representation of Pangaea.

hyson /hī-suhn/: (a) a green curry from Malaysia; (b) a green tea from China; (c) a water chestnut; (d) pickled bamboo shoots.

looby: (a) an awkward, clownish lout; (b) a gawky adolescent who has just undergone a growth spurt; (c) a prisoner; (d) an escapee.

mulct /muhlkt/: (a) to punish by fine; (b) to insult gratuitously; (c) to shove against a wall or other structure; (d) to tax in a confiscatory way.

nisus /nī-suhs/: (a) a glass goblet; (b) an im-p-ulse or tendency; (c) shade; (d) the epicanthic fold on an eyelid.

offal /off-uhl/: (a) rubbish, garbage, refuse; (b) noisy commotion; (c) an offensive taste; (d) veneration.

oriel: (a) a clear pane of glass; (b) stained glass with primarily octagonal shapes; (c) a polygonal window projecting from a building and supported by one or more corbels; (d) a bracket supporting a window or other aperture.

prink: (a) to fillip with a flick of a finger; (b) to primp, spruce up, or make tidy; (c) to dawdle; (d) to malinger.

sepal /seep-uhl/: (a) any religious artifact; (b) raiment for the clergy; (c) a leaf on a flower; (d) phlegm.

shive /shīv/: (a) a dark impurity in the fabric of paper; (b) a bare bodkin; (c) any ensheathed weapon; (d) a hornet’s nest.

skirl /skuhrl/: (a) to swing recklessly; (b) to drain in a whorl of liquid; (c) to play a bagpipe; (d) to sing scat.

stele /steel/: (a) the cylindrical stem of a vascular plant; (b) a blue iris; (c) any red flower; (d) collectively, the fluids within a plant.

sward /swahrd/: (a) a fragment of broken pottery; (b) a grassy plot of ground; (c) a barren plot of ground; (d) a swoosh under a signature.

withe /wīth/: (a) a pliable branch or twig; (b) the extremities of an ivy plant; (c) wizened skin; (d) an animal pelt.

Impossibly hard, you say? That reaction is well-nigh unimaginable from any loyal reader of a magazine founded by the estimable William F. Buckley, who made recherché words fashionable on the right. He gave us things to aspire to.

Answers: 1. (c). 2. (c). 3. (b). 4. (d). 5. (c). 6. (a). 7. (a). 8. (b). 9. (a). 10. (a). 11. (c). 12. (a). 13. (b). 14. (a). 15. (a). 16. (b). 17. (a). 18. (c). 19. (b). 20. (c). 21. (a). 22. (c). 23. (a). 24. (b). 25. (a).