Wordle came out recently, so it's not like HN could have been obsessed with it years ago.
It's not just the tech community - non-techies in my family like it.
You may not remember it, but Sudoku became widely popular starting around 2005. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku#Modern_Sudoku .
This lead to an number of tech people to develop solvers, perhaps Novig's being the most famous, and Ron Jeffries TDD-based failed attempt perhaps the most infamous.
You can see traces of that period on HN at https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=18&prefix=false&q...