It’s time for your guide to today’s Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.
Don’t think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Want more word-based fun? TechRadar’s Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our verdict on two of the New York Times’ other brainteasers.
SPOILER WARNING: Today’s Wordle answer and hints are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.
Wordle hints (game #1286) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in two places*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Wordle hints (game #1286) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is A.
A is a reasonably common starting letter in Wordle: 140 games begin with this letter. It ranks 6th among starting letters, behind S, C, B, T and P.
Wordle hints (game #1286) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are repeated letters in today’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
Wordle hints (game #1286) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is X.
X is the sixth least likely ending letter in Wordle – and today’s game is one of only eight in which it finishes the solution!
Wordle hints (game #1286) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1286.
- Today’s Wordle answer is to attach.
If you just want to know today’s Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I’d always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We’ve got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.
If you don’t want to know today’s answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don’t say you weren’t warned!
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1286)
- NYT average score: 4.5
- My score: 5
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- Best start word performance*: SAINT (43 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: TIGHT (291)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1286) is… AFFIX.
What do HELIX (game #32), BORX (#662) and INDEX (#787) all have in common? Obviously they’re all previous examples of Wordle answers that end in an X, a short list to which you can now add today’s solution, AFFIX.
These are four of only eight Wordles that end in an X, a select group clearly – and one that tends to be hard to solve, given that INDEX had an average score of 4.2, BORAX of 4.7 and AFFIX 4.5. That innate difficulty was added to by the presence of a double-F – itself a rare occurrence, in that a mere 22 answers contain that pattern.
AFFIX was set up to be tough, then, and that was certainly my experience. It most likely will have been difficult for most people; only one of the top 20 best Wordle start words dipped below 100 remaining answers, SAINT at 43, and most were in the 150-200 range.
My random opener, TIGHT, was worse still at 291, but I did at least have a yellow I, and added in four other common letters to make SLICE. This was a “terrific choice” according to WordleBot, but incredibly unlucky – it failed to uncover any more letters, and the ‘bot awarded me only 5/99 for luck (versus 94/99 for skill).
I still had 30 words left at this stage, the ‘bot told me afterwards, but I probably didn’t focus as intently as I should have done, and identified only a handful including BRAIN, DRAIN and NADIR. It seemed to me that N was an important letter to include, but in reality I should have focused on D – which could also have given me the likes of RADIO, OVOID, AVOID, BRAID and RAPID.
BRAIN was not a disaster at all, but it still left six words: AUDIO (which I knew had been a past answer), AVOID, MAFIA, MAXIM, VAPID and AFFIX. I found all six apart from the final one, and decided that MAFIA would be a good choice as it would guarantee me a solve in five at worst. When the F turned green I was momentarily stumped, but a further hunt turned up AFFIX, and I played that next for my five.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1285)
In a different time zone where it’s still Wednesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1285, too.
- Wordle yesterday had vowels in two places.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
- The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. In fact, it’s almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.
- There were no repeated letters in yesterday’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
- The last letter in yesterday’s Wordle was E.
E is the most common letter to end a Wordle answer by far. That’s one of the reasons why many of the best start words, including SLATE, CRANE, CRATE and STARE, all end with one.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1285.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is something nice to do on Christmas Day.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1285)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 3
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STARE, SNARE, PARSE, SANER (4 remaining answers)
- My start word performance: GHOST (37)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1285) was… SHARE.
So here it is, then, the NYT’s Christmas gift to us: a Wordle that’s so easy most people will complete it in a matter of minutes, freeing up time to spend unwrapping gifts, making a ridiculously complicated lunch, arguing over Monopoly, stuffing yourself with chocolate or whatever else you chose to do today.
It was certainly a feast for those of you who begin with one of the best Wordle start words. STARE left only four possible solutions, as did the less popular SNARE, PARSE and SANER. CRANE left seven, ditto CRATE and TASER. Not that even the STARE crowd will have necessarily scored a two today, because the four words left will have been SCARE, SNARE, SPARE and SHARE.
These are all common words with common letters, and unless you have a very good memory (or consulted my past Wordle answers list) you may well have struggled to remember if any have appeared before. For the record, SNARE has been a solution (game #823), as has SCARE (#293), but SPARE has not – yet.
A three was therefore a likely result for many people, with a four or worse for those of you who refused to narrow down the options and instead blind guessed in search of that missing second letter. Or, if you had a worse start, you may have needed a second guess to get close, a third to narrow down, and a fourth to complete. That probably explains the average score of 3.7 today – it’s easy, but not super easy.
I really don’t see many people losing their streaks today, though. After all, S is the most common starting letter in the game, E the most common at the end, A the most common in the middle, R just common in general.
I didn’t have quite the opening that some people did, but GHOST, chosen randomly and apt for Christmas Day, still performed well, cutting my options to 37. And, pleasingly, I spotted the pattern right away – that green H in the second position was always likely to be preceded by either a T, W or S, and I already had a yellow S on the board.
Rather than guess at STARE or similar at that stage, I played CLEAR to narrow it down as much as I could. And my approach worked (albeit with a bit of luck), giving me the other three letters and leaving only SHARE as a possible answer.
Have a lovely day, everyone, and see you tomorrow.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than two years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday’s answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.
- Wordle #1285, Wednesday 25 December: SHARE
- Wordle #1284, Tuesday 24 December: EAGLE
- Wordle #1283, Monday 23 December: SAUNA
- Wordle #1282, Sunday 22 December: BRAWN
- Wordle #1281, Saturday 21 December: BLADE
- Wordle #1280, Friday 20 December: FLASH
- Wordle #1279, Thursday 19 December: STRAY
- Wordle #1278, Wednesday 18 December: HEFTY
- Wordle #1277, Tuesday 17 December: SCOWL
- Wordle #1276, Monday 16 December: BOAST
- Wordle #1275, Sunday 15 December: FUNKY
- Wordle #1274, Saturday 14 December: DROOL
- Wordle #1273, Friday 13 December: BOXER
- Wordle #1272, Thursday 12 December: VYING
- Wordle #1271, Wednesday 11 December: PLUMB
- Wordle #1270, Tuesday 10 December: PATIO
- Wordle #1269, Monday 9 December: FLUNG
- Wordle #1268, Sunday 8 December: HYENA
- Wordle #1267, Saturday 7 December: HILLY
- Wordle #1266, Friday 6 December: SHOVE
- Wordle #1265, Thursday 5 December: ENDOW
- Wordle #1264, Wednesday 4 December: CRYPT
- Wordle #1263, Tuesday 3 December: SHAKY
- Wordle #1262, Monday 2 December: GUILE
- Wordle #1261, Sunday 1 December: MAUVE
- Wordle #1260, Saturday 30 November: DOGMA
- Wordle #1259, Friday 29 November: HIPPO
- Wordle #1258, Thursday 28 November: CHOCK
- Wordle #1257, Wednesday 27 November: SLANG
- Wordle #1256, Tuesday 26 November: WITCH
- Wordle #1255, Monday 25 November: BROWN
- Wordle #1254, Sunday 24 November: TWIST
- Wordle #1253, Saturday 23 November: JELLY
- Wordle #1252, Friday 22 November: PEARL
- Wordle #1251, Thursday 21 November: SPINE
- Wordle #1250, Wednesday 20 November: NICHE
- Wordle #1249, Tuesday 19 November: GOING
- Wordle #1248, Monday 18 November: FRAIL
- Wordle #1247, Sunday 17 November: TALLY
- Wordle #1246, Saturday 16 November: VISOR
- Wordle #1245, Friday 15 November: TACKY
- Wordle #1244, Thursday 14 November: UVULA
- Wordle #1243, Wednesday 13 November: PRIMP
- Wordle #1242, Tuesday 12 November: FLOWN
- Wordle #1241, Monday 11 November: STOIC
- Wordle #1240, Sunday 10 November: INNER
- Wordle #1239, Saturday 9 November: SWELL
- Wordle #1238, Friday 8 November: READY
- Wordle #1237, Thursday 7 November: EVENT
- Wordle #1236, Wednesday 6 November: TRULY
What is Wordle?
If you’re on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you’ve not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it’s the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm last year and is still going strong in 2024.
We’ve got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics.
What is Wordle?
Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it’s in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it’s not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh?
It’s played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times’ Crossword app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free.
Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak.
What are the Wordle rules?
The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray.
4. Answers are never plural.
5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.
7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode.
8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle.
9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle’s list of 2,309 solutions. However…
11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won’t be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
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