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A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Tuesday’s puzzle instead then click here.
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.
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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 #1369) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has a vowel in one place*.
* 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 #1369) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is 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.
Wordle hints (game #1369) – clue #3 – repeated letters
Does today’s Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are no 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 #1369) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is K.
K is much more common at the end of a Wordle answer than at the start, and in fact ranks ninth overall in this regard.
Wordle hints (game #1369) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1369.
- Today’s Wordle answer gets things started.
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 #1369)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- My start word performance: NOISY (199 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: CRANE (27)
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1369) is… SPARK.
I am proclaiming this to be Moral Victory in Wordle Day, because though WordleBot and I ended up with the same 4/6 score for SPARK, my start word left a far greater number of possible solutions.
On the other hand, maybe we should both be castigated for only scoring a four on a day when the average is a half guess lower at 3.5.
That said, the performance of STARE – one of the best Wordle start words and one of the most popular will have skewed things today. That left only 12 options, and a very good chance of a three so long as you sensibly narrowed them down on the second guess. It’s easyish, sure, but I’m not sure it’s a 3.5 game in reality.
The thing about S-starting Wordles is that there are too many letters that can appear in the second position. There are 16 of them: T, H, P, L, N, C, M, W, K, Q, Y, A, E, I, O and U.
That’s more than half of the total number of letters available, meaning you may well not know where to start (hint – not with the likes of SK or SQ, because they are a lot less likely than ST, SH and SP).
Contrast that with a letter like T or C and you can see the problem; they are both only followed by nine other letters.
That, I’m sure, is why S is by far the most common starting letter – it’s a sociable thing, the kind that can talk to everyone at a party rather than standing alone in the corner waiting for the one person it knows, like a Q (or me).
Anyway, if your start word began with an S and also ruled out other possible second letters, as STARE did, you’ll have had a good chance of solving this swiftly. If not, you might have needed a while longer.
My opening word was NOISY, which was not a disaster at all despite leaving 199 options. It did give me an S, and although it was yellow I never had any doubt that it would go at the start.
I confirmed that on the second guess with STARE – just call me Captain Obvious – and that gave me two more greens.
With three letters in place and six others ruled out, I was slightly surprised to find out that I still had quite a few words left, but I did: eight according to WordleBot, seven according to my brain.
I found SCARP, SCARF, SPARK, SHARK, SHARD, SHARP and SWARM, with the missing link being SMARM, which I don’t really feel like I should have found. I mean it’s not a real word, is it? Sure, Merriam-Webster dictionary disagrees, but I’d only ever use it as SMARMY, not SMARM. Maybe that’s just me.
My third guess, CHAMP, was not guaranteed to find the answer, because it might have left a 50/50 between SHARK and SHARD. But that was true of WordleBot’s suggested WHOMP, too, and as it happened both left just the one answer.
That was SPARK, so I played it next for my four.
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1368)
In a different time zone where it’s still Tuesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1368, 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 T.
T is one of the most common starting letters in the game, beginning 149 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. That gives it a ranking of fourth in the alphabet, behind only S, C and B.
- 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 R.
R is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – it’s actually the 4th most common there, behind E, Y and T.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1368.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a device for measuring duration.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1368)
- NYT average score: 4.0
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 4
- My start word performance: UNWED (216 remaining answers)
- WordleBot’s start word performance: CRANE (191)
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1368) was… TIMER.
It’s been a while since we’ve had an ER answer; HOVER, on the first day of March.
That was a stinker of a Wordle, with an average score of 4.7, but today’s TIMER is being solved in a much more reasonable 4.0 steps. So, what gives?
Well, I suspect it’s a combination of factors. For one, T is a very common starting letter, far more so than H. Many people will have had it somewhere in their first guess, which will have made the task easier right away.
It’s also possible that TIMER’s commonality as a word helped. I’ve played it before as a narrowing-down option, whereas I wouldn’t ever think to go with HOVER unless I knew there was an H or V in the word.
Whatever the reason, it doesn’t look like being a streak killer; well, unless you play on Hard mode, in which case all bets are off.
What you really wanted here was a start word that began with a T, and that included an E and R. There are four of these within the top 20 best Wordle start words, according to WordleBot: TRACE, TRADE, TASER and TRICE.
Each performed excellently, leaving 14, 13, eight and five possible solutions respectively. In contrast, my opening UNWED lacked a T and R (and for that matter an I or M) and left 216 possibilities.
As soon as I saw that green E in the penultimate spot, my brain began thinking “ER word! ER word!” I decided to confirm that format without using the E again – doing so would enable me to include one extra letter, which would help with narrowing-down duties.
That led me to STAIR: it had the R at the end, where I needed it, and included two more very common consonants and two likely vowels.
STAIR was a success, giving me that green R plus yellow T and I. That left me with only six possible answers.
Five of these were easy to find: TIGER, TIMER, LITER, MITER and BITER. Or at least they were easy once I shifted my brain into US spelling mode for LITER (LITRE) and MITER (MITRE).
The sixth, according to the ‘Bot, was TITER – which is a word I am not familiar with but which is something to do with medicine, apparently.
I thought MITER was also unlikely, and ruled out TIGER as a past Wordle answer; I remembered this because it was either the second or third game I played, way back in early 2022.
That left me with three to pick from: TIMER, LITER and BITER. Playing TIMER might have left me a 50/50, so I went with LITER instead, and when that was wrong was left to play TIMER for an acceptable four.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than three 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 #1368, Tuesday 18 March: TIMER
- Wordle #1367, Monday 17 March: LASSO
- Wordle #1366, Sunday 16 March: STAMP
- Wordle #1365, Saturday 15 March: LADLE
- Wordle #1364, Friday 14 March: PIECE
- Wordle #1363, Thursday 13 March: CHASE
- Wordle #1362, Wednesday 12 March: MANGO
- Wordle #1361, Tuesday 11 March: TRACK
- Wordle #1360, Monday 10 March: SPITE
- Wordle #1359, Sunday 9 March: GREED
- Wordle #1358, Saturday 8 March: NAVEL
- Wordle #1357, Friday 7 March: TROOP
- Wordle #1356, Thursday 6 March: ALERT
- Wordle #1355, Wednesday 5 March: SCRUM
- Wordle #1354, Tuesday 4 March: CHECK
- Wordle #1353, Monday 3 March: SPEAR
- Wordle #1352, Sunday 2 March: DEITY
- Wordle #1351, Saturday 1 March: HOVER
- Wordle #1350, Friday 28 February: FUZZY
- Wordle #1349, Thursday 27 February: LODGE
- Wordle #1348, Wednesday 26 February: AWARD
- Wordle #1347, Tuesday 25 February: DRYER
- Wordle #1346, Monday 24 February: GLAND
- Wordle #1345, Sunday 23 February: OTTER
- Wordle #1344, Saturday 22 February: CREAM
- Wordle #1343, Friday 21 February: CLOVE
- Wordle #1342, Thursday 20 February: ROACH
- Wordle #1341, Wednesday 19 February: MADLY
- Wordle #1340, Tuesday 18 February: INDIE
- Wordle #1339, Monday 17 February: TRAIL
- Wordle #1338, Sunday 16 February: SUAVE
- Wordle #1337, Saturday 15 February: CROOK
- Wordle #1336, Friday 14 February: DITTY
- Wordle #1335, Thursday 13 February: RUMBA
- Wordle #1334, Wednesday 12 February: RAPID
- Wordle #1333, Tuesday 11 February: SCORE
- Wordle #1332, Monday 10 February: GOODY
- Wordle #1331, Sunday 9 February: BONUS
- Wordle #1330, Saturday 8 February: STEEP
- Wordle #1329, Friday 7 February: SWATH
- Wordle #1328, Thursday 6 February: PUPIL
- Wordle #1327, Wednesday 5 February: PEDAL
- Wordle #1326, Tuesday 4 February: TOOTH
- Wordle #1325, Monday 3 February: REVUE
- Wordle #1324, Sunday 2 February: CHORE
- Wordle #1323, Saturday 1 February: RIVET
- Wordle #1322, Friday 31 January: TOAST
- Wordle #1321, Thursday 30 January: FALSE
- Wordle #1320, Wednesday 29 January: UDDER
- Wordle #1319, Tuesday 28 January: FEVER
- Wordle #1318, Monday 27 January: SHUNT
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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