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 #1299) – 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 #1299) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is D.
D is the ninth most common starting letter in the game, so maybe slightly less likely than you might expect.
Wordle hints (game #1299) – 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 #1299) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is T.
T is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – in fact only E and Y are more likely in that position.
Wordle hints (game #1299) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1299.
- Today’s Wordle answer is an early version of something.
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 #1299)
- NYT average score: 3.7
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: TRADE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: HASTE (62)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1299) is… DRAFT.
An internal debate is raging within my brain about the rights and wrongs of using a past Wordle answers list. Today’s game will not have helped matters.
Consulting such a list is not cheating, of that I’m sure. After all, these are past answers. Anyone with a photographic memory would immediately know them all, and you wouldn’t accuse them of cheating. However, I know that not everyone uses one, and that therefore means that people who do have an advantage. An entirely reasonable advantage – but an advantage all the same. And I don’t want to have an advantage.
Anyway, I gave in to temptation today and looked at a list, and it gave me a four that might otherwise have been a five.
DRAFT is not a particularly tough Wordle answer – average score 3.7, according to WordleBot – but it does share its final four characters with CRAFT and GRAFT. That inevitably will have led to some people picking the wrong one today – unless they looked at a list, because that will have shown that CRAFT was the solution to game #1045 in April last year.
I had a further complication, in that by the time I’d completed my second guess, TRAIL, I had four answers left: those three plus GRANT. I could have played a narrowing-down word and guaranteed myself a four at that stage, but I didn’t want a four – I wanted a three. So I guessed GRAFT.
This was wrong, and in the worst way; if the G had turned green, I’d have known it was GRANT and would still have scored my four. But I was now staring at a possible five, courtesy of a 50/50 between DRAFT and CRAFT.
So, I Iooked at the list. Pandora’s box open, I saw that CRAFT had indeed appeared before (as had GRANT, as it happened), and was able to play DRAFT for a four. And even now, I’m not sure how I feel about it all.
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1298)
In a different time zone where it’s still Tuesday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1298, 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 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.
- There were 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 S.
S is really not a common ending letter at all – mainly because Wordle generally doesn’t allow plurals. It’s the 15th most likely letter to appear at the end of an answer.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1298.
- Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a collection of maps.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1298)
- NYT average score: 3.5
- My score: 4
- WordleBot’s score: 3
- Best start word performance*: STARE, STALE (1 remaining answer)
- My start word performance: MADLY (146)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1298) was… ATLAS.
Average scores in Wordle can be misleading. Take today, for example: average score 3.5, which is super low. But look closer and that might seem a little surprising. After all, it contains a repeated letter A, and three other letters in less than common positions.
The reason for this discrepancy? The fact that STARE, still the third most common of all of the best Wordle start words even after it was an answer last week, left only a single possibility. That means that the 4% of all Wordlers who began with STARE today will definitely have scored a two – well, unless they really messed up. Given that SLATE, which is a popular opener in its own right, also only left two options itself, that average will have been skewed.
Not by too much though. ATLAS is probably of middling difficulty without that helpful start word, and I don’t see many people losing their streak today. A is a common letter to be repeated, behind E, O and L, and the other letters are all common in their own right, even if not where you might expect them today in the case of L and S.
It is one of those games where you might find yourself chasing yellow letters around, though. That’s what happened to me, at least. My opening guess was MADLY, which gave me the yellow A and L, but which left 146 words. I followed up with PLACE – which, er, placed both of my yellows into their most common, er, places. This was not a terrible attempt, but it wasn’t great either; in hindsight I should have gone with SLATE, which was my initial thought and which would have given me the answer next guess.
Instead, PLACE left 26 words, so it took until after TONAL finally turned one of the As green before I had my answer, in an acceptable but not particularly impressive four moves.
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 #1298, Tuesday 7 January: ATLAS
- Wordle #1297, Monday 6 January: SPRIG
- Wordle #1296, Sunday 5 January: CYBER
- Wordle #1295, Saturday 4 January: RELAX
- Wordle #1294, Friday 3 January: CHEAP
- Wordle #1293, Thursday 2 January: CHOSE
- Wordle #1292, Wednesday 1 January: NERVE
- Wordle #1291, Tuesday 31 December: LEMUR
- Wordle #1290, Monday 30 December: STARE
- Wordle #1289, Sunday 29 December: MAMBO
- Wordle #1288, Saturday 28 December: DECRY
- Wordle #1287, Friday 27 December: GRAIN
- Wordle #1286, Thursday 26 December: AFFIX
- 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
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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