That was quite a bunch of unusual letters. Here are some hints — and the answer — for Wordle No. 1,244 for Thursday, Nov. 14.

hoangbre@gmail.com November 15, 2024 0

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I still play the New York Times Wordle game every day. But today, those game editors pulled out a tough one. We’ve ranked all the letters in the alphabet by popularity, and one of the letters in this word was pretty low down on the list. Mix that with the unusual starting letter, which also shows up midword, and that sound you hear is players’ streaks breaking all over the internet. If you need hints and help to get today’s Wordle answer, read on.

Everyday Wordle tips

I’ve written a lot about Wordle — from covering its 1,000th word to my list of the best starter words to a helpful two-step strategy to news about controversial word changes. I’ve even rounded up what I learned playing the hit online word puzzle for a full year. If you’re rethinking your need for the actual answer, you might try tips from one of those stories.

Still need a starter word? One person told me they just look around and choose a five-letter object they’ve spotted as their starter word — such as COUCH or CHAIR. I tend to stick to starter words that have the most popular letters used in English words. I like TRAIN as a starter, though I have a friend who uses TRAIL. I’ve read that people use the financial term ROATE, but I like to use words I actually know.

What is Wordle?

If you read this far, you know how to play. You have six chances to guess a five-letter word, and the game gives you feedback as to whether the letters you’ve guessed are in the puzzle or not, and if they’re in the same spot where you guessed they are. The New York Times bought the game from creator Josh Wardle for seven figures in 2022. Wardle famously created the game for his partner, and let her narrow down the 12,000 five-letter words in the English language to just 2,500, creating the database of answers. It was convenient, too, that he has a name that plays off “word.”

A Times spokesperson told me it lists the very first Wordle as appearing on June 19, 2021, and the paper celebrated the game’s 1,000th word on March 15. Spoiler: That 1,000th word was ERUPT. As in, “Dad will erupt if the Wordle is so tough he loses his streak.”