Looking for help with today’s Wordle? In this guide, we have some extra hints and clues to help you on your path to Wordle victory, plus a fun Bonus Wordle to solve while you’re at it. The answer is below as well, plus some Wordle Bot analysis and plenty more.

Saturday is back, baby, and it’s my last day before I take a very short little self-care solo vacay down to warmer climes. Let’s solve this Wordle and I’m gonna go get packin’!

Looking for Friday’s Wordle answer? Check out our guide right here .

Today’s Wordle Hints & Clues

Okay, now that the bonus custom Wordle is out of the way, let’s move on to the official real deal Wordle!

  • Wordle Bot’s Starting Word: SLATE
  • My Starting Word Today:
  • The Hint :
  • The Clue:

Hints not enough, or curious to see if you did better than me on today’s Wordle? You can find the answer and read my Wordle Bot analysis and check out the current Competitive Wordle score between me, your humble Wordle guide, and the Wordle Bot below!

“Gaffe” came into English around 1900 from French, where gaffe means a boathook, a long pole with a hook on the end. French slang also used it for a clumsy blunder, and that’s the sense English borrowed. The fishing tool lives on in its cousin, “gaff.”

Today’s Wordle Bot Analysis

Every day I check Wordle Bot to help analyze my guessing game. You can check your Wordle score with Wordle Bot right here .

Ironic, isn’t it, that I should get my first really bad guessing game of the month with the word GAFFE? I do love some good irony, though it’s always unfortunate when it’s at one’s own expense. It’s like rain on your wedding day.

In any case, PRATE left me with just 54 words and a green and yellow box. Not too shabby! VAILS was not so great, slashing that down to 10 and plopping the yellow “A” into green. MANGE seemed a solid third, but left me with two. A coin toss. A tough choice. GAUZE or GAFFE. As you know, I almost never pick double letters and I stuck to that strategy today. Alas, it was GAFFE! What a blunder!

I get -1 for guessing in five and another -1 for losing to the Bot. The Bot gets 0 for guessing in four and 1 for beating me. I actually had to update our scores because I forgot to double points for 2XP Friday yesterday, so the adjusted totals today are:

Today’s Bonus Custom Wordle

One Wordle not enough? I come up with a new custom Wordle every day for you to solve. Here’s today’s.

Today’s Bonus Custom Wordle is 5 letters long.

  • The hint : A body of water that cuts in to land from the sea.
  • The clue: This Wordle has far more consonants than vowels.
  • Yesterday’s Custom Wordle Answer : RIVER

How To Play Competitive Wordle

  • Guessing in 1 is worth 3 points; guessing in 2 is worth 2 points; guessing in 3 is worth 1 point; guessing in 4 is worth 0 points; guessing in 5 is -1 points; guessing in 6 is -2 points and missing the Wordle is -3 points.
  • If you beat your opponent you get 1 point. If you tie, you get 0 points. And if you lose to your opponent, you get -1 point. Add it up to get your score. Keep a daily running score or just play for a new score each day.
  • Fridays are 2XP, meaning you double your points—positive or negative.
  • You can keep a running tally or just play day-by-day. Enjoy!

New Bonus Weekly NYT Games Update

The New York Times launched a new weekly suit of bonus puzzle games for subscribers this week, and the first batch has freebies for non-subscribers also. You can read all about the new twists on the beloved games here , and watch my interview with NYT Games chief, Jonathan Knight below :

Be sure to follow me for all your daily puzzle-solving guides, TV show and movie reviews and more here on this blog !