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Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Thursday, August 29, 2024

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for August 29, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is harder; I got it in five. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 29, Wordle #1,167! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

There are three letters from our mnemonic today. The other two are less common.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

As a verb, something you can (but hope you don’t) do in school.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There is one vowel.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with F. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with K. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is FLUNK.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, followed by BLEND, which eliminated all common letters. Of the remaining few words, I tried FLUNG, leaving FLUNK as the only solution.

Wordle 1,167 5/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛
⬛🟩⬛🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was “graceful, like a ballerina” and the answer contained five common letters.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was LITHE.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

  • Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

  • Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

  • CRANE

  • TRACE

  • SLANT

  • CRATE

  • CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

  • SALET

  • REAST

  • TRACE

  • CRATE

  • SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

The Case for Joining a Gym Just for the Treadmill

Gyms are like playgrounds, full of all kinds of fun toys and machines to play with. So is it wrong, or bad, or embarrassing to go to a gym just to use one particular machine? Say, the humble treadmill? Good news: that is a very normal way of using the gym. 

You don’t have to use every part of the gym

Look, just because a gym offers cardio, weights, classes, and a sauna all in the same building does not mean you are obligated to do all of those things every time you visit. I told you that it’s fine to visit just for the sauna (a great way to spend your rest day) and, similarly, it’s fine to visit just for the treadmill. 

I promise you are not the only one who comes here just for the treadmill. There are newbies who haven’t ventured past the treadmill because they are still working up their courage to visit the weight room. There are people who lift on Monday and Wednesday but jog on Tuesday and Thursday. There are hardcore runners who need to put their kid in the childcare room to be able to get a run in on a busy day. I guarantee there are dozens, if not hundreds, of people who visit your gym just to jog a bit and go home.

I’m one of them, actually. I belong to a specialty weightlifting gym, but after I fell in like with the treadmill, I ended up joining a cheap commercial gym a few blocks from my house. It’s great to have an indoor option for running without having to purchase a treadmill and find a place to put it.

Think of it as renting a treadmill

Don’t think of yourself as joining a gym and ignoring the good parts. Think of what you’re doing as paying by the month for a treadmill that conveniently disappears when you’re not using it. 

Let’s say you get a $14.99 membership to your local Crunch or Planet Fitness. You might use it to jog on a $9,949 Star Trac treadmill. Or maybe it’s a $6,709 Life Fitness treadmill. If you wanted one of those suckers in your house, you’d have to pay the equivalent of around 500 months’ worth of gym membership fees. So if you’re asking “is it worth it?” the answer, mathematically, is yes. 15 bucks a month for somebody else to take care of maintenance and storage, and you can still use it any time you want? You’re definitely coming out ahead. 

Even if you don’t use the treadmill on a regular basis, it may still be worth the fee to you to have the option of running indoors when the heat and humidity are at killer levels, the air quality index is on orange alert, or it’s winter and your outdoor option involves running on icy sidewalks in the dark. 

That said: running (or walking) is not a complete workout

Maybe your guilty feeling about using the treadmill is related to your workout routine. Do you only ever run or walk? For the sake of your health, you should try to get some strength training into your routine somewhere. Cardio and strength are both important for health, fitness, and everyday life. But if you’d rather do your strength work outside of the gym, that’s fine. The treadmill is still here for you whenever you need it. 

Gemini Will Now Take Notes For You During Google Meet Calls

Google has made a lot of pitches about the future of AI. It wants AI to be the new face of search, (though that rollout’s going quite poorly), and it wants AI to be the selling point for its newest smartphones—but as Lifehacker’s Associate Tech Editor Michelle Ehrhardt discovered, even the Pixel 9 Pro’s AI features feel half baked.

As tired as many of us may be of underwhelming experiences with AI, useful applications of the technology are still more than welcome. Perhaps that will be the case with “take notes for me,” a new Google Meet feature that is finally rolling out this week.

“Take notes for me” might not be the flashiest name, but it is apt. When enabled, Gemini, Google’s AI platform, will automatically organize and summarize everything that was said during a Google Meet video call. When the call is finished, Gemini will save its notes to the meeting organizer’s Google Drive, and will attach the file to the Google Calendar event, so anyone who was invited to the meeting can check it out.

Gemini will include a brief summary of the call in its meeting notes before diving into more detailed breakdowns of what was said, but you can also view a summary “so far” while the meeting is in progress. If you join the meeting late, you can catch up on both the gist of the discussion, as well as the last thing that was said. You can rate these in-meeting summaries, so if you feel Gemini missed the mark with its interpretation, you can give it that feedback.

Take notes for me in action

Credit: Google

Google has been testing this feature since at least April, and began rolling it out to eligible Google Workspace customers on Tuesday. By Sept. 10, it should be available to all applicable users.

How to try Google Meet’s “take notes for me”

In order to take advantage of this unique AI feature, you or your company will need to be subscribed to Google Workspace with a qualifying add-on plan. That includes:

  • Gemini Enterprise 

  • Gemini Education Premium

  • AI Meetings & Messaging

Let’s say your work or school has paid for one of these add-ons. The feature will be enabled by default on the admin’s end, so you shouldn’t have to request it from your IT department. On your end, you’ll need to be using a computer or a laptop. (This feature isn’t available on mobile at this time.) Gemini will only be able to transcribe conversations in English, as well.

With all that in mind, start a Google Meet call, then click Take notes with Gemini, which looks like an blue and purple icon of a pen. Choose whether you want Gemini to transcribe the call, as well as whether to have the AI record the meeting itself, then choose Start taking notes. You can manually refresh the “Summary so far” by clicking the rotating arrow. All participants will have the option to click Stop taking notes at any time, in case the conversation turns private or confidential, unless host controls are set for the call.

How to Get (Most of) Apple’s Apps and Services Running on Android

While a lot of people go all-in on the Apple or Windows/Android ecosystem, there are also those who spend their time with some devices made by a variety of companies—which can lead to scenarios like having to access Apple apps and services on Android.

Getting to your Apple stuff from a phone running Google’s mobile operating system has actually gotten easier over recent years, but there’s still certainly room for improvement. And to be clear, we’re not talking about switching all of your data and files over from Apple’s ecosystem to Android and then leaving Apple behind—we’re talking about getting at emails, movies, files and more through Android, while also using Apple hardware, too.

Emails, contacts, calendars

Through the magic of IMAP you can access your Apple iCloud emails through the Gmail app for Android: From the main email tab, tap your account profile picture (top right), then choose Add another account and follow the instructions. Messages from different accounts are kept separate, with their own settings for notifications. (You can switch accounts by tapping your account profile picture again.)

Unfortunately, it’s not quite so simple for contacts and calendar information: You can transfer this data over from iOS and iCloud to Google if you’re abandoning your Apple devices, but you can’t set up a two-way sync and keep the channels open, as you can with the emails hitting your Apple inbox.

Gmail on Android
Gmail for Android can handle multiple accounts—including Apple ones.
Credit: Lifehacker

Even opening up iCloud on the web in your Android web browser is no help here (see below for more on this), because the Contacts and Calendar components of the iCloud web portal—which can be viewed and interacted with perfectly well inside a desktop browser—don’t appear when you’re using a mobile browser.

You will find various apps on the Google Play Store for getting your Apple contacts and calendars on to Android, but in my experience they’re not particularly reliable—and you’re also then having to trust your Apple login credentials to a third party. First-party apps from Apple would be ideal, but they could be a long time coming.

iCloud files, photos, and videos

Without an official iCloud app for Android, there’s no easy way to get anything from your iCloud Drive or Apple Photos apps up on an Android device. The less-than-ideal option is to head to iCloud on the web in your Android web browser of choice, and then log in with your Apple credentials, to get access to apps such as iCloud Drive, Photos, Mail, Notes, Find My, and Reminders (but not Contacts or Calendar).

iCloud running through a mobile browser isn’t actually as bad as you might think, but obviously it’s not as good as a dedicated, native mobile app. Just about everything you can do in a desktop web browser with iCloud works in Android as well—so you can view and download photos and videos, for example, but you don’t get editing features or anything like that.

iCloud web portal
Some iCloud web apps are accessible from Android.
Credit: Lifehacker

It’s the same for the iCloud Drive part of the web portal: Files can be viewed, shared, deleted, moved, duplicated, and renamed with just a few taps on the screen. You can also upload files to the iCloud and Photos apps too, though there’s no way to sync images and videos you take on your Android device straight to iCloud.

The other extras you get with iCloud on the web are here too, including Hide My Email and HomeKit Secure Video. Open up the Find My app, meanwhile, to see your Apple devices on a map—potentially very handy if you’ve lost access to them but do have access to an Android device (Apple Maps on the web, by the way, doesn’t work on mobile browsers yet, so you’re out of luck there).

Streaming and entertainment

Getting Apple Music on Android devices couldn’t be much simpler: You simply install Apple Music for Android, one of the few mobile apps Apple actually develops for the Google platform (alongside apps for detecting AirTags that don’t belong to you) and switching from Android over to iOS. Apple Music for Android isn’t as polished as the iOS equivalent, but it does the job.

Sadly, there’s no Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets yet. If you want to get access to Apple TV+ and anything you might have purchased from the Apple entertainment library on an Android device, you need to head to Apple TV on the web in your Android web browser, and log in using your Apple credentials.

Apple TV on the web
Apple TV works fine in an Android web browser.
Credit: Lifehacker

Again, it’s not the slickest of experiences, but it’s okay. You can stream anything you want to watch right in your Android browser, and switch to full-screen mode if you need to. All of your watching is synced across devices, so you can start watching something on your Mac and then finish it on an Android smartphone if you need to.

Web access is the way to go for Apple Podcasts too: Just open up the Apple Podcasts web portal and you can carry on listening from where you left off, see new episodes, subscribe to new podcasts and more. There’s also a web player for Apple Music as well, which you can access from Android devices if you don’t want to install the app.

My Favorite Organization Tools for a Better Nighttime Routine

A solid nighttime routine is very important to me, which is why I’ve shared all the different tools and products I employ to get luxurious, beneficial, and peaceful sleep each night. Keeping up with that routine does require organization, though, and anything you need should all be within arm’s reach. If you’re looking to start a better nighttime routine, here are my favorite organizational tools to keep near your bedside.

The best bedside organizational tools

The first thing I need to recommend is a tiny garbage can. A full-sized bin by the bed can waste space and isn’t warranted; a mini one, however, is perfect. I use mine to hold things like sheet masks, white strips, and moisturizing eye patches, which I usually apply about an hour before bed and don’t really want to get up to throw away once I’m in the cozy zone. If you wear daily contacts, too, this will be super helpful, as you can toss them out right before shut-eye instead of doing it before you get into bed, flying blind for the final chunk of your night. All you need is something like this:

Mini Trash Can with Lid

Mini Trash Can with Lid


$9.49

If you use single-packaged earplugs or anything similar, the garbage can will also help you keep the packaging in order. But what has been super helpful for me is an adhesive ashtray ($7.42). It sticks to the underside of a bed frame or nightstand, then swivels out when you need it. I put my ear plugs and a hair clip inside, then stash them away within easy reach.

Next-level nightstand organization

Whether you have a bunch of remotes, tech you need to charge, or an abundance of sleeping supplies, you should consider upgrading your nightstand. You need something with compartments, so you can store similar items together and make sure they all have a designated spot. Something like this is inexpensive but has a variety of compartments and hangers, ensuring everything goes in the right place:

Furnulem Tall Nightstand with 4 Drawers and Storage Shelves

Furnulem Tall Nightstand with 4 Drawers and Storage Shelves


$53.99
$69.99
Save $16.00

Storage baskets are also going to be key. A catch-all tray in every room is generally important for organizing, but especially by the bed, where you might take off jewelry or glasses, keep a nasal or pillow spray, or otherwise need a spot to stick small necessities. I have a few different boxes and containers so I can keep my bonnet, eye mask, and chin strap (please, don’t ask; I fall victim to many fads) in one place, plus my pillow sprays and lotions in another. Consider one that rotates, so you can have everything you need within reach.

It’s important that your storage solutions are accessible because when you’re falling into a cozy, comfy state, you don’t want to disrupt yourself by having to get up or reach for anything. With that in mind, check out a cup holder that can clamp onto your nightstand or bed frame, too, to not only hold your water steady so you can grab it all night, but keep it safely away from your electronics.

VIVO Clamp-on Desk and Bed Cup Holder

VIVO Clamp-on Desk and Bed Cup Holder


$14.99
$24.99
Save $10.00

Finally, a multifunction tech charger is always a nighttime MVP. I have a few all around my home, but my favorite is the STM ChargeTree Go because it’s foldable and portable, so I can travel with it and keep my organization and efficiency up, even on vacation. It charges my iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once, reducing cords and clutter on my nightstand and keeping everything in order.

Make These Whimsical Funfetti-Style Biscuits

Buttery, tender biscuits need no introduction, but I think Funfetti confetti biscuits do. Confetti biscuits are the bedazzled version of your average ho-hum quick bread. They’re the extra bit of whimsy that biscuits never asked for. They’re the weirdo sibling you always make fun of but secretly admire for their bold self expression. We could all use a little bit of loosening up some days. Start by unleashing your love for rainbow sprinkles with a batch of confetti biscuits. 

What are confetti biscuits?

Originally, I wanted to make Funfetti biscuits. They would be shaped like biscuits—flaky, tall, and browned—but exhibit the flavors and colors of Funfetti cake mix. I intended to pervert a box of Funfetti cake mix and cut it into colorful, flaky biscuits. The problem is, boxed cake mix refuses to be messed with. It’s so well designed, you can add almost any (or hardly any) liquid to the powdered mix and still get a passable fluffy layer of cake. 

Despite this knowledge, I still tried. I cut in chunks of cold butter. I tried different amounts of liquid. The dough always looked promising going into the oven, and always came out like a homogeneous layer of cake. 

My partner ate a handful of my messed up not-biscuit and basically told me that even if I didn’t get the Funfetti boxed mix to make biscuits, it’s still cake. I think he meant it as encouragement, but it got me thinking—I didn’t actually want to biscuit my Funfetti mix, I wanted to Funfetti my biscuits. Not only does that actually taste better, but it’s a whole lot easier too. 

How do you make confetti biscuits?

Just to clarify, now that I’m not using the trademarked Funfetti boxed mix, I have to call them confetti biscuits. But you can call them whatever you want in the privacy of your own home. To confetti your biscuits, just mix rainbow colored sprinkles into your biscuit dough. Use about one tablespoon of sprinkles per cup of flour your recipe calls for. This is an encouragingly easy trick, but you must remember to mix them in at the end. Mix them in after the liquid goes in, just in your last few stirs. The colorful ink is water-soluble, so if you add them in earlier, you’ll get streaky colors, or worse: gray biscuits.

You can confetti any biscuit recipe you like. Need a pick-me-up but also feeling lazy? Keep things easy with confetti drop biscuits. Making strawberry shortcakes for your nephew’s unicorn party? Classic buttermilk biscuits are good, but confetti ones are even better.

Biscuit dough with sprinkles in it before baking.
Folding the biscuits into the flaky dough means you might have some clusters, and that’s okay.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

I tried both drop biscuits and flaky biscuits and successfully confetti-ed them both. Drop biscuits are a bit easier because you can simply add the sprinkles, mix two or three times, and start scooping. With flaky biscuits you have to take extra care not to overmix the dough after adding the sprinkles or you’ll lose the buttery flakes. 

Here’s a recipe for quick confetti drop biscuits. The sprinkles are already a little sweet, but I pushed these biscuits closer to their Funfetti cake origins with an added teaspoon of vanilla extract and a dusting of sugar after lightly egg washing the tops. 

Quick Confetti Drop Biscuit Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon sugar (+ more for sprinkling later)

  • ¼ teaspoon salt

  • 3 tablespoons canola oil

  • ⅓ cup milk

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 tablespoon rainbow sprinkles

  • Egg wash

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper. 

2. Mix the first four dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a measuring cup, combine the oil, milk, and vanilla extract. 

3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix a few times. Add the rainbow sprinkles and mix the dough a few more times until just combined. The mixture should be lumpy, but without any powdery areas. 

4. Scoop the dough onto the parchment paper in five or six biscuit blobs, leaving an inch or so of space in between each biscuit. Lightly egg wash the tops and sprinkle with extra granulated sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until fully risen and lightly browned on top. The biscuits will have visible sprinkles on top, but the real confetti effect is when you crack them open and you can behold the colorful spots within.

My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2

I’ve tried many headphones with strong bass, but none have taken it to the rumbling lows of the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2, with convenient hands-own controls and active noise-canceling (ANC) features. The Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 is $139.88 (originally $229.99), their lowest price yet, according to price-tracking tools.

Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2
ANC with Sensory Bass and Charging Cable, 50 Hr Battery, Skull-iQ, Alexa Enabled, Microphone.

Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 Over-Ear Noise Canceling Wireless Headphones with Sensory Bass and Charging Cable, 50 Hr Battery, Skull-iQ, Alexa Enabled, Microphone, Works with Bluetooth Devices - Black


$139.88
at Amazon

$229.99
Save $90.11

The first time I got in one of those bass-rumbling cars that felt like the windows were going to shatter, I had a new appreciation for the power of bass in music. There is an important distinction, though. You can’t just turn up the bass in your EQ settings and have great bass; you need the right speakers or headphones. It’s an art, and the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 gets it right. I’ve had them for a couple of months and they’re my fun go-to headphones when I want to feel like I’m at a concert.

Although these headphones have ANC in their title (the ANC is just average), they’re all about the “Crusher” feature. It is a bass enhancer that shoots up the bass along to make a unique sound signature that makes me feel like I’m experiencing the music live. The headphones also have a convenient wheel that you can turn to increase or decrease the bass.

The headphones also have an “aware” mode that you can use to hear your surroundings so you don’t have to take your headphones off, although for my safety, I’d still rather take them off if I need to hear my surroundings. They’re stylish and feel like premium headphones. They are very comfortable and have a well-designed app with customizable controls, EQ options, and features for voice assistance. The battery life is an impressive 60 hours depending on use, and they have a stereo 3.5mm jack if you don’t want to depend on your battery.

For $139.88, the Crusher ANC 2 are a great value, but they’re not for everyone. If you’re a stickler looking for a perfectly balanced sound, consider the Bose QuietComfort which is also discounted right now—but if you want bass, the Crusher ANC 2 is it.