WASHINGTON, August 9, 2024 – On August 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will invest $400 million with at least 18 irrigation districts to help farmers continue commodity production while also conserving water across the West. The funding is expected to conserve up to 50,000 acre-feet in water use across 250,000 acres of irrigated land in production, while expanding and creating new, sustainable market opportunities.

You can get a 1-year Sam’s Club membership on sale for $25 right now (reg. $50). As a member, you can shop for groceries, home essentials, electronics, clothing, jewelry, and appliances under one roof, and take advantage of other member perks like same-day delivery and Scan & Go shopping on their app where you can skip the checkout line. Membership also comes with access to their pharmacy, optical center, members-only gas station, and tire and battery center. This offer is only valid for new members or those with memberships that have been expired for more than six months.

You can get a Sam’s Club 1-year membership on sale for $25 right now (reg. $50), though prices can change at any time.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for August 9, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is easier; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 9, Wordle #1,147! 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.)

They’re almost all common letter from our mnemonic today. Only one letter isn’t, and it’s also fairly common.

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

One sixteenth of a pound.

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 are three vowels.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with O. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with E. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is OUNCE.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, which gave me all the information needed to guess OUNCE as the answer.

Wordle 1,147 3/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩
⬛🟨🟨🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was easier. The hint was “an adjective that can describe pasta or a bold remark” and the answer contained three common letters, one fairly common letter, and one uncommon letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was SAUCY.

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:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

If you’re not a fan of the regular string floss—who really is?—you might want to check out the Nicwell Water Dental Flosser, now at $27.99, down from $49.99. For an extra dollar or two, you can also get it in cute colors like pink and blue.

Here’s what you get in the package: three standard jet tips, a tongue scraper, and a brush tip for those with braces or dental implants. When it comes to operation, you can choose from four modes: normal, soft, pulse, and custom. The normal mode, although supposed to have standard pressure, has been reported by some reviewers to be quite strong and splashy. If you have sensitive gums, you should probably stay away from this mode and set your preferred pressure in the custom mode. A handy tip: always press the on button after placing the tip inside your mouth to avoid unexpected splashes.

As for battery life, this waterproof flosser claims to last up to two weeks on a full charge and only takes about four hours to recharge. One user mentioned they used it twice a day and still got a week’s worth of use from a full charge. A couple of users also noted some issues with the tank’s cover attachment, especially the hinge feeling a bit loose and flimsy.

When comparing the Nicwell Water Dental Flosser to the Oral-B Advanced Cordless Water Flosser, they’re appeared pretty similar overall, especially with their cordless design and portability. Both come with multiple nozzle attachments, but Nicwell gives you more options with five tips compared to Oral-B’s two. They’re both waterproof and have a decent water reservoir. You’ll find multiple flossing modes on both; Oral-B’s modes are pre-set, while Nicwell lets you customize the pressure completely. Nicwell is a budget-friendly option at $27.99 (down from $49.99), while Oral-B, with similar features, is pricier at $73.58 (originally $89.99).

You can get a lifetime subscription to the popular language-learning app Babbel on sale for $139.97 right now (reg. $599) through August 11. Babbel offers personalized language courses across 14 languages (English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Dutch, Polish, Indonesian, Norwegian, Danish, and Russian) in 10- to 15-minute lessons. There’s a conversational focus with an emphasis on real-life topics you’ll use on vacation, like travel, food, and family. Speech-recognition technology helps improve your pronunciation through practice conversations, while reviews and mini-games help you retain what you learn between lessons.

You can get a lifetime subscription to Babbel language learning on sale for $139.97 right now (reg. $599) through August 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.

There’s a non-zero chance that the lithium battery in your device might, well, explode. Between 2012 and 2017, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates at least 25,000 fires involving these batteries—and this is still happening today. In 2023 alone, New York City reported 200 fires related to lithium-ion batteries. Sure, some of these fires may be related to your dog using your phone as a chew-toy, but these rechargeable batteries can—and do—spontaneously explode into flames.

The good news is that there are warning signs that your rechargeable device’s battery is going to have an explosive moment.

Battery warning signs

Batteries work using chemical reactions to move electrons from one material to another, and that chemical reaction can go sideways under a variety of conditions—but there will usually be warning signs:

• Heat. Rechargeable batteries generate heat as part of their normal operation—your phone can get as hot as 95 degrees under normal conditions and feel warm to the touch, for example. But if your device is too hot to touch, that’s a sign that something is very wrong. If you’re aware of your device being unusually hot, it might be about to explode.

• Swelling. Lithium-ion batteries can swell due to a combination of heat and the buildup of gases. By itself, swelling doesn’t necessarily mean your battery is about to explode—but if your device exhibits any other signs in addition to swelling, be ready to run.

• Smoke. White or gray smoke is a sign that the battery is going to explode very soon. If you see any kind of vapor coming from your device, it’s best to assume you’re about to see some fireworks.

• Sound. Batteries that are on their way towards pyrotechnics often make hissing or bubbling sounds.

If you notice one or more of these warning signs, it’s best to assume the battery is going to catch fire immediately and take steps to protect yourself.

What to do if your battery is about to explode

If you suspect one of your rechargeable batteries is going to explode, take the following steps immediately:

• If you see smoke or sparks, evacuate the area.

• Protect your hands. Don’t handle the device with your bare hands. Find something to use—tongs can be used for smaller devices, or you can use oven mitts, towels, or literally anything that can serve as a buffer between you and the small bomb you’ve discovered in your house.

• Turn off and unplug the device. Disconnect it from an outlet and power the device down, if you can.

• Carefully move the device. Don’t jostle or toss the device. Move it carefully to an isolated spot where flames can be contained—someplace with a concrete floor like a garage, for example, or an exterior location on pavement. If you have a fireproof strongbox or document safe you can place the device inside it, but you should still move it to a location as far away from your living area as possible.

If the device catches fire, you can use a standard fire extinguisher (class D if you have one) to suppress the flames, or a spray of water from a hose. If it’s a large device like an eBike, it’s best to call your local fire department.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is moving forward in the awards process with a new clean energy project through the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program. Secretary Vilsack announced that SE Municipal Solar LLC in Nebraska has been selected to move forward to receive nearly $30 million to build eight solar photovoltaic generation facilities totaling 18.72 megawatts.