If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for July 17, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for July 17, Wordle #1,124! 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.)

Four of today’s letters are from our mnemonic. The fifth is uncommon.

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

Either fairly or completely.

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 Q. 

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 QUITE.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE followed by BLIND (making the incorrect assumption there were no additional vowels) then tried MATCH. There was only one possible solution: QUITE.

Wordle 1,124 4/6

⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩
⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was “a fake” and the answer contained three common letters, one fairly common letter, and one uncommon letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was DECOY.

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.

For Prime Day, Amazon is offering solid deals on streaming services for just about all tastes, from pointy-headed intellectual fare like BritBox and PBS Masterpiece for only $.99 a month, to pure “give the people what they want” entertainment like Cinemax for the same price.

So let’s use this Amazon Prime Day as an opportunity to reflect on our streaming service choices, and, in the spirit of growth and renewal, cancel the old ones we don’t watch anymore and sign up for new ones we’ll definitely watch all the time. Here are the best streaming deals for Prime Day 2024:

Cinemax

If you want to mainline hit movies and top-of-the-line series, Cinemax is the place. For Prime Day, it’s $.99 a month for two months, down from the regular price of $9.99 a month. 

Paramount+

Paramount+ with Showtime is half off for two months until July 17. That’s $5.99 a month for all that both Paramount and Showtime has to offer. If you only want Paramount, it’s free for a week to give you a taste.

Discovery+

Discovery+ has a ton of food, home, travel, true crime, and paranormal programming. The Prime Day offer: $4.49/month for 2 months and then $8.99/month thereafter. You have until July 17 to sign up. 

AMC+

A subscription to AMC+’s ad-free tier gives you AMC, Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited, plus six live channels. It’s regularly $8.99 a month, but you can sign up now and pay $4.49 for two months. 

BET+

For Prime Day, BET+ is cutting its prices down from $10.99 per month to only $.99 a month for two months. But you have to sign up by July 17.

Starz

Movie-based streamer Starz is deeply discounting its subscription price for Prime Day. It’s normally $9.99 a month, but if you sign up now you’ll get two months for $.99 per. Not bad. 

MGM+

MGM+ features thousands of movies and shows, plus a growing collection of original content. The Prime Day price is $.99/month for two months, $6.99/month after.

BritBox

Attention Anglophiles: Britbox, the home of British TV, is offering a price chop for Amazon Prime Days. It’s $.99/month for two months, $8.99/month after.

PBS Masterpiece

PBS Masterpiece is the home of everything from period romances to baffling mysteries. All this award-winning international drama can be yours for the Prime Day price of $.99 a month for two months. After that, it’s $5.99 per.