If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for December 10, 2023 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is on the easier side; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 10, Wordle #904! 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 all pretty common today! Four are on our list of common letters, and the other one is close behind. Nothing unusual today.

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

You’ll have to link some things together to get this one.

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

Nope, five different letters today.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There are two (different) vowels in today’s word.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with C.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with N.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is CHAIN.

How I solved today’s Wordle

ARISE got me a yellow A and I, so those were probably all the vowels in play. Instead of TOUCH, I decided to guess some more consonants and get intel on the placement of the A by playing CHANT. That was as good as a solve: I knew from the three greens that the word must be CHA_N, with an I needing to fit into the blank spot. CHAIN it is.

Wordle 904 3/6

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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.

While sitting on a rocking chair is relaxing and soothing, sitting on a rocking toilet tends to have the opposite effect. As it turns out, making contact with the toilet seat while simultaneously feeling the entire porcelain fixture shift beneath you is not only unsettling—it could also be the sign of a much larger plumbing problem.

Although there are some DIY fixes for a wobbling toilet, establishing a solid connection between the base of the toilet and the floor without looking into what’s causing it to rock in the first place, may end up masking other more serious issues. Lifehacker enlisted the help of three plumbers and a general contractor to walk us through some of the most common causes of a rocking or wobbling toilet, potential DIY repairs, and why it’s so important to address the problem right away.

Why is my toilet wobbling?

There are three key parts to a good connection between the base of the toilet and the sewer line it feeds into, says Roy Barnes, a plumber with roughly 30 years of experience, and the co-owner of Service Force Plumbing in Rockville, Maryland. They are:

1. The flange: The wide ring at the top of the sewer line, where it comes up to the floor. It has holes for the bolts, and also helps create an effective seal. “These flanges can deteriorate with age and should be inspected if there are problems,” Barnes tells Lifehacker.

2. The wax ring: Creates the actual airtight and watertight seal between the porcelain toilet and the PVC or metal sewer drain. In addition to holding the toilet down, the bolts at the base of the toilet also keep the wax ring firmly in place, making it airtight and watertight.

3. The base of the toilet: Must be sound, without hairline cracks or age-related wear.

When one or more of these parts is compromised, it could result in a rocking or wobbling toilet. More specifically, Josh Rudin, a general contractor and the owner of ASAP Restoration, a water, fire, and mold restoration company in Phoenix, says that some of the most common reasons why a toilet is rocking include:

• Loose toilet bolts

• Damaged wax rings

• Uneven flooring

• Uneven or damaged sub-flooring

• Loose flange fitting

• Improper positioning

• Cracked toilet base

While any of those issues could leave your toilet unstable, the bigger question is what, exactly, caused the loose bolts or damaged wax ring?

According to Barnes, one of the most common causes of these problems is a botched bathroom renovation that includes having a new floor put down. “It is very important that the flange of the sewer pipe be flush with the level of the floor, but too many flooring contractors don’t know this,” he explains. “They lay the new floor at an incorrect height for the existing flange, and then when the toilet is reinstalled, the wax ring doesn’t make a correct seal.”

Homeowners often don’t discover this problem until their toilet starts to rock, months or years after the renovation, says Barnes. It’s only then, when they hire a plumber to deal with the wobbling toilet, that the homeowner learns that the seal had been leaking the whole time and caused significant damage to the subfloor.

How to figure out why your toilet is wobbling

Whether you’re going to attempt to fix your rocking toilet yourself or hire a plumber, it would be helpful to look for and make note of certain signs that could help explain what’s causing the fixture to wobble.

Kodi Wilson, a plumber, plumbing instructor, and campus director of National Technical Institute’s Las Vegas location, suggests starting off by inspecting the bathroom to see if you’re able to visibly identify the issue. “Many of these things you can tell just by looking at a toilet, and many of these [problems] will occur together, depending on the root issue,” he tells Lifehacker. “Has there been a leak? Does the floor show signs of damage? Are the nuts and bolts loose to the touch?”

Water leaking from the base of the toilet probably means that you have multiple problems on your hands, Wilson says, adding that “the best thing to do is remove the toilet and determine the amount of damage.”

Look for signs of damage on your flooring. According to Wilson, there are two common causes of warping, and uneven, popping, or cracking tiles: Water damage and the settling or aging of the home. Again, if you notice this type of damage on your floor, he recommends having the toilet removed and determining the cause.

If you notice that the bolts connect the base of the toilet to the floor are loose, don’t assume that you simply need to tighten them and then everything will be fixed. Instead, immediately double check for water damage, Wilson advises.

Barnes agrees, noting that while it’s possible that tightening the bolts will solve the rocking problem, you should never make that assumption. “First, if the toilet has been rocking for a while, the simple repeated motion could have caused a failure of the wax ring seal and allowed water to leak out of sight,” he explains. “Not only is this potential damage bad by itself, but if simply tightening the bolts makes everything ‘feel’ solid, it could be hiding water that continues to leak and damage the subfloor and joists.”

In addition to looking for potential signs and causes of toilet problems, Rudin suggests following your nose. “A compromised seal can also lead to unpleasant odors emerging from the sewer system, and the rocking of the base unit can force them to emerge,” he says.

Why you should never ignore a rocking toilet

As the experts have noted, there’s a good chance that a wobbling toilet is a symptom of much larger—and more expensive—problems.

In the short term, the instability of the toilet can lead to leaks around the base, potentially causing water damage to the floor and subfloor, says Matt Kunz, president of Mr. Rooter Plumbing, a subsidiary of Neighborly, a service-based franchise company. It can also create an uncomfortable, nerve-racking, and potentially unsafe toilet experience for the members of the household and their guests.

“In the long term, persistent rocking may compromise the wax ring seal and the toilet’s connection to the floor, increasing the risk of more extensive water damage,” Kunz tells Lifehacker. “Addressing the issue promptly ensures a stable and secure toilet, preventing potential structural damage, and maintaining proper functionality in the bathroom.”

Plus, if there is some type of water damage, it could also lead to mold growth, says Wilson.

Lastly, as Rudin points out, the longer a problem involving water leaks and damage is left to linger, the worse and costlier it will get—both in terms of the repairs themselves, as well as the negative impact of the damage on your property value.

How to fix a wobbling toilet

Technically, there are DIY methods for stabilizing a toilet, but as the experts have already explained, these only stop the rocking and don’t address any of the potential underlying issues. “There are no easy fixes for a DIYer doing a toilet base fix on their own,” says Rudin. “Most toilet jobs are two-person affairs, simply because a toilet can weigh 100 pounds or more, depending on the model.”

However, if you’re 100 percent confident that you’ve discovered the root issue, and there are no signs of water damage, Wilson says that it’s possible to stop the toilet from wobbling in one of two ways. The first is tightening any loose bolts on the base of the toilet—ensuring that they’re all even, and without over-tightening them, which Wilson says can crack the porcelain. If you can see the floor has settled with time but there is no water damage, Wilson suggests the second method: Shimming the low side of the toilet and tightening the bolts.

Before attempting any of that, Barnes says that it’s first essential to verify that the flange and the wax ring are in good shape and doing their part to prevent leakage. But even if they are, when you attempt to stabilize a toilet on your own, you always run the risk of ignoring and then hiding the larger problem. “Keep in mind that the connection between the flange, wax ring, and toilet works extremely well if installed properly,” he explains. “So, if you need to shim the toilet to stabilize it, it is more than likely that it was not installed properly, or that some part of the installation has failed.”

When to call a plumber

Fixing a rocking toilet isn’t as simple or straightforward as it sounds. Given all the potential complications, in most cases, it’s probably worth paying for a plumber to come take a look, rather than shelling out for pricey repairs for undiscovered problems down the line. Or, as Barnes puts it: “Installing a flange at a proper height and a wax ring correctly sized for the job is far less expensive than tearing out and replacing subfloor, flooring, and even flooring joists in the worst case, a few years down the road, when far more damage has occurred.”

There’s also the possibility of you inadvertently causing additional damage while attempting to fix a wobbling toilet on your own, making the whole project more expensive for a plumber to fix. “That might ultimately amount to thousands of dollars in damage in the long run,” Rudin says.

Keeping your refrigerator up and running typically requires minimal effort. As long as you clean up any food spills or messes, and periodically check the seal to make sure it’s not leaking cold air, you should usually be in good shape.

But, like any appliance, your refrigerator may have occasional issues that require attention either from you, or a professional technician. For instance, one day you might walk into your kitchen and find a pool of water on the floor in front of your fridge. Upon closer examination, you determine it’s not a spill or a melted ice cube: It’s a leak coming from the bottom of your refrigerator.

This is a relatively common problem, which, in some (but not all) cases, may have a relatively simple DIY solution. But before you can attempt to stop a leak, you have to figure out what’s causing it. I enlisted the help of an appliance repair expert for advice on troubleshooting refrigerator leaks, and why you shouldn’t ignore them.

Why is water is leaking from the bottom of my refrigerator?

Working as an appliance technician for more than nine years, Jason Carter has found that most refrigerator leaks can be traced back to one of three common issues: a blocked water line, a clogged defrost drain, or an improperly leveled refrigerator. Here’s what Carter—who is also the founder of Simply Swider, a website providing expert advice on DIY appliance repairs and other home maintenance tasks—recommends doing to locate the source of your refrigerator leak:

Step 1: Deal with the defrost drain

Typically located at the back of the freezer compartment, the defrost drain often becomes clogged with food particles or debris. “Look for ice buildup or blockages, and clear any clogs by using warm water in a turkey baster to melt the ice,” Carter advises. “If the blockage is deep, you might need to access and disconnect the hose by moving the fridge.”

Step 2: Inspect the water line

If you didn’t find any ice buildup or blockages—or if you did, but removing them didn’t stop the leak—it’s time to move on to the second-most-common culprit: The water line (if you have one).

Refrigerators that have a water dispenser or ice maker also have a water line; fridges without those features don’t. Here’s what to do if yours has a water line:

“Turn off the fridge and the water supply, then examine the line for any damage or ice blockages,” Carter says. “Damaged lines should be replaced—possibly by a technician.” Ice blockages are an easier fix: Simply defrosting the refrigerator for a few hours can resolve the issue.

Step 3: Check that it’s level

Finally, make sure your refrigerator is level. When a refrigerator is uneven, it can cause condensation to form, accumulate, and eventually leak, Carter says.

But don’t be concerned if you place a level on top of your fridge and notice that the bubble isn’t exactly in the center: According to Carter, the front of the refrigerator should be slightly higher than the back. This ensures that the internal coolant is able to flow properly. If the front of your fridge isn’t elevated slightly, Carter recommends adjusting the legs to achieve the right balance.

When to call an appliance technician

Of course, if, at any point, you feel like you’re in over your head, stop what you’re doing and get professional help. “If you don’t have experience with DIY repairs, it’s best not to attempt them and call a technician right away,” Carter says. “You could potentially cause more harm than good.”

On the other hand, if you do feel comfortable with DIY repairs, but need some additional advice and instruction, Carter suggests turning to online resources. “I would recommend joining Facebook groups where there are experienced repairers who can offer remote assistance for free to help identify the problem,” he says. “Keep in mind that the most challenging part is often identifying the cause of the issue. If you’re experienced with DIY repairs, you can also find tutorials on YouTube, as there are plenty available there.”

Why you should never ignore a leaky refrigerator

In addition to the inconvenience and hazards of having a perpetual puddle of water on your kitchen floor, there are other reasons why your leaky refrigerator requires immediate attention. For starters, it can damage the floor, causing stains, deformation, or mold growth, Carter says. “In the long term, this can significantly shorten the service life of the appliance, leading to corrosion and rusting of internal components,” he says. “Consequently, more costly repairs or even complete replacement may become unavoidable.”

Snow, ice, and frigid temperatures can make wintertime driving a challenge. Drivers deal with this in a variety of ways: From winterizing their cars and keeping emergency kits in their trunk, to paying more attention to their tires.

For example, some people mistakenly believe that reducing their tire pressure will improve their traction. Others understand that tires tend to lose air pressure in cold weather, but incorrectly assume that the solution is over-inflating their tires. As it turns out, while that’s not exactly helpful, it’s not harmless, either. To learn more, Lifehacker asked two tire experts why over-inflating your tires is a bad idea.

What happens when tires are over-inflated

According to Larry Sutton, the founder and CEO of RNR Tire Express, over-inflating your tires puts both the tires and people’s safety at risk. “Over-inflating your tires can cause wear on the center of the tires much faster than on the remainder of the tire,” he tells Lifehacker. “This will result in losing thousands of miles of use on each tire.”

It gets worse: Not only will over-inflating your tires result in having to replace them before their time, it also reduces their traction, Sutton explains. “Ultimately, an overinflated tire decreases driver safety and increases the risk of accidents by a significant margin,” he says.

Hunter Brabham, a category manager at CarParts.com, echoes Sutton’s safety concerns, and confirms that it’s not the cost-cutting strategy some people think it is. “There are various misconceptions about over-inflating tires as a cost- and fuel-saving hack, when the reality is that it’s dangerous to inflate your car’s tires beyond the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended specifications,” he tells Lifehacker. “Over-inflating tires reduces handling and increases the chance of a tire blowout.”

Plus, as Brabham points out, the uneven wear on your tires also causes ride quality to suffer—meaning you and your passengers will be less comfortable while driving. 

When is a tire considered over-inflated?

Let’s say you’re doing your monthly air pressure check and notice that a tire’s PSI (pounds per square inch) is higher than the manufacturer’s recommendation. Is a tire with an extra two or three psi considered officially over-inflated, and therefore, a safety risk?

Not quite, says Sutton. While a tire performs best when you use the actual PSI recommended by the car manufacturer, don’t panic if you’re over by a few PSI. “Anything over 10 PSI [above the manufacturer’s recommended PSI] will create tire wear and traction loss on most passenger tires,” he says.

You can find the manufacturer’s recommended tire pressure listed on a placard inside the driver’s side door jamb, says Brabham.

It’s happening. I’m in full-on Christmas mode—planning a holiday party, baking cookies to ship to friends, wrapping presents with glittery paper that gets all over the couch. I’m like a hideous blend of Elf and when Frodo offers Galadriel the ring of power. Welcome back to my Christmas Pudding Chronicles. There are only two more weeks until Christmas and I’m stockings-deep into curing my figgy pudding. This week is another week of soaking the pudding, and planning the “hard sauce.” 

If you’re just joining me, this is my fourth week as a newcomer engaging in the well-practiced tradition of making a proper British-style Christmas pudding. The first post can give you context for the inspiration behind this yule-tide endeavor and catch you up on how to soak the fruit before steaming. Even though this spice-laden fruit cake can be made several weeks in advance, you can jump in at any time. Read here to see the recipe and how I mixed the batter and steamed the cake. 

Curing the cake with brandy and time

This week is another brandy soaking week as we “cure the cake.” As I mentioned last week, you can soak the cake with any high-proof alcohol, like rum or whisky, just make sure it’s something you like the flavor of. This is a completely optional step if you don’t imbibe (even if it’s food), but I figured if I’m storing a cake at room temperature for five weeks then I might as well give it all the resources it needs to stave off mold, or other unpleasantness.

This made me wonder for the first time, why is a Christmas pudding made so far in advance? Actually, I was happily going along trusting the process, and one of the editors asked me, “How does a cake not go bad after a MONTH?” That might have been the first question to cross your mind when reading “steam the pudding five Sundays before…” but you would be a normal person, and I’ll just eat anything with “Christmas” in the title. 

According to a number of other accounts and blogs, all this wait time has to do with flavor development. The dried fruits, quantity of fat, sugar, and alcohol all contribute to a dessert that preserves well. When you consider this modern celebration cake has roots in medieval sausage curing, and the version I’m making in 2023 started making appearances in Victorian era cookbooks, it’s no longer worrying. Curing a cake for five weeks or longer has been a long practiced tradition. (Read more about the history of Christmas pudding here.) Plus, American-style cakes are also loaded with butter and sugar. Can you think of a time when you’ve had one go rancid? Their biggest enemy isn’t mold, it’s drying out. Luckily, with a cake that gets steamed before serving, drying out is not a problem for the Christmas pudding.

Brandy soaking again

If you’re participating in brandy soaking your pudding like I am, take the cake out from its storage place and “feed” it with another two tablespoons of brandy or your spirit of choice. A clever suggestion in the comments of last week’s post mentioned spraying the brandy, so I decided to try spraying the alcohol instead of using a pastry brush. It definitely worked. However, I ended up breathing in a lot of the vapors and spraying the bowl and my work surface as I got closer to the edges, so I don’t think this is my favorite feeding method. It also inspired me to think of different methods, so I think I’ll try a turkey baster next week.

Next week, I’ll be feeding the cake again (a girl’s gotta eat, after all), and preparing the second most important part of this tradition: the sauce. Go on, throw on some Christmas music and don’t forget to feed your pud some alcohol.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for December 9, 2023 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is on the easier side; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 9, Wordle #903! 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 the letters are common; the other is medium. Nothing unusual today.

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

You’ll need a change in your way of thinking. A slight movement. (Maybe a keyboard key.) 

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

No doubles today! Five different letters.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

Just one.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with S

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with T.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is SHIFT.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I went with my usual one-two punch of ARISE and TOUCH, and by the end I knew I’d have an S, H, and T, with an I in the center spot. STIH_ doesn’t make sense, so it would likely be SHI_T. And since R was out of play, that meant SHIFT rather than SHIRT.

Wordle 903 3/6

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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.

The Beats Powerbeats Pro has been considered one of the best pairs of earbuds for those who stay active and want the confidence of a secure fit. Until Sunday, Dec. 10, you can get them for their lowest price since their release after a 48% discount, currently at $129.95 (originally $249.95). Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. If you have Amazon Prime, you get free shipping; otherwise, it’ll be $6 to ship. 

Perfect for those who like to stay active outdoors

The Beats Powerbeats Pro have been around since 2019 and have been the staple workout earbuds from Beats by Dr. Dre. They have been well-regarded for years for getting the simple things you want in workout earbuds right: a secure fit, easy operation, and good sound. The fit is highly customizable to fit most ears; they have in-canal adjustable ear tips that come in four sizes as well as well as ear hooks that grip the ear firmly to avoid falling off during intense workouts. They are sweat and water-resistant with an IPX4 rating, meaning as long as you don’t submerge them underwater or put them in your sink, they will survive.

The controls are easy as well, with the left and right side mirroring their commands. It also has a sensor detection feature that starts playing music when you put the earbuds on. You’ll get nine hours of battery life from a single charge and an additional 24 hours from the charging case. And yes, you can take calls since it has a microphone as well. Keep in mind these earbuds are not noise-cancelling, but do have the natural noise isolation that comes with a secure in-ear seal. You can read the full “excellent” PCMag review here.