2. Start letter
Today's Wordle answer is an odd one. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,264 in 3.5 moves in both easy and hard modes.
Each day, we will update this article with Wordle hints and tips to help you find today's answer. And if the hints aren't enough, we'll even give you the answer, in case you're really stuck or just haven't had time to complete today's puzzle. Plus, we are also including an analysis of yesterday's puzzle, #1,263, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,264. Only read on if you want to know today's Wordle answer!
Today's Wordle answer — hints to help you solve it
Our first tip is that you should use one of the best Wordle start words for every game you play. But if you want some more specific clues to today's Wordle answer, then here you go:
- It contains none (!) of the five vowels.*
- There are no repeated characters.
- It contains two of the five most common Wordle letters.
* By vowel, we mean A, E, I, O, U. There are other letters that are sometimes considered to be vowels, depending on how they are used.
Those hints should get you at least some of the way towards finding today's Wordle answer. If not, then you can read on for bigger clues; or, if you just want to know the answer, then skip down further for that.
Alright then, here's a larger hint: Today's Wordle answer is a final resting place.
What does today's Wordle start with?
The answer to Wordle #1,264 starts with C, so combined with the hints above you should now have all the clues you need to get the answer and not break a Wordle streak.
OK, it's now time to scroll down for the answer…
Today's Wordle answer
So, what is today's Wordle answer for game #1,264?
Drumroll, please — it's CRYPT.
Hello Wordlers. It's been a while since we've had an answer without any of the five vowels! Fortunately, the other characters I found early on made getting CRYPT reasonably easy, and I managed to finish in four moves.
My opener of ORATE (which features all five of the most common Wordle letters) was pretty strong, giving me a green 'R' and a yellow 'T'. That meant that, going into my second turn, I had just 19 answers left to choose between, according to WordleBot*.
But WordleBot's best Wordle start words were even more effective. PLATE, for example, leaves 18 answers, while PLANT lowers that to 12. If you opened with TROPE, only the right answer would be left over.
I like to play a mix of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C' on my second go, but I could only fit two in today with GRIST. 'T' turned green, but my other characters all failed to show up. Still, I had just two options left, according to WordleBot.
However, I actually picked a word that wasn't in that pair: CRUFT. That helpfully turned 'C' green, which BRUNT (the Bot's actual other suggestion) wouldn't have.
I was down to one possible answer, and I got it pretty quickly. I typed in CRYPT and completed the puzzle in four moves.
Hopefully you did well today, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: TRUCK, TRULY, TRUNK, TRUMP, CRUST, TRUST, TRYST, DRIFT, PRINT, BRUNT, CRYPT, TRICK, TRILL, WRIST, FRUIT, GRIST, GRUNT, TRUSS and GRIFT.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,263 was SHAKY.
Hello Wordlers. A bit of a break from the recent run of unusual words. While SHAKY isn't necessarily easy, containing just two of the ten most common Wordle letters, it's certainly less taxing than MAUVE or GUILE.
Though my opening guess was still pretty weak. For the second day running, ORATE produced a single green letter — this time 'A' rather than 'E'. That meant I had 81 possible answers to choose from, according to WordleBot.
The Bot's best Wordle start words improved on that — especially those which contained 'S'. SLATE, for example, leaves 31 answers, while LEAST reduces that to 29. If you opened with SHALT, only 13 options would still be viable.
I try and play a combination of 'L', 'I', 'S', 'N' and 'C' on my second go if possible, and today I tried SLAIN for four of them.
'S' joined 'A' in the green corner, while the other three were ruled out, but that still reduced the list of possible answers to just nine, according to WordleBot*.
I tried SMACK next, which was highly effective. 'K' — the seventh-rarest character in the game — turned yellow, leaving just the right answer in the mix.
It didn't take me long to figure it out. 'K' wasn't going to be between 'S' and 'A', which meant the answer had to be S?AK?. I typed in SHAKY and completed the puzzle in four moves.
Hopefully you made it through today's puzzle unscathed, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: SWAMP, SPASM, SHADY, SWASH, SHAKY, SHACK, SMACK, SMASH and SCAMP.
Previous Wordle answers
If you're looking for a list of older Wordle answers, we can also help. Here's a list going back 20 games.
- Wordle #1,263: SHAKY
- Wordle #1,262: GUILE
- Wordle #1,261: MAUVE
- Wordle #1,260: DOGMA
- Wordle #1,259: HIPPO
- Wordle #1,258: CHOCK
- Wordle #1,257: SLANG
- Wordle #1,256: WITCH
- Wordle #1,255: BROWN
- Wordle #1,254: TWIST
- Wordle #1,253: JELLY
- Wordle #1,252: PEARL
- Wordle #1,251: SPINE
- Wordle #1,250: NICHE
- Wordle #1,249: GOING
- Wordle #1,248: FRAIL
- Wordle #1,247: TALLY
- Wordle #1,246: VISOR
- Wordle #1,245: TACKY
- Wordle #1,244: UVULA
Wordle tips — how to win at Wordle
The best tip I can give is to use one of the best Wordle start words. I can't stress this enough — it makes a massive difference.
Without one, you'll be scrabbling around in the dark trying (and possibly failing) to find the right five letters (or possibly fewer) out of the 26 possibles. But clever people (not me) have done the math and identified the best start words based on both frequency in English and frequency among Wordle answers. So use them!
Secondly, think about combinations, especially at the start and end. Some options are far more common than others — for instance, SH, ST, CR and CH all feature frequently.
Vowels obviously need consideration too: not all Wordle answers will contain more than one, but plenty do, and some even have three. A good Wordle start word should have used a couple, but if they don't feature you might well want to try another one or two on your next go. Plus, remember the Y — this sometimes acts as a surrogate vowel, and is easy to forget. It also appears at the end of plenty of words.
Finally, try out possibilities. So long as you don't press 'Enter' you can try possible answers to see how they look on screen. Put in likely letters plus any you know are definitely in the word, then mentally change one to the other available options. This technique has worked for me multiple times, and it's particularly helpful when the word in question is not an obvious one (like FJORD or ISLET).
But if you're still struggling with Wordle, check out how Tom's Guide's Wordle experts have honed their strategy after playing a lot of Wordle after it first launched.
We also have plenty of Wordle tips and tricks to share, like how we've analyzed every Wordle answer used to look for trends and have some further advice for you there. And if you're new to the game you should also take a look at our What is Wordle? guide.
What else should I know about Wordle?
Wordle officially launched in October 2021, but actually started in June of that year and celebrated its first birthday on June 19, 2022. (You can read my thoughts on the 5 things Wordle needs to improve if it's to keep us playing on into a fourth and fifth year.)
However, it only grew in popularity towards the end of the year, then went viral in January as the world woke up to its charms. In fact, it proved so successful that The New York Times bought Wordle for a seven-figure sum in early February and the game is now part of NYT Games.
It's played via the NYT Games website here, and is entirely free. Both the NYT and the game's creator, Josh Wardle, have stated that it will remain free. Some people think that Wordle has got harder since the NYT takeover, but it really hasn't.
Wordle is a simple game in which your challenge is to guess a five-letter word in six attempts. Each time you guess, you're told which of your chosen letters are in the target word, and whether they are in the right place.
If a letter is in the correct place, it turns green. If it's in the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the word at all, it turns gray.
There's just one puzzle a day, and everyone completes the same one. It resets at midnight each day. You'll find more information about the game in our What is Wordle? article.
NYT Strands answer
If you've solved Wordle and need help with other games from the New York Times, we suggest you check out our guide on today's NYT Strands answer, which will give you some hints as well as the full answer to today's puzzle.
Wordle Alternatives
If you're eager for another game to pass the time while you wait, we've put together a list of the best Wordle alternatives.
Other Wordle alternatives to try are the ultra-stressful (but very good) Squabble and the soccer-themed, Who Are Ya?. We also like the geography-based Wordle clone Worldle, the Star Wars-themed SWordle and the math-based Mathler.
There are certainly plenty of options once you've finished Wordle for the day!
