NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1402, Monday, April 21
Looking for Wordle hints? I can help. Plus get the answers to Wordle today and yesterday.
A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here.
It's time for your guide to today's Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.
Don't think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Want more word-based fun? TechRadar's Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our verdict on two of the New York Times' other brainteasers.
SPOILER WARNING: Today's Wordle answer and hints are below, so don't read on if you don't want to see them.
Wordle hints (game #1402) - clue #1 - Vowels
How many vowels does today's Wordle have?
• Wordle today has vowels in two places*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Wordle hints (game #1402) - clue #2 - first letter
What letter does today's Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle's 2,309 answers. In fact, it's almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.
Wordle hints (game #1402) - clue #3 - repeated letters
Does today's Wordle have any repeated letters?
• There are no repeated letters in today's Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it's still more likely that a Wordle doesn't have one.
Wordle hints (game #1402) - clue #4 - ending letter
What letter does today's Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today's Wordle is E.
E is the most common letter to end a Wordle answer by far. That's one of the reasons why many of the best start words, including SLATE, CRANE, CRATE and STARE, all end with one.
Wordle hints (game #1402) - clue #5 - last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1402.
- Today's Wordle answer is a sudden outpouring.
If you just want to know today's Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I'd always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We've got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.
If you don't want to know today's answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don't say you weren't warned!
Today's Wordle answer (game #1402)
- NYT average score: 3.9
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 3
- My start word performance: PLAIN (26 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (49)
Today's Wordle answer (game #1402) is… SPATE.
I wrote yesterday about how -ATCH is one the worst traps in the game, but there are a couple in today's Wordle, too. Remove the P and you have S-ATE for STATE, SLATE and SKATE, remove the T and you get SPARE, SPADE and SPACE. It's nowhere near as bad as -ATCH, but it still may have caught out a few people here.
That said, how bad it was will have depended on your start word. There were some great results for some of the top options today: CRATE and CARTE left only nine, LEAST and PLACE were at seven, PARSE at five, SLATE and STARE at three, STALE at two and PLATE left just the single answer.
The only other notable thing about SPATE as an answer is that it's another word that's been added in by the NYT and that wasn't in the original list of 2,309. I have no idea why it wasn't included in the first place, but I suspect plenty of people will be pleased to see it here – well, if you began with SLATE or STARE at least.
My own game was pretty uneventful. My random starter was PLAIN, which left 26 possibles, and I got lucky with my second guess, CREST. This gave me three yellow letters to add to the yellow P and green A that I'd omitted from my attempt, and cut my shortlist to a single option.
That was SPATE, which I played next for my third successive three – a real rarity that I haven't enjoyed since late February.
How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.
Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1401)
In a different time zone where it's still Sunday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1401, too.
- Wordle yesterday had a vowel in one place.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
- The first letter in yesterday's Wordle answer was P.
P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It's the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.
- There were no repeated letters in yesterday's Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it's still more likely that a Wordle doesn't have one.
- The last letter in yesterday's Wordle was H.
H is a regular visitor to the final spot in a Wordle word. It occurs 137 times at the end of a Wordle answer, making it the sixth most common letter there.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1401.
- Yesterday's Wordle answer covers a hole.
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1401)
- NYT average score: 4.2 (revised)
- My score: 3
- WordleBot's score: 4
- My start word performance: BATCH (6 remaining answers)
- WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (37)
Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1401) was… PATCH.
Okay, so there's lucky and then there's really, ridiculously lucky.
PATCH is an undoubtedly difficult Wordle, although its average score of 4.1 when I solved it rather underplays that. I suspected it would increase as the day went on and more people play (note – it did, to 4.2), because it is of course a classic example of the too-many-answers type of game.
It's not quite the worst, because -IGHT has nine potential solutions and -OUND has eight, but the seven possibilities for -ATCH put it next in line in the most-difficult 'one-letter-trap' games.
How well you handled it will have depended on a couple of factors. Firstly, whether you use Hard mode or standard. On the former, these kind of games are almost impossible; you need a big dose of luck, or a very, very smart strategy to avoid being caught out.
Secondly, whether you consult a past Wordle answers list – because we've had a few of these before. HATCH was the first, back in the early days before most people started playing (game #113). That was followed by WATCH – game #265 – which I distinctly recall being one of the first streak-ending answers that caught out many players back in March 2022. CATCH (game #483) and MATCH (#976) followed, and also had high averages.
If you consulted a list and ruled out those four, you will only have had three to choose from (or possibly fewer, depending on your remaining letters): PATCH, LATCH and BATCH. That will obviously have made the task a lot easier.
If you didn't look at a list, you'll have hoped for a good start word. A few did cut the options down considerably, albeit none of the really popular opening words. But at least if your word contained an L, for instance SLATE, you'll have ruled out one of those options right away.
Or you could take my route – which was to pick a random start word that was incredibly fortunate, namely BATCH.
This left only six options, the aforementioned -ATCH words, obviously. I remembered WATCH and was pretty sure about CATCH and MATCH too, although I didn't go as far as to check.
I decided to play CLAMP – because that would definitely rule in/out CATCH, LATCH, MATCH and PATCH anyway, and if none of C, L, M or P changed color then it would have to be HATCH.
This was the perfect way to approach the task, and it duly worked; the P turned yellow, meaning it had to PATCH and I scored a three.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I've been playing Wordle every day for more than three years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday's answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.
- Wordle #1401, Sunday 20 April: PATCH
- Wordle #1400, Saturday 19 April: INBOX
- Wordle #1399, Friday 18 April: DIRGE
- Wordle #1398, Thursday 17 April: STOOD
- Wordle #1397, Wednesday 16 April: MORAL
- Wordle #1396, Tuesday 15 April: ASHEN
- Wordle #1395, Monday 14 April: CREST
- Wordle #1394, Sunday 13 April: LAUGH
- Wordle #1393, Saturday 12 April: NURSE
- Wordle #1392, Friday 11 April: ARROW
- Wordle #1391, Thursday 10 April: TURBO
- Wordle #1390, Wednesday 9 April: WHEAT
- Wordle #1389, Tuesday 8 April: SPARE
- Wordle #1388, Monday 7 April: HAZEL
- Wordle #1387, Sunday 6 April: VILLA
- Wordle #1386, Saturday 5 April: FOAMY
- Wordle #1385, Friday 4 April: KRILL
- Wordle #1384, Thursday 3 April: SHEAR
- Wordle #1383, Wednesday 2 April: CURSE
- Wordle #1382, Tuesday 1 April: JEWEL
- Wordle #1381, Monday 31 March: BOOTY
- Wordle #1380, Sunday 30 March: QUOTA
- Wordle #1379, Saturday 29 March: SORRY
- Wordle #1378, Friday 28 March: VERSE
- Wordle #1377, Thursday 27 March: SHEET
- Wordle #1376, Wednesday 26 March: ELBOW
- Wordle #1375, Tuesday 25 March: SHELF
- Wordle #1374, Monday 24 March: ANGLE
- Wordle #1373, Sunday 23 March: DOPEY
- Wordle #1372, Saturday 22 March: AMBLE
- Wordle #1371, Friday 21 March: NUDGE
- Wordle #1370, Thursday 20 March: BASTE
- Wordle #1369, Wednesday 19 March: SPARK
- Wordle #1368, Tuesday 18 March: TIMER
- Wordle #1367, Monday 17 March: LASSO
- Wordle #1366, Sunday 16 March: STAMP
- Wordle #1365, Saturday 15 March: LADLE
- Wordle #1364, Friday 14 March: PIECE
- Wordle #1363, Thursday 13 March: CHASE
- Wordle #1362, Wednesday 12 March: MANGO
- Wordle #1361, Tuesday 11 March: TRACK
- Wordle #1360, Monday 10 March: SPITE
- Wordle #1359, Sunday 9 March: GREED
- Wordle #1358, Saturday 8 March: NAVEL
- Wordle #1357, Friday 7 March: TROOP
- Wordle #1356, Thursday 6 March: ALERT
- Wordle #1355, Wednesday 5 March: SCRUM
- Wordle #1354, Tuesday 4 March: CHECK
- Wordle #1353, Monday 3 March: SPEAR
- Wordle #1352, Sunday 2 March: DEITY
- Wordle #1351, Saturday 1 March: HOVER
What is Wordle?
If you're on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you've not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it's the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm last year and is still going strong in 2024.
We've got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics.
Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it's in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it's not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh? It's played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times' Crossword app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free. Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you're competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak. The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure. 1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green. 2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray. 4. Answers are never plural. 5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green. 6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle's dictionary. You can't guess ABCDE, for instance. 7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode. 8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle. 9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone. 10. All answers are drawn from Wordle's list of 2,309 solutions. However… 11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won't be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.What is Wordle?
What are the Wordle rules?
