Wordle is now a daily ritual for players all over the world, but it started out as something that New York-based software engineer Josh Wardle created for his partner to play during the COVID-19 lockdown.
After it was released to the public, millions soon began playing the daily brainteaser.
Such was its popularity, The New York Times purchased Wordle for an undisclosed low seven-figure sum in 2022 and it now remains free to play via the publication’s website and games app.
The premise is simple: one five-letter word per day and six attempts to guess it. If a correct letter is in the right place, the tile will go green. If it is in the wrong place, it turns yellow. If it is not in the word at all, the tile goes gray.
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Wordle aficionados aim to guess the day’s word in as few tries as possible, and play every day to maintain their win streak.
In an interview with Newsweek, Erhan Aslan, an expert in applied linguistics who teaches at the University of Reading in the U.K., gave some advice on how to improve your chances of solving the daily puzzle.
“One thing that I think is important in this game is the starting letter chosen. Starting off with letters that include commonly used vowels, for example, e and a, consonants such as r and t, and sound sequences might be helpful,” Aslan said.
“Choosing a word that starts with q, z, j, or x, for instance, may not be the best choice. As you get more feedback after a few guesses, users need to draw on some knowledge of phonics to narrow down or eliminate some words that they might be thinking.
“For example, if the second letter of the target word is l (indicated by green) and the player feels that the word starts with a consonant, they will need to know that there are only a few consonant cluster possibilities—such as bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl.”
The answer for today’s Wordle can be found at the bottom of this page, so scroll down Newsweek‘s tips and clues with caution to avoid revealing it if you want to work it out for yourself.
Wordle #1,009, Clues for Sunday, March 24
Newsweek has put together five clues to help you solve today’s Wordle puzzle.
Hint #1: The word can be a noun or a verb.
Hint #2: There are no repeated letters.
Hint #3: There are two vowels—the second and fourth letter.
Hint #4: Today’s Wordle is something that absorbs water.
Hint #5: It’s also something many people take to the beach.
Wordle #1,009, Answer for Sunday, March 24
The answer to today’s Wordle is “towel.”
Merriam-Webster defines “towel” as “a cloth or piece of absorbent paper for wiping or drying” and “to rub or dry with a towel.”
Wordle resets daily at 7 p.m. While you wait for the next game, you could give the geography guessing game Worldle or other word puzzles a try.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.