2. Start letter
Today's Wordle answer is a tough one. According to the New York Times' WordleBot, the average player completes Wordle #1,043 in 4.0 moves in easy mode, or 3.9 if playing by hard rules.
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, #1,042, in case you're reading this in a different time zone.
So be warned: spoilers lie ahead for game #1,043. 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 two of the five vowels.*
- There are no repeated letters.
- Two characters feature among 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 shines brightly.
What does today's Wordle start with?
The answer to Wordle #1,043 starts with G, 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 #1,043?
Drumroll, please — it's GLEAM.
Hello Wordlers. Another tough one, this. Not only is GLEAM a pretty uncommon word in its own right, but 'M' and 'G' are the 11th and 10th rarest letters in the game, respectively.
I began, as ever, with ORATE, which contains all five of the most common Wordle letters. Today, it turned 'A' and 'E' yellow, which sounds good, but still leaves a lot of options: 126, by WordleBot's count.
Unsurprisingly, lots of WordleBot's best Wordle start words were more effective today, especially those which included 'L'. TABLE leaves 33 answers, while PLANT lowers that to 21. PLACE and PLANE both leave nine possible solutions available.
I like to try a blend of 'I', 'N', 'S', 'C' and 'L' on my second turn, and today SNEAK seemed reasonably good (it was only later I thought of CLEAN, which would have been far more efficient!).
SNEAK wasn't too bad. Both 'E' and 'A' turned green, which reduced the number of answers to just five, according to WordleBot*.
Unfortunately, I was going to try three of those five, starting with CHEAP. No new letters, but I was down to two possible answers.
It took me an age to think of anything else, so when I came up with IDEAL, I was sure it was going to be correct. It wasn't, but at least I had another letter confirmed with a yellow 'L'.
Yet more minutes passed with me trying every combination I could think of until I finally came up with GLEAM. Thankfully, all the letters turned green for a five-turn win.
Hopefully you didn't struggle too much with today's puzzle, Wordlers. See you tomorrow.
* These were: IDEAL, GLEAM, PLEAD, CHEAP and AHEAD.
Yesterday's Wordle answer
Reading this in a later time zone? The Wordle answer for game #1,042 was VAPID.
Hello Wordlers. I was quite pleased to get today's puzzle in three turns. It's not an easy one, as it features some pretty unusual characters ('V' is the fifth-rarest letter, and neither 'P' nor 'D' are super common either).
That meant that ORATE, a word that features the five most common Wordle letters, wasn't much good today. Just the 'A' turned yellow, leaving a massive 161 possible answers in play.
Unsurprisingly, plenty of WordleBot's best Wordle start words were more effective today. PLANT leaves 30 possible answers, while PLACE drops that to 20. If you played SPLIT, only ten possible solutions would be left over.
On turn #2, I try and play a mix of 'I', 'N', 'S', 'C' and 'L' around any confirmed letters.
CAINS was accepted as a word, possibly somewhat dubiously, but it was extremely effective: 'A' turned green and I got a yellow 'I' too.
Just four possible answers remained according to WordleBot, but I could only think of one. I typed in VAPID and completed the puzzle in three turns.
That's lucky, as WordleBot points out it could equally have been MAFIA, MAXIM or VALID. I'd have definitely picked the last of these ahead of VAPID if I'd thought of it, given 'L' is the sixth most common Wordle letter.
Anyway, hopefully you completed today's puzzle with minimal fuss. See you tomorrow.
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 #1,042: VAPID
- Wordle #1,041: INTRO
- Wordle #1,040: OVERT
- Wordle #1,039: ROVER
- Wordle #1,038: LASER
- Wordle #1,037: JOLLY
- Wordle #1,036: LUCID
- Wordle #1,035: RAISE
- Wordle #1,034: FACET
- Wordle #1,033: TITHE
- Wordle #1,032: SHANK
- Wordle #1,031: EQUIP
- Wordle #1,030: BLIMP
- Wordle #1,029: STEEL
- Wordle #1,028: WHINY
- Wordle #1,027: LOUSE
- Wordle #1,026: BROTH
- Wordle #1,025: MERGE
- Wordle #1,024: BREED
- Wordle #1,023: VOILA
- Wordle #1,022: FINCH
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 for its third 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 an overview of how the game works and how to solve the 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!
