Sites that created Wordle archives have been pressured by the New York Times to shut down. That means there’s no longer any way to access the full archive, but we’ve provided a list of the past 15 Wordle answers for you to see what’s been used, and plan your strategy going forward.
The free daily word game Wordle blew up in popularity at the start of 2022 despite not having an app and only allowing players to tackle one puzzle per day. Both were intentional choices, as Wordle founder Josh Wardle told the BBC, so fans couldn’t spend too much time on it. As such, previous puzzles aren’t available through the official website.
“Wordle is very simple and you can play it in three minutes — and that is all you get,” Wardle said in his BBC interview. “There are also no ads and I am not doing anything with your data — and that is also quite deliberate.”
What is today’s Wordle?
The July 12, 2022 Wordle is puzzle #388, and we’ve got you covered on hints leading to the solution, as well as the solution itself.
Why was the Wordle Archive shut down?
Since the acquisition, the NYT has moved to safeguard what is now its wholly owned intellectual property by placing pressure on Wordle affiliates to shut down their “unauthorized” recreations of the game’s earlier daily puzzles, starting with the Wordle Archive in March. By the beginning of June, all of the best-known ways to play Wordle outside of the NYT website were gone, including the game’s original, pre-acquisition home.
While there’s no guarantee that the game will remain freely available for non-NYT subscribers to access, it hasn’t slipped behind the paywall yet. It’s also unknown whether the NYT will one day build an archive of its own.
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Past Wordle answers
Wordle #387: MADAM – Polite form of address for a woman, or the colloquial form of reference for a brothel’s owner and proprietor.
Wordle #386: BERTH – A ship’s assigned parking spot at a dock, or an assigned sleeping location aboard a ship.
Wordle #385: STEAD – The place, role, or function that is typically attended to by someone or something else.
Wordle #384: VOICE – The sound produced in a mammal, reptile, or amphibian’s larynx that emits from their mouth, or a term of reference to a particular opinion or position.
Wordle #383: AGAPE – Wide open, typically used in reference to a mouth’s expression of surprise or wonder.
Wordle #382: FLUFF – Fibers shed by soft fabric that’s gathered into a clump, or an often-derisive reference to a shallow work of entertainment.
Wordle #381: FIELD – An open plot of land, or a particular area of study or interest.
Wordle #380: SEVER – A cut or slice that divides one into more than one.
Wordle #379: LILAC – An Eurasian shrub that has pink, violet, or white blossoms, or a pinkish-violet color.
Wordle #378: EGRET – A long-legged and long-necked coastal bird with white plumage.
Wordle #377: PINTO – A mixed-breed horse with hair marked by larges patches of white and any other color.
Wordle #376: HUTCH – An enclosed pen that is built to house small, domesticated animals or a type of storage cabinet.
Wordle #375: GAWKY – Awkward and clumsy.
Wordle #374: DROLL – Whimsically dry humor.
Wordle #373: RETRO – Relating to or imitating the styles, ideas, or designs of the past.
Best Wordle starting words
We have some ideas to help you pick the perfect first move (or as close to perfect as you can get without just magically guessing the exact right word). Such tips include choosing a word with at least two different vowels in it, plus a few common consonants such as S, T, R, or N.
Will Wordle run out of words?
Wordle as we currently know it is built to end sometime toward the end of 2027. That’s when the list of answers in the daily word puzzle’s source code stopped prior to the NYT acquisition, and the paper has trimmed a few words out of that master list since taking the reins.
Realistically, though, Wordle has been a big hit and there’s no reason to believe the ending built into its original source code is an actual end. The game will very likely continue past any suspected cutoff dates, even if it means cycling old words back in, or perhaps rewriting the rules around words that use more letters.
Wordle alternatives
Thousands of people around the globe now play Wordle each day, and fans have even created alternatives inspired by the original format. This includes music identification game Heardle, Hollywood nerd faves Actorle and Framed, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
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