NYT Wordle today — answer and hints for game #1059, Monday, May 13
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? My Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at my new NYT Strands today page for my verdict on the New York Times’ latest brainteaser.
SPOILER WARNING: Today’s Wordle answer and hints are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.
Your Wordle expert
Your Wordle expert
Marc McLaren
Wordle hints (game #1059) – 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 #1059) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is C.
C is a very common starting letter in Wordle – in fact, it’s the second most common of all, behind only S.
• 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.
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Wordle hints (game #1059) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is N.
N is a pretty common ending letter in Wordle: it’s the seventh most likely in that position and features in 130 solutions.
Wordle hints (game #1059) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1059.
Today’s Wordle answer is a spice.
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 #1059)
(Image credit: New York Times)
NYT average score: 3.8
My score: 4
WordleBot’s score: 3
Best start word performance*: CRANE (8 remaining answers)
My start word performance: STALL (762)
* From WordleBot’s Top 20 start words
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1059) is… CUMIN.
We’re in the midst of a slightly dull Wordle run right now. This is the fourth game in a row to have two or three vowels, no repeated letters, no uncommon letters, no major complications. Three of the four have also had an average of below 4.0, with only yesterday’s OUTER (thanks to that ER ending) bucking the trend and ending up at 4.2. CUMIN, meanwhile, is at 3.8, so the same as MEDIA and slightly harder than TIDAL.
Another recurring theme is AUDIO performing really well as a start word and helping to keep that average down; today it left nine possible solutions, one behind the most successful of WordleBot’s top 20, CRANE.
I had no such luck, with STALL leaving me with 762 answers. Then again, yesterday I had only 17 to pick from and contrived to score a 5/6, so start word is not always a guarantee of success or otherwise.
Here, I had a massive helping of luck with my second guess, CRONE, which cut those 762 options to a trio: CYNIC, CUMIN and CINCH. Any of the three of them would be guaranteed to rule out one more at the same time, meaning that I couldn’t score lower than a 4/6 whichever one I went for.
This is the kind of scenario I always hope for, because there’s no dilemma of whether to shoot for a 3/6 and risk a 5/6, or play it safe and guarantee a four (which is what I tend to go for). Instead, I was able to play CYNIC while knowing that it would give me the answer whatever happened. So, while it wasn’t correct, when the letter I turned green it meant the solution now had to be CUMIN. Move along, nothing more to see here.
In a different time zone where it’s still Sunday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1058, too.
Wordle yesterday had vowels in three 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).
The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was O.
Vowels are generally less common than you’d expect at the start of a word, and O is only the 17th most likely letter to begin a Wordle answer.
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 R.
R is a very common letter to end a Wordle answer – it’s actually the 4th most common there, behind E, Y and T.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1058.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer is on the exterior.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1058)
(Image credit: New York Times)
NYT average score: 4.2
My score: 5
WordleBot’s score: 3
Best start word performance*: TASER (15 remaining answers)
I’m not entirely sure how I managed to score a 5/6 here. WordleBot says OUTER has an average score of 4.1 [since upgraded to 4.2], and it may well cause problems for some people, but I should not really have been one of them.
The complicating factor for OUTER is that it’s an ER word, and these are almost always harder than many other types of Wordle. There are simply so many of them that narrowing down the options can be a very difficult task. However, OUTER is unusual among ER words in that it has two vowels at the start, as opposed to the far more likely consonant-vowel pattern seen in, for instance, JOKER or RIPER or ROVER or any of those other tricky ER answers.
As a result, this may have been easier to solve if your start word contains lots of vowels. And indeed, AUDIO was one of the big winners today, leaving 14 solutions. That’s a lot higher than the results for that word on the previous couple of days, sure, but still better than any of WordleBot’s top 20.
My start word put my in a similar position: it was ETUDE, which gave me three yellow letters and cut my options to 17. A 3/6 should have been possible from here, a 4/6 definite. But I inexplicably failed to realize this could be an ER word, and instead went with QUIET for my second guess. I have no excuse beyond sloppiness; I was in a rush today and didn’t spend as long on Wordle as I usually do. We’ve all been there, right? There’s only so many times you can tell the family that you’ll be joining them for breakfast soon, honest.
QUIET was not a disaster at all, in that it cut those options to only four, all of which were now ER words: TUBER, TUNER, CUTER and OUTER. But I followed that with an even worse mistake, playing TUNER rather than, say TENOR, which would have guaranteed me a 4/6. Then, when TENOR was wrong, I compounded it by going with CUTER, before finally settling on OUTER for a 5/6.
Guessing blindly is not what I generally do, but we all have off days and here was another one for me.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than two 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 #1058, Sunday 12 May: OUTER
Wordle #1057, Saturday 11 May: TIDAL
Wordle #1056, Friday 10 May: MEDIA
Wordle #1055, Thursday 9 May: JERKY
Wordle #1054, Wednesday 8 May: PIOUS
Wordle #1053, Tuesday 7 May: MUSTY
Wordle #1052, Monday 6 May: SHAVE
Wordle #1051, Sunday 5 May: DECAL
Wordle #1050, Saturday 4 May: VALUE
Wordle #1049, Friday 3 May: EBONY
Wordle #1048, Thursday 2 May: SLICE
Wordle #1047, Wednesday 1 May: DIARY
Wordle #1046, Tuesday 30 April: PROWL
Wordle #1045, Monday 29 April: CRAFT
Wordle #1044, Sunday 28 April: PRUNE
Wordle #1043, Saturday 27 April: GLEAM
Wordle #1042, Friday 26 April: VAPID
Wordle #1041, Thursday 25 April: INTRO
Wordle #1040, Wednesday 24 April: OVERT
Wordle #1039, Tuesday 23 April: ROVER
Wordle #1038, Monday 22 April: LASER
Wordle #1037, Sunday 21 April: JOLLY
Wordle #1036, Saturday 20 April: LUCID
Wordle #1035, Friday 19 April: RAISE
Wordle #1034, Thursday 18 April: FACET
Wordle #1033, Wednesday 17 April: TITHE
Wordle #1032, Tuesday 16 April: SHANK
Wordle #1031, Monday 15 April: EQUIP
Wordle #1030, Sunday 14 April: BLIMP
Wordle #1029, Saturday 13 April: STEEL
Wordle #1028, Friday 12 April: WHINY
Wordle #1027, Thursday 11 April: LOUSE
Wordle #1026, Wednesday 10 April: BROTH
Wordle #1025, Tuesday 9 April: MERGE
Wordle #1024, Monday 8 April: BREED
Wordle #1023, Sunday 7 April: VOILA
Wordle #1022, Saturday 6 April: FINCH
Wordle #1021, Friday 5 April: WRIST
Wordle #1020, Thursday 4 April: CLIMB
Wordle #1019, Wednesday 3 April: PLAIT
Wordle #1018, Tuesday 2 April: SERUM
Wordle #1017, Monday 1 April: FROND
Wordle #1016, Sunday 31 March: TABOO
Wordle #1015, Saturday 30 March: FORCE
Wordle #1014, Friday 29 March: REALM
Wordle #1013, Thursday 28 March: SPEAK
Wordle #1012, Wednesday 27 March: STUNG
Wordle #1011, Tuesday 26 March: MAYOR
Wordle #1010, Monday 25 March: SALLY
Wordle #1009, Sunday 24 March: TOWEL
Wordle #1008, Saturday 23 March: RISEN
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.
What is Wordle?
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.
What are the Wordle rules?
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.
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…
