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NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1393, Saturday, April 12

Looking for Wordle hints? I can help. Plus get the answers to Wordle today and yesterday.

Apr 12, 2025 - 00:04

NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1393, Saturday, April 12

Looking for a different day?

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 Friday'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 #1393) - 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 #1393) - clue #2 - first letter

What letter does today's Wordle begin with?

• The first letter in today's Wordle answer is N.

N is a surprisingly uncommon starting letter. Only 37 games begin with it and it ranks just 18th in this regard.

Wordle hints (game #1393) - 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 #1393) - 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 #1393) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1393.

Today's Wordle answer cares for the sick.

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 #1393)

NYT Wordle answer for game 1393 on a green background — (Image credit: New York Times)

NYT average score: 3.7
My score: 3
WordleBot's score: 2
My start word performance: DOWNY (214 remaining answers)
WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (6)

Today's Wordle answer (game #1393) is… NURSE.

As with yesterday's game, this is one where some of the best Wordle start words really helped. Or, more importantly, where some of the most popular start words helped.

Specifically, CRANE (6), STARE (12), RAISE (9) and ARISE (10) all made major headroads – and given that between them they accounted for 12% of all first guesses today, that will have played a big part in NURSE having a relatively low average score of 3.7.

The fact that it's still at 3.7 even with those results implies that it might be relatively hard if your opening guess was not so lucky. I reckon the fact that CURSE and PURSE were alternatives will have tripped up some, while VERSE, SURGE, ROUSE, HORSE and several others are also pretty close.

Of course those of you with good memories will recall that VERSE (game #1378) and CURSE (#1383) were both very recent past Wordle answers, so that might have made it easier. Then again, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember everything that's gone before.

I recalled both of them, but never had to consider them anyway due to the way my letters fell.

I began with DOWNY – an unusual start word that left 214 options – but was very fortunate to follow up with SANER. This gave me three more yellows to add to my still-yellow N, and left only two solutions.

These were NURSE and RESIN, and I got lucky with my guess on the 50/50 for a welcome three.

How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.

Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1392)

In a different time zone where it's still Friday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1392, too.

Wordle yesterday had 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).

The first letter in yesterday's Wordle answer was A.

A is a reasonably common starting letter in Wordle: 140 games begin with this letter. It ranks 6th among starting letters, behind S, C, B, T and P.

There were 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 W.

W is an uncommon ending letter in Wordle. A mere 17 games finish with one, out of 2,309 original answers.

Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1392.

Yesterday's Wordle answer is a projectile.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1392)

NYT Wordle answer for game 1392 on a green background — (Image credit: New York Times)

NYT average score: 3.8
My score: 4
WordleBot's score: 3
My start word performance: SIGMA (527 remaining answers)
WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (14)

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1392) was… ARROW.

This was a 99 skill day for me, according to WordleBot – but I still had to settle for a four on a day when the average is 3.8.

Why the disconnect? Well, my random start word was not the best; I was given SIGMA, which did serve up a single yellow A, but which left 527 options. I did my best to narrow it down from there, but doing so in fewer than three more guesses was beyond me.

ARROW's average implies that it's of middling difficulty, but I suspect it will depend greatly – as it so often does – on your choice of the best Wordle start words.

CRANE, WordleBot's top pick, was one of the luckiest – it left only 14 options, and the 'Bot duly scored a three – but ARISE was better still at eight. Although outside of the top 20 start words, it's played by around 2% of all Wordlers, so will have skewed the average to an extent.

I was in that ballpark after my second guess, CRATE, which reduced my 500-plus options to a mere six. I found five of them – BROAD, ARROW, ARRAY, ARDOR and ARBOR – but missed URBAN.

The good news was that it soon became clear that I could play one of BROAD, ARBOR or ARDOR and guarantee a four at worst, while giving myself a chance of a three. I went with BROAD – not recalling that it had been a past Wordle answer – and when that was wrong was able to play ARROW next.

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 #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
Wordle #1350, Friday 28 February: FUZZY
Wordle #1349, Thursday 27 February: LODGE
Wordle #1348, Wednesday 26 February: AWARD
Wordle #1347, Tuesday 25 February: DRYER
Wordle #1346, Monday 24 February: GLAND
Wordle #1345, Sunday 23 February: OTTER
Wordle #1344, Saturday 22 February: CREAM
Wordle #1343, Friday 21 February: CLOVE
Wordle #1342, Thursday 20 February: ROACH

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.