NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1408, Sunday, April 27

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 #1408) - clue #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1408) - clue #2 - first letter

W is a fairly average letter when it comes to starting an answer. There are 82 solutions that begin with a W, with means that it ranks 13th – so right in the middle of the alphabet.

Wordle hints (game #1408) - clue #3 - repeated letters

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 #1408) - clue #4 - ending letter

Y is the second most common ending letter in the game, behind only E. In total, 364 Wordle answers end with a Y.

Wordle hints (game #1408) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1408.

• Today's Wordle answer is scrawny or lean.

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 #1408)

• NYT average score: 4.3
• My score: 4
• WordleBot's score: 4
• My skill score: 87
• My luck score: 44
• My start word performance: BLEAT (65 remaining answers)
• WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (273)
• Tomorrow's start word: FLUKE

Today's Wordle answer (game #1408) is… WEEDY.

Before I talk about today's game, I'll point out a couple of changes I've made above. For starters, I've added in my daily skill and luck scores, as determined by WordleBot, mainly so I don't feel the need to whinge quite as much in the column on days where I feel I've been hard done by. Although that said, it is still quite possible I will complain when I'm very unlucky.

Secondly, I've added in tomorrow's start word. This was a great suggestion made by a reader, Steve, who pointed out that it would make it easier for others to directly compare their scores to mine. I love the idea, so I'm doing it from today. And don't forget, there's now a comments section below where you can post your scores and have a little chat about the games.

So, on to WEEDY – a word that used to accurately describe my physique, back in the days when I was young and active and didn't spend 12 hours a day in front of a laptop cramming chocolate into my face.

It's a tricky one, by the looks of it; WordleBot says it has an average score of 4.3, so not quite as bad as OZONE (4.4), but harder than GENIE and KNOWN (4.1).

As with those three, it has a repeated letter, the ultra-common E. But it also has an uncommon W at the start, and a format that has a fair few similarly spelled alternatives, in the form of SEEDY, NEEDY, REEDY, WEEPY.

These were all played in large numbers today – but more interesting to me is the fact that 0.3% of Wordlers went with DEEDY on the sixth guess today. DEEDY? Really? Imagine losing your streak because you played that over WEEDY. You would surely be very unhappy with yourself when you realized what you'd done.

I had to settle for a four, despite a fairly decent start from BLEAT, which left only 65 answers. I say 'only', but obviously that's still a lot more than I'd like to have had. But none of the most popular options today fared any better, and it was a couple of hundred fewer than WordleBot's CRANE left.

Second time out I went with SIREN. I correctly guessed that my green E might form a partnership with a second one, but incorrectly guessed the location. But despite not giving me any extra letters, it ruled out a bunch and cut my shortlist to eight.

I thought of five of those: WEEDY, WEEPY, GEEKY, CHEWY and CHECK. I missed CHEMO (which seems unlikely), plus PEEVE and QUEUE, which I should really have spotted.

I went with CHEWY next, but in hindsight there were better options. I was taken in by the fact that, even if wrong, the W would point the way to WEEDY or WEEPY, the C to CHECK, the Y without W or C to GEEKY. And it would have done. But it could also have left me a 50/50 between WEEDY and WEEPY, whereas playing PICKY, for instance, would guarantee me a four.

Inevitably, I did end up with that 50/50. But fortunately, I chose the right one, going with WEEDY and scoring an acceptable four.

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

Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1407)

In a different time zone where it's still Saturday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1407, too.

• Wordle yesterday had a vowel in one place.

* 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 C.

C is a very common starting letter in Wordle – in fact, it's the second most common of all, behind only S.

• 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 H.

H is a regular visitor to the final spot in a Wordle word. It occurs 137 times at the end of a Wordle answer, making it the sixth most common letter there.

Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1407.

• Yesterday's Wordle answer is to come into conflict.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1407)

• NYT average score: 3.6
• My score: 3
• WordleBot's score: 3
• My start word performance: VISTA (142 remaining answers)
• WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (14)

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1407) was… CLASH.

We've had a tricky few days with OZONE, GENIE and Friday's KNOWN, so CLASH offers a welcome respite with none of the challenges found in those games.

That means no repeated letters, no uncommon letters, no rare KN combinations at the start… just some of the most frequently used letters in the alphabet, in the places where you'd generally expect them.

It does have one complication, admittedly; the fact that -LASH could also be FLASH or SLASH, C-ASH could also be CRASH, and CLAS- could also be CLASP or CLASS. All of those words were played in huge numbers today, to the extent that on the third guess more than 20% of Wordlers went with with one of those options.

Despite that, it has a low average score of 3.6. The performance of some of the best Wordle start words will have helped here; CRANE left 14, STARE left 16 and SLATE reduced the shortlist to seven.

I managed to score a second successive three despite a far worse beginning. And again, I owed that result to a massive dose of good luck.

It came on my third guess, rather than on my second as it did on Friday. My opening VISTA left 142 words, and my follow-up of SANER was unlucky and still left 17.

(And yes, once again my hunch that it would be an ER word was incorrect. When are we going to get another one? There are 141 of these among the 2,309 original solutions, and we've had 84 so far. So there are 57 left to come in about 900 games – or one every 15.8 days. And the last one we got was 38 games ago! We are well overdue now. Surely it will be tomorrow. And then maybe we'll get three in a row. Something to look forward to, eh?)

I didn't come up with 17 answers, nowhere near it. But then I didn't try. Instead, I saw that CLASH, CLASP, FLASK and FLASH were all options, and decided to go with CLASH simply because The Clash are my favorite ever rock band. And, well, I knew it was a good narrowing-down word too – but then so would any of those have been.

Amazingly, it turned out to be the answer – which equated to a 96 luck score, according to WordleBot. Then again, it was also a 99 skill score, so maybe I deserved that luck. Either way, I'll take it.

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 #1407, Saturday 26 April: CLASH
• Wordle #1406, Friday 25 April: KNOWN
• Wordle #1405, Thursday 24 April: GENIE
• Wordle #1404, Wednesday 23 April: OZONE
• Wordle #1403, Tuesday 22 April: ARTSY
• Wordle #1402, Monday 21 April: SPATE
• Wordle #1401, Sunday 20 April: PATCH
• Wordle #1400, Saturday 19 April: INBOX
• Wordle #1399, Friday 18 April: DIRGE
• Wordle #1398, Thursday 17 April: STOOD
• Wordle #1397, Wednesday 16 April: MORAL
• Wordle #1396, Tuesday 15 April: ASHEN
• Wordle #1395, Monday 14 April: CREST
• Wordle #1394, Sunday 13 April: LAUGH
• Wordle #1393, Saturday 12 April: NURSE
• 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

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.