Millions of people across the world are logging on to the NYTGames app for today’s Wordle challenge, and Monday’s puzzle is proving to be another tricky one. Wordle gives players six guesses to work out the word of the day, and after each guess every letter changes color to show how close you are: green for the right letter in the right place, yellow for a correct letter in the wrong place and grey for a letter that does not belong.
One social media user summed up the mood on X with a blunt “Toughie.” That fits a puzzle that, by the article’s account, feels a lot like yesterday’s difficult one. Even the best minds at the Mirror US took six guesses to get there, which tells you how slippery this answer is.
The first hint points players toward a word that can be used as an adverb to describe something fresh out the box. The article also says the answer has just one vowel, though some might argue there are actually two. That wrinkle is part of what makes it awkward to pin down, especially since the word is definitely familiar, even if it is not one that will have sprung to mind immediately.
If you are still working through it, something like LANKY would be a decent first guess, according to the piece, because it can help narrow down the shape of the word. The article’s framing is straightforward: it is a daily Wordle hint-and-answer feature meant to help players through the day’s puzzle while explaining the game’s color-coded feedback along the way.
The larger truth is simple. This is not the kind of Wordle that rewards a lucky first stab, and Monday’s challenge is likely to send plenty of players into their final guesses before they land on the answer. That is exactly why the daily puzzle keeps working: it looks easy, then asks you to earn it.
