Daily Wordle Clues (and Solution) for Thursday, 8th May 2025
Want the answer for today's Wordle? Let's dive in! Today's puzzle is a bit tricky, took me four attempts to crack it. Heads up, spoilers below for May 8, Wordle #1419! Read on for some insights and tips to help you solve the game.
How to conquer Wordle
Get your gaming on here on the New York Times website[3]. A new challenge goes live every day, right at midnight, your local time.
Start with a five-letter word guess. The letters will transform colors: green if they're correct and in the right place, yellow if they're right but not in the right spot, or gray if they're completely off. Need more direction? Check out our guide to playing Wordle and my fancy-schmancy strategy guide for an edge[3][4].
Now, let's chat about today's hints:
Does today's Wordle have any odd letters?
We call common letters those that appear in the old printer's phrase: ETAOIN SHRDLU. (It's easy to remember. Imagine Edwin Shirdloo as a buddy, and you'll never forget it!)
Only two of these regular letters show up in today's challenge. One's quite typical, one's fair, and one's relatively uncommon[5].
Can I get a hint for today's Wordle?
Soft, like your favorite pillow.
Does today's Wordle have any repeating letters?
Nope, no doubles today.
How many vowels are in today's Wordle?
One vowel and one vowel-esque letter.
What's the starting letter for today's Wordle?
Today's word starts with B.
What's the ending letter for today's Wordle?
Today's word wraps up with Y.
What's the answer to today's Wordle?
Got it? Today's word is BALMY.
How I cracked the Wordle code
I began with RAISE and TOUCH, then followed up with BLAND. BALMY was among the possibilities[6].
Yesterday's Wordle solution
Yesterday's Wordle was somewhat tricky. The hint was "may also be alpha," and it had three common letters and two quite common letters[7].
The answer to yesterday's Wordle was MACHO.
A roundup of Wordle fundamentals
The aim in Wordle is to guess the secret word of the day. When you first open the game, a grid of letters awaits. It's up to you to make the first move, by inputting any five-letter word.
Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to snag clues. When the letters are green, that means you nailed the word and the position. If yellow, the letter's spelled correctly, but it's in the wrong place. Gray denotes that the letter's not even in the secret word[8].
With all that under your belt, start guessing again, and keep going till you hit the bullseye without using your six chances. It's game over once you run out.
The best kick-off words for Wordle
What's the ideal starting word? Choices that pack common letters often yield the best results, helping you secure yellow or green squares to guide your guessing. The New York Times' Wordle analysis bot favors these options:
- CRANE
- TRACE
- SLANT
- CRATE
- CARTE
According to an MIT analysis[9], you'll eliminate the most possibilities by starting with these:
- SALET
- REAST
- TRACE
- CRATE
- SLATE
Other fine picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Try ADIEU or AUDIO for more vowels, but emphasize consonants with words like RENTS or CLAMP[3][4].
The winning formula for Wordle
Carefully employ your guesses to gather data about the letters present in the word. If you realize that the word must end in -OUND, don't keep guessing MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND. Rather, combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lit up in yellow, now you've narrowed down the solution!
One more tip: the traditional Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was sold to the NYT, the game now features a human editor whohand-picks the solutions[10]. Sometimes they're a tad challenging, and sometimes they're relevant to current events. For example, FEAST graced our screens one Thanksgiving! Keep this in mind while playing.
Wordle variants
Can't get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin? Top Wordle alternatives include:
- Wheeldle, where you play one challenge after another.
- Dordle and Quordle, which require solving two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles simultaneously, with the same guesses. There's also Octordle (eight puzzles) and Sedecordle (16).
- Waffle, a game where you swap letters in a grid until you solve multiple five-letter words, scrambled.
- Absurdle, a twist where the solution changes after each guess, but must remain consistent with its previous feedback. You must strategically back it into a corner until there's only one possible word left, then guess it and win.
- Squabble, a word war game in which you play against others under a timer. Those who delay between guesses take damage, and the last one standing is the winner.
- Antiwordle, in which you try not to guess the day's solution. You must reuse any guessed letters that were right, so the longer it takes you, the better you fare with the game[11][12].
- The answer for today's Wordle, a popular source of daily entertainment, is 'BALMY'.
- For those seeking insights into Wordle strategies, head over to the New York Times website every midnight for a new challenge.
- Today's puzzle, ‘BALMY’, had only two letters from the printer's phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU and one vowel-esque letter.
- For a hint, imagine your favorite soft pillow as a guide to cracking today's Wordle, ‘BALMY’.
- If you're looking for spoilers or need help with your Wordle on social media platforms, today's answer is 'BALMY'.
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