Today's NYT Wordle lands with puzzle #1918, and offers a fair challenge with one feature capable of slowing an otherwise clean solve. Streak protectors and newcomers alike are welcome to work through the clues.
The Basics (For New Players)
Wordle gives you six attempts to crack a five-letter word. After each guess, tiles change color: green means right letter, right spot; yellow signals right letter, wrong position; gray indicates the letter isn't in the word at all. One puzzle per day, shared by millions worldwide. That's the beauty of it.
Created by Josh Wardle in 2021 and now part of The New York Times Games family, Wordle has become a daily ritual for word lovers everywhere. Today's puzzle #1918 awaits.
The Letter Rundown
Today's puzzle breaks down like this:
Vowel Count: 2 vowel(s)
Consonant Count: 3 consonant(s)
Repeated Letters: No repeats today
Letter Rarity: Mostly common letters, with K the least frequent of the set
The Elimination Game (Progressive Hints)
We've designed these hints to reveal just enough at each level. Stop when you've got it figured out.
Level 1 (The Vibe): Think of the moment when stillness gives way to activity.
Level 2 (The Category): A verb for emerging from sleep or causing alertness and awareness.
Level 3 (The Boundaries): Starts with W, ends with N.
Level 4 (The Structure): All five letters are different, and the vowels sit in positions 2 and 4.
Level 5 (The Giveaway): To bring someone out of sleep, or stir a feeling or awareness into action.
Quick-Reference Clues
First Letter: W
Last Letter: N
Vowels Present: A, E
Double Letters: No
Rhymes With: TAKEN, SHAKEN
Today's Wordle Answer
Final warning: The answer is directly below. Scroll only if you're ready.
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The answer to Wordle #1918 is: WAKEN
Word DNA: Breaking Down Today's Answer
WAKEN means to wake up or to cause someone or something to become alert, active, or aware. You can waken from a deep sleep, or an experience can waken an old curiosity.
Origins: WAKEN comes from Old English forms related to wake and watch, carrying the core idea of becoming alert or rousing from sleep.
Word Family: wake, wakes, waking, woke, awake, awaken, awakening
Fun Fact: The broader wake family preserves several different forms, including wake, woke, awake, and awaken. That familiar family can conceal WAKEN in Wordle because solvers often reach first for the forms heard more often in everyday speech.
The Streak Saver Rating
Difficulty: 3 out of 5. The trap factor is the opening W paired with an internal K, while the two vowels occupy separate slots and every letter appears once.
A solver can lock onto the A, E, and final N yet keep testing more familiar consonant frames. A disciplined probe that includes W and K clears that uncertainty while avoiding wasted duplicate letters.
What This Puzzle Teaches
When a clean vowel pattern leaves several plausible shapes, test the less expected consonants together instead of rearranging familiar ones. A high-information probe is especially valuable when the grid gives no evidence of repeated letters.
Tomorrow's Reset
Puzzle #1919 drops at midnight in your timezone, Saturday handing the streak over to a fresh board.
WAKEN rewards a fresh look at a familiar word family. How did your solve go today?
See you at midnight for the next challenge.
