Tuesday is upon us. It’s the last Tuesday of September. Next Tuesday will be an October Tuesday, which we all know is a tad bit brisker with a dash of chill and just the faintest hint of pumpkin.

This Tuesday my flooring project continues. One room is done, the second is about two thirds of the way done if we’re being optimistic. But as anyone who does home improvement or DYI projects knows, usually something goes wrong or ends up being more challenging than expected.

In any case, I’ll stop rambling about the floors. Let’s do this Wordle—then I’m off to Home Depot for more supplies!

The Hint: Good friends, good dogs, good subjects.

The Clue: This word starts and ends with the same letter.

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After each Wordle I solve I head over to the Wordle Bot homepage to see how my guessing game was.

Not too shabby today. I really have no idea why I picked dairy for my opening guess. It seemed like a decent opening word, and it ended up being amazing, slashing all but six remaining potential solutions. From here—not knowing how good my guess was just yet—I figured I’d just try out a word with all new letters. Slope gave me two more yellow boxes. Better yet, it left me with only one possible choice: loyal for the win!

Another good score today. I get 1 point for guessing in three and 1 point for beating Wordle Bot who guessed in four. 2 points! Huzzah!

The word "loyal" has its etymological roots in the Old French word "loial," which meant "faithful, true to one's word, legal." It was derived from the Latin word "legalis," meaning "legal" or "pertaining to the law." Over time, the meaning of "loial" shifted to include the sense of faithfulness and allegiance to a person, cause, or principle, and it eventually evolved into the modern English word "loyal."

So, the word "loyal" ultimately traces its origins back to Latin, with a path through Old French, reflecting its historical connection to concepts of legality and faithfulness.

I’ve been playing a cutthroat game of PvP Wordle against my nemesis Wordle But. Now you should play against me! I can be your nemesis! (And your helpful Wordle guide, of course). You can also play against the Bot if you have a New York Times subscription.

You can either keep a running tally of your score if that’s your jam or just play day-to-day if you prefer.

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