Welcome to The Wordle Review. Be warned: This article contains spoilers for today’s puzzle. Solve Wordle first, or scroll at your own risk.
This month’s featured artist is Simone Noronha. You can read more about her here.
★
Wordle 653 3/6
????⬜⬜⬜???? AUDIO
⬜????????????⬜ MORAL
???????????????????? BORAX
I have to confess something: I was tempted, just a tiny bit, not to be fully truthful here. I did solve today’s puzzle on the third guess, but I was tempted to make it seem as though that’s typical for me. There are people who might be that good at Wordle. I am not one of them.
Instead, I’m well acquainted with “Phew.” There are days — more than I’d like to admit — when I blow it completely. My one hesitation in taking part in the Wordle Review was that today would be one of those dreaded days.
I started like I always do: AUDIO. A while ago, I saw someone on Twitter mention it as their first word and I’ve borrowed it. It is filled with vowels, which I think helps. It’s very rare to put it in and not at least get a yellow square.
From there, I moved on to MORAL. R and L are letters that seem to come up often.
Here’s where it turns into simple, dumb luck. I was trying to come up with other words that contained ORA but didn’t end with L. Yet that’s all I could come up with: Coral. Doral, as if the answer were going to be a city in Florida. I thought of Torah, but I wasn’t sure if it would be accepted because it’s a proper noun. I was reluctant to try.
So I dug in a little more. BORAX popped into my head. I have no clue how it occurred to me to give it a shot. I don’t actually know what borax is. But, sure enough, it worked. As much as I’d like to think it was skill, my hunch is that there is a certain magic at work in Wordle — and I’m beyond relieved that the magic was working for me on the day I had to play in front of a crowd.
I’d rate it one star. I wouldn’t have gotten this one without luck.
Today’s word is BORAX. According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, it’s a noun referring to sodium borate. It can also refer to cheap, low-quality furniture.
Today’s Statistics
Information about the difficulty of today’s Wordle and how Times readers solved it will be available once more readers have had the chance to play.
Our Featured Artist
Simone Noronha is a South Asian illustrator and art director from Dubai who is based in New York. She enjoys weaving narratives and intricate details into her imagery with saturated palettes and the moody lighting that has become her signature. In an interview with Wired, she said, “I like to think of illustrative style as just our natural flaws shining through and doing the best with it.”
Further Reading
If you solved for a word different from what was featured today, please refresh your page.
Join the conversation on social media! Use the hashtag #wordlereview to chat with other solvers.
Leave any thoughts you have in the comments! Please follow community guidelines:
Be kind. Comments are moderated for civility.
Having a technical issue? Please use the help button in the settings menu of the Games app, or email nytgames@nytimes.com.
These rules will be enforced.