Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Golf knowledge is a weak point for me, so I struggled a little with today’s Connections: Sports Edition. It’s nice to see an appearance from one of the best team names in minor league ball. Hello, Yard Goats fans. Stuck? Check out our hints and get the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Don’t skip this step.
Green group hint: Par for the course.
Blue group hint: Constitution state.
Purple group hint: Not bored.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Get ready for a game.
Green group: Golf wedges.
Blue group: Connecticut teams.
Purple group: _____ board.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The completed NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 21, 2025.
NYT/Screenshot by CNET
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is get ready for a game. The four answers are get loose, prepare, stretch and warm up.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is golf wedges. The four answers are gap, lob, pitching and sand.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Connecticut teams. The four answers are Sun, UConn, Yale and Yard Goats.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is _____ board. The four answers are back, leader, skate and surf.
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Sunday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, July 20 (game #504).
Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #505) – hint #1 – today’s theme
What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands?
• Today’s NYT Strands theme is… I fold!
NYT Strands today (game #505) – hint #2 – clue words
Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
BANK
BRINE
FLOW
SHIFT
TURBO
WHEY
NYT Strands today (game #505) – hint #3 – spangram letters
How many letters are in today’s spangram?
• Spangram has 7 letters
NYT Strands today (game #505) – hint #4 – spangram position
What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches?
First side: left, 4th row
Last side: right, 5th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #505) – the answers
(Image credit: New York Times)
The answers to today’s Strands, game #505, are…
KITE
FROG
FISH
CRANE
BUTTERFLY
SPANGRAM: ORIGAMI
My rating: Hard
My score: 2 hints
It took me until my fourth word, which was CRANE, to understand the significance of “I fold!”. After that it was a case of finding a letter-O close to an edge and connecting ORIGAMI.
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Despite this moment of revelation, today’s search didn’t get any easier – mainly because a crane is the most obvious shape you can make, but also because hundreds of items can be created by folding a square piece of thin paper.
Thankfully, FLOWER and BUTTERFLY were easy to spot, but even though there were only five letters left I still struggled to see HEART (trying “earth” first – maybe you just screw the paper up into a ball).
Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Sunday, July 20, game #504)
WRAP
BIKINI
SARONG
TRUNKS
SANDALS
SWIMSUIT
SPANGRAM: BEACH ATTIRE
What is NYT Strands?
Strands is the NYT’s not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day.
A new NYT Wordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here.
It’s time for your guide to today’s Wordle answer, featuring my commentary on the latest puzzle, plus a selection of hints designed to help you keep your streak going.
Don’t think you need any clues for Wordle today? No problem, just skip to my daily column. But remember: failure in this game is only ever six guesses away.
Want more word-based fun? TechRadar’s Quordle today page contains hints and answers for that game, and you can also take a look at our NYT Strands today and NYT Connections today pages for our verdict on two of the New York Times’ other brainteasers.
SPOILER WARNING: Today’s Wordle answer and hints are below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to see them.
Your Wordle expert
Your Wordle expert
Marc McLaren
Wordle hints (game #1492) – clue #1 – Vowels
How many vowels does today’s Wordle have?
• Wordle today has a vowel in one place*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Wordle hints (game #1492) – clue #2 – first letter
What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?
• The first letter in today’s Wordle answer is B.
B is a very, very common starting letter in Wordle. In fact, it’s the third most common overall, behind only S and C.
• There are no repeated letters in today’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
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Wordle hints (game #1492) – clue #4 – ending letter
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
• The last letter in today’s Wordle is K.
K is much more common at the end of a Wordle answer than at the start, and in fact ranks ninth overall in this regard.
Wordle hints (game #1492) – clue #5 – last chance
Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here’s an extra one for game #1492.
Today’s Wordle answer is an empty space.
If you just want to know today’s Wordle answer now, simply scroll down – but I’d always recommend trying to solve it on your own first. We’ve got lots of Wordle tips and tricks to help you, including a guide to the best Wordle start words.
If you don’t want to know today’s answer then DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS PRINTED BELOW. So don’t say you weren’t warned!
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1492)
(Image credit: New York Times)
NYT average score: 4.0
My score: 3
WordleBot’s score: 3
My skill score: 99
My luck score: 58
My start word performance: CRANE (20 remaining answers)
WordleBot’s start word performance: SLATE (22)
Tomorrow’s start word: ALIBI
Today’s Wordle answer (game #1492) is… BLANK.
And with that, my little start-word experiment is over: three games, three scores of 3/6, two tied with the ‘Bot, one beating it.
So yes, I now know what I already knew – namely that if you begin each game with a very good start word (in this case CRANE), you will on average achieve better scores than if you use a random opener.
It’s not exactly rocket science, no, but it has acted as a nice reminder of the fundamentals of the game.
I might well have scored a four on BLANK without the helping hand that CRANE gave me today, because it has an overall average of 4.0 at the time of writing. It’s not exactly a difficult game, but it is one where narrowing down the options will have been a challenge, simply because there are so many that differ by only a couple of letters.
Change only one letter and you can make BLAND, BLACK, BLINK, PLANK, FLANK and CLANK, which immediately complicates the process, but with two changed there are dozens. If you had the BLA combination at the start you might have tried BLADE or BLAZE or BLAST, for instance, or with BL-N- you might have gone for BLEND or BLIND or BLOND.
Or, if you had the end of the word, maybe you’ll have played PRANK or CRANK or SPANK or SHANK or THANK. And that’s just a smattering of the words that were available relatively late on, and depending on which letters you’d already played.
Fortunately for me, CRANE left only 20 in total. I knew it was an –AN- word, and I knew there was no C, R or E included. An ANK or AND ending seemed most likely, although I did also find a few ANT (SLANT, PLANT) and ANG (SLANG, TWANG) words.
Try as I might, I couldn’t find a perfect narrowing-down word, though. The best I could do was SPLIT – which would leave me a four-way choice at worst. WordleBot said GHOST would have been better, but only slightly, and it still would have left the same four-way split.
This being Wordle, that four-way choice was exactly the one I faced when the L turned yellow: BLAND, BLANK, FLANK and GLAND. Playing either of the latter two words might still have left a 50/50, whereas BLAND and BLANK would both guarantee me a four at worst. So I went with BLANK and was lucky enough to score a three. Sadly, it’s back to random start words from tomorrow – so I suspect threes will be thin on the ground once again.
Yesterday’s Wordle hints (game #1491)
In a different time zone where it’s still Saturday? Don’t worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1491, too.
Wordle yesterday had a vowel in one place.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
The first letter in yesterday’s Wordle answer was S.
S is the most common starting letter in the game, featuring in 365 of Wordle’s 2,309 answers. In fact, it’s almost twice as likely to begin an answer as the next most common starting letter, C.
There were no repeated letters in yesterday’s Wordle.
Repeated letters are quite common in the game, with 748 of the 2,309 Wordle answers containing one. However, it’s still more likely that a Wordle doesn’t have one.
The last letter in yesterday’s Wordle was D.
D is a fairly common letter to end a Wordle answer: it’s the eighth most likely to be in that position in a solution.
Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here’s an extra one for game #1491.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer is a weapon.
Yesterday’s Wordle answer (game #1491)
(Image credit: New York Times)
NYT average score: 3.6
My score: 3
WordleBot’s score: 4
My skill score: 94
My luck score: 64
My start word performance: CRANE (107 remaining answers)
Well, this is all a little freaky. For Friday’s game, WordleBot awarded me a skill score of 94, a luck score of 64 and reported that my opening guess (CRANE) had left 107 possible solutions. This… was exactly the same. That may well point the way to some underlying facet of the universe – a universal Wordle constant or something. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence.
Either way, one thing that it definitely is, is further proof that a good start word makes all the difference. No, this is not a surprise. But it doesn’t hurt to prove it now and then. And so, after five fours and then a five while using random openers, I’ve now scored two successive threes when beginning with CRANE.
What’s more, I beat the ‘Bot – who is, admittedly, using SLATE now, so it’s not a direct comparison. But then again it did have only 71 options left to play with following its first word, so it had an advantage over me all the same.
SWORD is not a difficult Wordle. It has an average score of 3.6 and the only minor complicating factor is the SW pairing at the start.
Even then, it is only a slightly less common combination than the most likely options. S can precede 16 different letters at the beginning of a Wordle, and though ST, SH and SP stand out above the rest, SW is one of a middling group with SC, SL and SA.
Others are far less common – for instance there are only two SY words, of which SYRUP, game #671, is the only one to have appeared so far.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
S-pairings at the start of Wordle answers
1st 2 letters
Frequency
ST
65
SH
52
SP
45
SC
29
SL
27
SA
23
SW
23
SN
18
SM
15
SE
14
SO
14
SI
13
SU
13
SK
9
SQ
3
SY
2
SWORD is the twelfth such SW word so far, with SWIRL (game #72), SWILL (#245), SWEET (#262), SWEAT (#611), SWEEP (#634), SWINE (#706), SWISH (#1069), SWUNG (#1088), SWOON (#1122), SWELL (#1239) and SWATH (#1329) being the others. We’re only just over halfway through the list, so expect plenty more in the remaining 900 or so games.
I said above that my stats for this game were remarkably similar to those for Friday’s – but then again, I did play the exact same first two words, following CRANE with TOURS.
On Friday, it gave me green O and S. Today, it was green R, but yellow O and S. This time, I had two words left, rather than one – SWORD and SPORK. I wasn’t sure that SPORK would be an actual answer (although I very much hope that it is), so went with SWORD and scored my three.
Wordle answers: The past 50
I’ve been playing Wordle every day for more than three years now and have tracked all of the previous answers so I can help you improve your game. Here are the last 50 solutions starting with yesterday’s answer, or check out my past Wordle answers page for the full list.
Wordle #1491, Saturday 19 July: SWORD
Wordle #1490, Friday 18 July: LORIS
Wordle #1489, Thursday 17 July: MODAL
Wordle #1488, Wednesday 16 July: NERVY
Wordle #1487, Tuesday 15 July: FOIST
Wordle #1486, Monday 14 July: UNDID
Wordle #1485, Sunday 13 July: GNOME
Wordle #1484, Saturday 12 July: EXILE
Wordle #1483, Friday 11 July: BRAND
Wordle #1482, Thursday 10 July: JUMPY
Wordle #1481, Wednesday 9 July: NOVEL
Wordle #1480, Tuesday 8 July: DREAD
Wordle #1479, Monday 7 July: STILT
Wordle #1478, Sunday 6 July: ATRIA
Wordle #1477, Saturday 5 July: BALER
Wordle #1476, Friday 4 July: CURVE
Wordle #1475, Thursday 3 July: POPPY
Wordle #1474, Wednesday 2 July: INCUR
Wordle #1473, Tuesday 1 July: MOLDY
Wordle #1472, Monday 30 June: BLINK
Wordle #1471, Sunday 29 June: WITTY
Wordle #1470, Saturday 28 June: STUMP
Wordle #1469, Friday 27 June: PLAIN
Wordle #1468, Thursday 26 June: OFFER
Wordle #1467, Wednesday 25 June: COMFY
Wordle #1466, Tuesday 24 June: ELITE
Wordle #1465, Monday 23 June: ODDLY
Wordle #1464, Sunday 22 June: THRUM
Wordle #1463, Saturday 21 June: GLADE
Wordle #1462, Friday 20 June: TAUPE
Wordle #1461, Thursday 19 June: CURIO
Wordle #1460, Wednesday 18 June: MUNCH
Wordle #1459, Tuesday 17 June: PRANK
Wordle #1458, Monday 16 June: PETTY
Wordle #1457, Sunday 15 June: QUAIL
Wordle #1456, Saturday 14 June: GHOST
Wordle #1455, Friday 13 June: BILGE
Wordle #1454, Thursday 12 June: VIXEN
Wordle #1453, Wednesday 11 June: PLAID
Wordle #1452, Tuesday 10 June: TAFFY
Wordle #1451, Monday 9 June: BOARD
Wordle #1450, Sunday 8 June: LEASE
Wordle #1449, Saturday 7 June: REUSE
Wordle #1448, Friday 6 June: EDIFY
Wordle #1447, Thursday 5 June: DATUM
Wordle #1446, Wednesday 4 June: CEASE
Wordle #1445, Tuesday 3 June: ADMIN
Wordle #1444, Monday 2 June: PREEN
Wordle #1443, Sunday 1 June: ROUGH
Wordle #1442, Saturday 31 May: HABIT
Wordle #1441, Friday 30 May: IDIOM
What is Wordle?
If you’re on this page then you almost certainly know what Wordle is already, and indeed have probably been playing it for a while. And even if you’ve not been playing it, you must surely have heard of it by now, because it’s the viral word game phenomenon that took the world by storm in 2022 and is still going strong in 2025.
We’ve got a full guide to the game in our What is Wordle page, but if you just want a refresher then here are the basics.
What is Wordle?
Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day. You get six guesses, with each one revealing a little more information. If one of the letters in your guess is in the answer and in the right place, it turns green. If it’s in the answer but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. And if it’s not in the answer at all it turns gray. Simple, eh?
It’s played online via the Wordle website or the New York Times’ Games app (iOS / Android), and is entirely free.
Crucially, the answer is the same for everyone each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world, rather than just against yourself or the game. The puzzle then resets each day at midnight in your local time, giving you a new challenge, and the chance to extend your streak.
What are the Wordle rules?
The rules of Wordle are pretty straightforward, but with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray.
4. Answers are never plural.
5. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
6. Each guess must be a valid word in Wordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.
7. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses unless you play on Hard mode.
8. You have six guesses to solve the Wordle.
9. You must complete the daily Wordle before midnight in your timezone.
10. All answers are drawn from Wordle’s list of 2,309 solutions. However…
11. Wordle will accept a wider pool of words as guesses – some 10,000 of them. For instance, you can guess a plural such as WORDS. It definitely won’t be right (see point 4 above), but Wordle will accept it as a guess.
12. The NYT has added in some of its own words, that weren’t in that list of 2,309 solutions. More will undoubtedly come over the next few years.
