If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for August 23, read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. WordleBot says today’s puzzle is a tough one, with the average player solving in 5.1 guesses. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 23, Wordle #795! Scroll to the end if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. (It was previously an independent project created by Josh Wardle). A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green, yellow, or gray, giving you hints about the solution.

Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guess PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

CRANETRACESLANTCRATECARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

SALETREASTTRACECRATESLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after anotherDordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

Today’s puzzle only has three slots filled with common letters, but two slots with unusual ones.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

Spirited! Enthusiastic! And might get you humming “The Freshmen.”

Does today’s Wordle have any double letters?

Sure does—two pairs. One of the doubles is that less-common letter we mentioned.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

Just one, but it appears twice.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s Wordle solution starts with V.

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s Wordle solution ends with E.

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is VERVE.

How I solved today’s Wordle

Screenshot: Wordle

I started with ARISE, as usual, then TOUCH to get some more letters in play. After all that, I only had one green and one yellow, which tells me there might be some unusual letters on the way. I also started to wonder about the vowel situation: just an E at the end means there needs to be another vowel earlier in the word—probably another E. (Normally I would consider a Y as well, but I couldn’t think of any five-letter words with a Y in the middle and an E at the end.)

I needed to figure out where that R and E were, but I also wanted to get more letters in play, so I chose RENDS. (Wordlebot says I should have gone with NERVE, and maybe it’s right.) But I found the other E and I now knew the R had to be in either the third or fourth spot.

That strongly suggested VERVE, but I hesitated to guess it right away. I racked my brain for other possibilities, and all I could think of was MERGE. Between the two, I decided to take my chance on VERVE, and it was a hit.

Wordle 795 4/6
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