July was formally Wordle’s hardest ever, however it may get tougher nonetheless – here is why

For those who struggled to unravel most of the Wordle puzzles served up final month, then don't be too exhausting on your self: it was the hardest month within the recreation's historical past.

I've crunched the numbers and, by my reckoning, it left each different month to this point within the mud for issue, with a median rating for the 31 video games of 4.22.

That's in response to the day by day figures reported by WordleBot, the sport's AI helper instrument, which data the common among the many many hundreds of people that play. In flip, I've saved a listing of these averages because the 'Bot launched in April 2022, that means I now have a spreadsheet rating 1,221 video games by issue.

The dangerous information is that somewhat than being merely a statistical anomaly, that powerful run could level the way in which in the direction of Wordle's close to future. My day by day Wordle hints would possibly nicely be much more helpful from right here on.

Wordle's month from hell

Common Wordlers will probably be in little question as to the sport's issue final month, with a string of near-impossible phrases inflicting every kind of issues.

There was TIZZY, as an illustration, with its repeated letter Zs and common of 4.9, and POPPY with its triple Ps and 4.8 rating.

FOIST may not look as troublesome, however that was a traditional instance of Wordle's letter-trap video games, the place the primary letter might be modified to make a number of different phrases, on this case JOIST, HOIST, and MOIST; that one additionally got here in at 4.8.

Join breaking information, critiques, opinion, prime tech offers, and extra.

SAVVY, with its double Vs, additionally hit that rating, whereas BALER at 4.7 was one of many nastiest ER video games we've had lately. EXILE (4.6), NERVY (4.5), and FRILL additionally precipitated issues, and the truth that LORIS (4.2) might be thought of simple on this firm factors in the direction of the general issue.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

However the two worst final month have been JUMPY and GOFER – with scores of 5.2 and 5.6, respectively.

Solely 21 video games in Wordle's historical past have handed the 5.0 mark (with one other 9 at precisely that rating), so to get two within the house of two weeks is the stuff of nightmares.

JUMPY's drawback was that J initially; as my evaluation of each Wordle reply exhibits, J is the least widespread letter within the recreation by far, so recognizing it’s not often simple. The existence of LUMPY, DUMPY, and BUMPY may even have been an element.

With GOFER, in the meantime, it was the mixture of an ER ending (the most typical within the recreation) and the not-so-common letters G and F that precipitated the problem. Its 5.6 rating locations it because the equal fourth hardest ever, behind solely PARER, MUMMY, and CORER, and stage with ROWER.

For those who failed to unravel any of them – and even all of them – then it's completely comprehensible; Wordle is a straightforward recreation, however it may be fiendishly tough at occasions.

More durable than the remaining

WordleBot solely launched in April 2022, a few hundred video games into the collection, so it's attainable that December 2021 or March 2022, or one other month, was much more troublesome. However I doubt it. I've performed each Wordle to this point and misplaced solely as soon as, and I definitely don't recall something like July 2025.

To substantiate my hunch, I tallied the common rating for every day to get the general common for July, then repeated the method for every of the opposite 38 months for which I’ve full particulars.

One factor I discovered attention-grabbing was that July 2025 wasn't simply probably the most troublesome to this point – it was probably the most troublesome to this point by a great distance.

The month's total common of 4.22 may not sound that a lot increased than that for October 2024, the following highest within the listing at 4.15, however it's statistically vital on condition that there's solely a 0.04 distinction between months #2-7 within the listing.

Plus, it's a whopping 0.57 guesses tougher than the best month, December 2023 – which got here in at 3.65 – and approach increased than the sport's total common of three.97.

Onerous occasions are coming

One notable characteristic of July's Wordles was that there have been 5 'non-original' solutions among the many 31 video games.

When Josh Wardle created Wordle, he and his associate drew up a listing of two,315 phrases which might type the sport's reply listing, then scheduled them to look one a day for the following six or so years.

The New York Occasions eliminated a number of of these when it purchased Wordle in 2022, then left the listing kind of unchanged for the following 12 months. Then, in March 2023, it gave us GUANO – the primary 'additional' answer added to the unique pool and the beginning of a brand new period for Wordle.

Extra have adopted since then, 17 in whole, together with such gems as UVULA, SNAFU, PRIMP, and MOMMY, all of which have been exhausting in their very own proper. However these phrases have been spaced aside, with most months seeing only one or none in any respect.

There have been exceptions, with June 2023, November 2024, and Might 2025 all having two, and January 2025 having three. However to get 5 in a month, as we did in July, was unprecedented.

And all have been troublesome: ATRIA was a 4.1, NERVY a 4.5, LORIS was 4.2, TIZZY 4.9, and GOFER that immense 5.6. The typical throughout these 5 video games was a staggering 4.66; these have been all real head-scratchers.

And the factor is, the NYT goes to must maintain including extra of those as time goes on. That's as a result of we're now previous 1,500 Wordles, that means now we have solely round 800 authentic video games left, with as but no thought what is going to occur to the sport when that listing runs out.

The good factor for the NYT to do is lengthen it for so long as attainable, which suggests including extra phrases. And there lies the issue. Wardle's listing already covers most of the most evident five-letter phrases in English, so we will count on the vast majority of the newly added phrases to be harder than the common.

So you possibly can neglect about traditional Wordle begin phrases reminiscent of STARE, CRANE, and SLATE being added – they've all already been and gone. So too ultra-common English phrases reminiscent of HOUSE, TODAY, and BELOW; they've all been previous Wordle solutions too. As an alternative, you possibly can look ahead to extra like BALSA, KAZOO, BEAUT, SQUID, and TAUPE; unusual phrases, slang phrases, phrases with unusual letters…

August initially continued the July pattern, with BANJO and DAUNT each coming in at 4.4, however the subsequent few video games have been a little bit simpler; perhaps the NYT was giving us all a breather. However don't be stunned if issues get more durable once more quickly, as a result of this recreation is just going a technique from right here. Don't say you weren't warned.

You may additionally like

• Wordle is 1000 – these are the 50 hardest video games to this point
• I analysed each Wordle ever – right here's what I discovered
• I've performed all 1,000 Wordles and solely misplaced as soon as — listed below are my ideas