NYT Wordle today — answer and my hints for game #1401, Sunday, April 20

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.

Wordle hints (game #1401) - clue #1 - Vowels

* 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 #1401) - clue #2 - first letter

P is a very common first letter among Wordle answers. It's the fifth most common in the alphabet and begins 141 solutions in total.

Wordle hints (game #1401) - clue #3 - repeated letters

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.

Wordle hints (game #1401) - clue #4 - ending letter

H is a regular visitor to the final spot in a Wordle word. It occurs 137 times at the end of a Wordle answer, making it the sixth most common letter there.

Wordle hints (game #1401) - clue #5 - last chance

Still looking for more Wordle hints today? Here's an extra one for game #1401.

• Today's Wordle answer covers a hole.

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 #1401)

• NYT average score: 4.1
• My score: 3
• WordleBot's score: 4
• My start word performance: BATCH (6 remaining answers)
• WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (37)

Today's Wordle answer (game #1401) is… PATCH.

Okay, so there's lucky and then there's really, ridiculously lucky.

PATCH is an undoubtedly difficult Wordle, although its current average score of 4.1 rather underplays that. I suspect it will increase as the day goes on and more people play, because it is of course a classic example of the too-many-answers type of game.

It's not quite the worst, because -IGHT has nine potential solutions and -OUND has eight, but the seven possibilities for -ATCH put it next in line in the most-difficult 'one-letter-trap' games.

How well you handled it will have depended on a couple of factors. Firstly, whether you use Hard mode or standard. On the former, these kind of games are almost impossible; you need a big dose of luck, or a very, very smart strategy to avoid being caught out.

Secondly, whether you consult a past Wordle answers list – because we've had a few of these before. HATCH was the first, back in the early days before most people started playing (game #113). That was followed by WATCH – game #265 – which I distinctly recall being one of the first streak-ending answers that caught out many players back in March 2022. CATCH (game #483) and MATCH (#976) followed, and also had high averages.

If you consulted a list and ruled out those four, you will only have had three to choose from (or possibly fewer, depending on your remaining letters): PATCH, LATCH and BATCH. That will obviously have made the task a lot easier.

If you didn't look at a list, you'll have hoped for a good start word. A few did cut the options down considerably, albeit none of the really popular opening words. But at least if your word contained an L, for instance SLATE, you'll have ruled out one of those options right away.

Or you could take my route – which was to pick a random start word that was incredibly fortunate, namely BATCH.

This left only six options, the aforementioned -ATCH words, obviously. I remembered WATCH and was pretty sure about CATCH and MATCH too, although I didn't go as far as to check.

I decided to play CLAMP – because that would definitely rule in/out CATCH, LATCH, MATCH and PATCH anyway, and if none of C, L, M or P changed color then it would have to be HATCH.

This was the perfect way to approach the task, and it duly worked; the P turned yellow, meaning it had to PATCH and I scored a three.

How did you do today? Send me an email or let me know in the comments.

Yesterday's Wordle hints (game #1400)

In a different time zone where it's still Saturday? Don't worry – I can give you some clues for Wordle #1400, too.

• Wordle yesterday had vowels in two places.

* 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 I.

I is only the 19th most common starting letter in Wordle, and just 34 of the original 2,309 answers begin with it.

• 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 X.

X is the sixth least likely ending letter in Wordle – and today's game is one of only eight in which it finishes the solution!

Still looking for more Wordle hints? Here's an extra one for game #1400.

• Yesterday's Wordle answer is where emails live.

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1400)

• NYT average score: 4.4 (revised)
• My score: 3
• WordleBot's score: 4
• My start word performance: EYING (62 remaining answers)
• WordleBot's start word performance: CRANE (81)

Yesterday's Wordle answer (game #1400) was… INBOX.

And so Wordle reaches its 1,400th birthday. It's now well into its middle ages – as am I, but it's in considerably better shape than I am, with no signs of sagginess around the middle.

Far from it: it's just as likely to confound and confuse now as it ever was, and INBOX is a great example of it at its best.

After all, this is a word that is in incredibly wide usage – anyone who has email will use or at least read the word INBOX on a daily, if not hourly, basis. But is it an easy word to find in Wordle? Nope!

Why? Well, not only does INBOX contain an X, the third least common letter in the game, ahead of only Q and J, but that X is at the end. There are only eight answers among the original 2,309 that finish with an X, so it's really not something you'd think to play for.

The other letters are in unusual places for the most part, too. Not many Wordles start with an I, not many Ns go in the second position, B is pretty unlikely to appear in the middle… you get the idea.

Despite all that, I managed to score a three, which is ironic given that INBOX management is one of my worst skills in real life. Current unread email tally in my work INBOX: 2,404. Unread tally in my personal account: 114,327. Yes, really. I have a suspicion I will never get through all of those.

Still, I'm being judged here on my ability to uncover yellow and green letters, rather than reply to people (fortunately), so I'll call this one a victory – albeit a very lucky one.

I began with EYING – an unusual starter, but one which performed fairly well in giving me a yellow N and I, and cutting my options to 62.

My second guess was a straightforward one; TRAIN positioned the two yellow letters in common places, and added in three more common letters.

This appeared not to have worked too well, in that both letters remained yellow. However, it reduced my options to eight, so I was moving in the right direction and might have expected a four from here.

That would have been satisfactory, because INBOX currently has an average of 4.5 – making it one of the most difficult games this year (note – revised to 4.4). But the Wordle gods had other plans for me.

That's because somehow I neglected to find any of the other words. Seriously – INBOX was the only one I could think of. Given that there was a potential -INCH trap lurking here, with WINCH, CINCH, PINCH and FINCH, my failure to spot anything else could have been a disaster.

In fact, if INBOX had been wrong, I would still have had seven words to choose from, and might well have ended up with a six – or even my first ever proper fail.

But nobody ever said Wordle was fair. I typed in INBOX thinking it was the only answer, and when all five letters turned green was rather pleased with myself. It was only when I later consulted WordleBot that I realized that I'd cheated fate here.

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 #1400, Saturday 19 April: INBOX
• Wordle #1399, Friday 18 April: DIRGE
• Wordle #1398, Thursday 17 April: STOOD
• Wordle #1397, Wednesday 16 April: MORAL
• Wordle #1396, Tuesday 15 April: ASHEN
• Wordle #1395, Monday 14 April: CREST
• Wordle #1394, Sunday 13 April: LAUGH
• Wordle #1393, Saturday 12 April: NURSE
• Wordle #1392, Friday 11 April: ARROW
• Wordle #1391, Thursday 10 April: TURBO
• Wordle #1390, Wednesday 9 April: WHEAT
• Wordle #1389, Tuesday 8 April: SPARE
• Wordle #1388, Monday 7 April: HAZEL
• Wordle #1387, Sunday 6 April: VILLA
• Wordle #1386, Saturday 5 April: FOAMY
• Wordle #1385, Friday 4 April: KRILL
• Wordle #1384, Thursday 3 April: SHEAR
• Wordle #1383, Wednesday 2 April: CURSE
• Wordle #1382, Tuesday 1 April: JEWEL
• Wordle #1381, Monday 31 March: BOOTY
• Wordle #1380, Sunday 30 March: QUOTA
• Wordle #1379, Saturday 29 March: SORRY
• Wordle #1378, Friday 28 March: VERSE
• Wordle #1377, Thursday 27 March: SHEET
• Wordle #1376, Wednesday 26 March: ELBOW
• Wordle #1375, Tuesday 25 March: SHELF
• Wordle #1374, Monday 24 March: ANGLE
• Wordle #1373, Sunday 23 March: DOPEY
• Wordle #1372, Saturday 22 March: AMBLE
• Wordle #1371, Friday 21 March: NUDGE
• Wordle #1370, Thursday 20 March: BASTE
• Wordle #1369, Wednesday 19 March: SPARK
• Wordle #1368, Tuesday 18 March: TIMER
• Wordle #1367, Monday 17 March: LASSO
• Wordle #1366, Sunday 16 March: STAMP
• Wordle #1365, Saturday 15 March: LADLE
• Wordle #1364, Friday 14 March: PIECE
• Wordle #1363, Thursday 13 March: CHASE
• Wordle #1362, Wednesday 12 March: MANGO
• Wordle #1361, Tuesday 11 March: TRACK
• Wordle #1360, Monday 10 March: SPITE
• Wordle #1359, Sunday 9 March: GREED
• Wordle #1358, Saturday 8 March: NAVEL
• Wordle #1357, Friday 7 March: TROOP
• Wordle #1356, Thursday 6 March: ALERT
• Wordle #1355, Wednesday 5 March: SCRUM
• Wordle #1354, Tuesday 4 March: CHECK
• Wordle #1353, Monday 3 March: SPEAR
• Wordle #1352, Sunday 2 March: DEITY
• Wordle #1351, Saturday 1 March: HOVER
• Wordle #1350, Friday 28 February: FUZZY

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 last year and is still going strong in 2024.

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.