Wordle became a global hit when Josh Wardle released his daily puzzle in 2021.
The Welsh-born, New York-based engineer originally invented the game for his partner who loved doing word puzzles and after it was released online, it gained thousands of players in a matter of weeks.
Playing Wordle is simple enough. Players need to figure out a mystery five-letter word in six guesses or less. They are guided by a color-coded tile system to let them know if they are on the right track.
A green tile means the letter is correct, while yellow tells you the letter appears in the word, but is in the wrong spot. Finally, a gray tile shows that the letter does not appear in the word at all.
Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Wardle explained why he chose to use five-letter words for Wordle, as opposed to other word lengths.
“There is a reason that every word is five letters long and that you are allowed six attempts to guess it,” he said in an interview with Newsweek in January 2022. “That might seem arbitrary but, with the prototype version, I tested different word lengths and experimented with the number of tries that players were allowed.
“Through that process of refinement, I figured out that five letters and six tries was the ideal sweet spot. It’s just limited enough to feel challenging and to make you think, but most of the time, people still manage to solve it. So, you feel a real sense of real accomplishment.”
If one game a day is not enough for you, The New York Times now allows subscribers access to more than 1,000 past puzzles from the official Wordle archive on the web and in the NYT Games app.
“We are thrilled to unlock the official Wordle archive for our subscribers,” Jonathan Knight, head of games at The New York Times, said in May. “This expansion is not just about playing past puzzles; it’s about deepening the connection our community has with Wordle and with each other.”
The answer to Tuesday’s puzzle will be revealed at the end of this article, so scroll down with caution if you want to work it out for yourself.
‘Wordle’ #1,158, Clues for Tuesday, August 20
Hint #1: Today’s Wordle answer is a noun and verb.
Hint #2: There are no repeated letters.
Hint #3: The word contains two vowels.
Hint #4: The answer has two syllables.
Hint #5: Today’s word is another way to say something is running late.
‘Wordle’ #1,158, Clues for Tuesday, August 20
The answer to today’s Wordle is “delay.”
Congratulations if you got it right, but don’t worry if you didn’t. Wordle updates every day at midnight in your local time zone, at which point the next puzzle becomes available. Newsweek will be back with another round of hints and tips for each new game.
