New York Times puzzlemakers, what was that about? Was it just me, or was April 2025 one of your toughest months ever — for all your games, maybe, but especially for Wordle? CNET publishes the daily answers for Wordle, Connections, Strands, Connections: Sports Edition and the Mini Crossword, and I’ve seen some doozies. But April Wordle broke my streak twice. Maybe more than that. I’m not counting anymore.
Read more: Daily NYT Puzzle Answers
(Spoilers for past puzzles ahead.)
If you play Wordle, you probably have your own starter words all lined up. I almost always begin with TRAIN and CLOSE. I’m not the kind of person who just looks around the room, sees a chair and plays that word. I play those words because I know, from a list I made for CNET and based on research from the Oxford English Dictionary, that TRAIN and CLOSE contain some of the most popular letters used in English.
This month’s Wordle answers included OZONE, with a Z, the 24th-least-popular letter, smack in the middle, and three vowels that I just couldn’t place in the right spots.Â
But even tougher might have been INBOX on April 19. Three letters — Z, J and Q — are used in English less than X (J? Why J?). But somehow, few letters come less frequently to my mind than X.
And April ended on a tough note, too, with Wednesday’s puzzle answer being IDLER. I mean, I know “idle” describes someone who’s lazy or avoiding work. But I don’t think I’ve ever pulled that out as an insult, and I sure didn’t see the letter pattern popping up.
No one wants an easy puzzle, but April seemed especially brain-busting. There’s good news, though. It’s gonna be May! And there’s bad news. The May 1 Wordle is a stumper too. Happy solving!
