Today’s Wordle #693 Hints, Clues And Answer For Saturday, May 13th

The weekend is here, baby! Not that it matters to me. One day is the same as the next as far as I’m concerned. Come hell or highwater—rain or shine—in sickness and in health—weekend or weekday—vacation or here at home I write this Wordle guide. I solve the puzzle and then type this up, thinking of hints and clues along the way.

I’ve invented Competitive Wordle to play against the Wordle Bot and against you, dearest Wordlers. We have Wordle Wednesdays and 2XP Fridays. We talk about philosophy, the weather, Norse gods and the meaning and history of words. It’s the one sure thing in my life. A Wordle a day keeps the doctor away. Everything else feels . . . on a knife’s edge. Uncertainty abounds. The world is a precarious place, and the night is dark and full of terrors.

Still, it’s the weekend and it’s quite lovely out. I’ve been feeling pretty lazy the last few days, however, so I need to turn that around and get the dogs out hiking. One thing I’ve noticed about being single after being in relationships for so long is that I lead a very structureless life. This is a bless and a cursing. I have freedom, but freedom isn’t always a good thing. A woman brings both structure and chaos into a man’s life (in my experience) and then when she’s gone, a new kind of chaos descends.

But then I have attention deficit disorder, though that doesn’t really seem like the right way to put it. I’m not sure it’s a disorder, for one thing, or that it’s entirely about attention for another. I have a chaotic mind. That’s how I think of it.

But I digress. Let’s do this Wordle!

How To Solve Today’s Wordle

The Hint: Bitter.

The Clue: This word begins with a vowel.

The Answer:

.

.

.

Wordle Bot Analysis

After I complete a Wordle I always head over to check in with Wordle Bot to see how I scored, both in terms of each individual guess and whether or not I outsmarted the Bot.

Where did the word pails come from? I often have some trigger or impetus that gets that first opening word into my brain. But I have no idea with today’s word. There it was. Pails. Lots of common letters, a couple vowels.

And boy was it lucky! Just 46 remaining words remained, and I decided that I was pretty sure the word would only have the two vowels I already guessed, so no need to guess new ones. (Statistically speaking, at least). Train was an attempt to get those yellow boxes into green and knock out a couple more common letters. What I didn’t bank on—and couldn’t know at the time—was that it would actually reduce my options for guess #3 down to just two words.

The funny thing is, once I finally came up with acrid I thought it must be the only word. I thought for sure I would get it right because I could not for the life of me think of anything else. But Wordle Bot later informed me that aerie was also an option at this stage. I would have been so stumped if acrid hadn’t been right! (Well, not stumped, but puzzled for a good long while).

My score today: Finally, after a bad one yesterday, I’m in the green again! I get one point for guessing in 3 and one point for beating Wordle Bot, who got it in four. That’s a total of 2 points! Huzzah! (See rules below).

Today’s Wordle Etymology (Via ChatGPT)

The word “acrid” comes from the Latin word “acridus”, which means “sharp” or “pungent”. This Latin term is derived from the verb “acere”, which means “to be sharp or sour”. The term “acrid” was first recorded in English in the late 16th century, and it has been used to describe sharp or bitter tastes, as well as unpleasant odors and harsh or caustic language.

Play Competitive Wordle Against Me!

I’ve been playing a cutthroat game of PvP Wordle against my nemesis Wordle But. Now you should play against me! I can be your nemesis! (And your helpful Wordle guide, of course). You can also play against the Bot if you have a New York Times subscription.

• Here are the rules:1 point for getting the Wordle in 3 guesses.
• 2 points for getting it in 2 guesses.
• 3 points for getting it in 1 guess.
• 1 point for beating Erik
• 0 points for getting it in 4 guesses.
• -1 point for getting it in 5 guesses.
• -2 points for getting it in 6 guesses.
• -3 points for losing.
• -1 point for losing to Erik

You can either keep a running tally of your score if that’s your jam or just play day-to-day if you prefer.

I’d love it if you gave me a follow on Twitter or Facebook dearest Wordlers. Have a lovely day!

As always, I’d love it if you’d follow me here on this blog and subscribe to my YouTube channel and my Substack so you can stay up-to-date on all my TV, movie and video game reviews and coverage. Thanks!