If you woke up this morning, grabbed your coffee, and immediately felt personally attacked by a grid of grey squares, you aren't alone. Today is Saturday, January 17, 2026, and the New York Times just dropped a puzzle that is causing some serious 7:00 AM drama. We’ve all been there. You have a solid starting word—maybe you’re a "CRANE" loyalist or an "ADIEU" adventurer—and suddenly, you’re on guess five with nothing but a yellow "I" and a sense of impending doom.
The Wordle answer today is FIERY.
It sounds simple now that you see it. But honestly, the "IE" vowel combination is a total trap. Most people expect an "E" at the end of a word like this, or they're hunting for a "Y" in the fourth spot. When you throw in that "F" at the beginning, things get messy fast.
Breaking Down Wordle 1673
Today’s word, FIERY, is the 1,673rd puzzle in the official sequence. It’s an adjective. It’s got two vowels, three consonants, and exactly zero repeated letters. Sounds easy on paper, right?
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The problem is the internal structure. English speakers are conditioned to look for patterns like "FIREY" (which is wrong) or "FAIRY" (which has different vowels). Because "FIERY" follows the "I before E" rule—but in a way that feels phonetically aggressive—it often slips through the cracks of a standard guessing strategy.
Why You Might Have Struggled
- The Vowel Trap: Having "I" and "E" next to each other in the middle is a nightmare for those who use "ORATE" or "AIDE" as openers.
- The 'Y' Ending: We’ve seen a lot of "-LY" or "-TY" endings lately. A "-RY" ending feels just different enough to throw off your rhythm.
- The Consonants: "F" and "R" aren't exactly the rarest letters, but they aren't the superstars like "S," "T," or "L" either.
Strategies That Actually Work
If you missed the Wordle answer today, don't beat yourself up. The game is basically a psychological experiment at this point. Even the "best" players have bad days. According to data from various Wordle trackers and the New York Times' own "WordleBot," the average player usually takes about 4.2 guesses to solve a puzzle like this.
If you're taking five or six, you're just slightly below the curve for a Saturday. Weekends are notoriously harder. The NYT editors seem to enjoy ruining our Saturday mornings with words that have weird "Y" placements.
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I’ve found that the most successful players avoid "Hard Mode" when they hit a wall. In regular mode, you can burn a guess on a word that contains none of your known letters just to eliminate five new ones. If you have "I," "E," and "R" but can't find the order, guessing something like "FLAUK" (if that's even allowed) or "PLOWS" helps narrow down the starting consonant.
Common Starting Words and Their Luck Today
| Start Word | Result for Jan 17 | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| CRANE | One Yellow (R), One Yellow (E) | High utility, but the "C" and "A" were useless. |
| ADIEU | One Yellow (I), One Yellow (E) | Great for finding vowels, but didn't help with the "F" or "R". |
| STARE | One Yellow (R), One Yellow (E) | Classic, but missed the "I" entirely. |
| FIRED | Three Greens (F, I, E), One Yellow (R) | You're basically a genius if you started here. |
The History of the Word 'Fiery'
It’s an old one. We’re talking Middle English firy. It obviously comes from "fire," but the spelling evolved to reflect the pronunciation shift. It’s one of those words that makes non-native English speakers want to throw their textbooks out the window.
In the context of the game, words like this are "streak killers." They don't have double letters—which usually makes things easier—but they have an unconventional flow. If you look back at the Wordle archive, words with "I" and "E" together (like "FIELD" or "BRIEF") always see a spike in "DNF" (Did Not Finish) reports on social media.
Looking Ahead to Tomorrow
Now that you’ve either saved your streak or mourned its loss, it’s time to prep for Sunday. Tomorrow is January 18. Will they go for something easy like "TABLE" or something cursed like "JAZZY"?
The trend lately suggests that the NYT is leaning into words that use common letters in uncommon ways. Think less about finding "X" or "Z" and more about where "Y" and "W" are hiding.
Actionable Next Steps for Wordle Success:
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- Check your stats: Look at your "Guess Distribution." If your 4th and 5th guesses are your highest bars, you might need to change your second-word strategy to be more "eliminatory."
- Vary your openers: Don't use the same word every day for three years. Your brain gets lazy. Switch it up.
- Use a "Sacrificial Word": If you have
_ I _ R Yon guess three, don't just guess "BIRRY" or "MIRRY." Use a word that tests "B," "M," "F," and "L" all at once. It’s better to lose a turn and find the letter than to waste three turns guessing one letter at a time. - Stay calm: It’s just a game about five-letter words. Your worth is not defined by a green square.
Keep your eyes on the "R" and "Y" combinations. They've been popping up more frequently this month. If you can master the placement of the semi-vowels, you'll be hitting those "three-guess wins" much more often.