If you woke up today thinking you'd breeze through your morning coffee and a quick puzzle, Wordle today March 21 might have a different plan for you. Honestly, it’s one of those days where the grid looks like a sea of gray until suddenly, it isn't. You’ve probably been there—staring at the screen, trying to figure out if you're overthinking a simple word or if Tracy Bennett, the New York Times puzzle editor, is playing 4D chess with your brain.
It happens to the best of us. You start with "CRANE" or "ARISE," and you get... nothing. Absolute silence from the tiles.
Today’s Wordle, number 1,736 if you’re keeping track of the long game, is a bit of a sneaky one. It’s a word we use constantly in conversation, yet when it’s hidden behind five empty boxes, it feels like it’s disappeared from the English language entirely.
Hints for the Wordle Today March 21 Puzzle
Let’s talk strategy before I just hand over the answer. Nobody likes a spoiler five seconds into their scroll. If you’re stuck and just need a little push—or a nudge, if you will—here are some clues to get those gears turning:
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- The Vowel Situation: There are two vowels in today’s word.
- No Repeats: You don’t have to worry about double letters today. Every tile is a unique character.
- Starting Letter: The word begins with the letter N.
- The Vibe: Think of a gentle physical reminder. It’s what you do with your elbow when your friend is falling asleep in a movie theater.
Most people are finishing this one in about four guesses. It’s not "SNAFU" levels of hard, but it’s definitely not a "CAKE" walk either. If you’ve got the U and the E but can’t quite place the consonants, you’re almost there.
The Solution for Wordle Today March 21
Okay, let’s get down to it. If you’re on your last guess and your heart is pounding because you don’t want to lose that 200-day streak, look away now if you still want to try.
The answer to Wordle today March 21 is NUDGE.
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It’s a great word, isn’t it? It feels very "New York Times." It’s light, it’s conversational, and it’s surprisingly difficult to guess if you started with words that focus on "S" or "T." The letter N is a common enough starter, but NUDGE uses that middle G which often catches players off guard. Usually, we're looking for an R or an L in that fourth spot.
Why This Word Tripped People Up
A lot of the "pro" players use the WordleBot to analyze their games, and the data usually shows that words starting with N have a slightly lower success rate on the first two guesses. Why? Because we’re conditioned to hunt for "STARE" or "AUDIO." When you spend your first two turns burning through the most common consonants, a word like NUDGE stays hidden in the shadows.
Interestingly, Tracy Bennett mentioned in past interviews that she looks for "lexical variety." This means she isn't just picking words out of a hat. She’s looking for words that feel distinct from the previous day. If yesterday was a heavy, consonant-laden word, today’s NUDGE feels like a softer, more fluid transition.
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Stepping Up Your Wordle Game
If today was a struggle, don't sweat it. Most of the difficulty in Wordle doesn't come from not knowing the word; it comes from "Hard Mode" traps. You know the ones—where you have "_IGHT" and there are eight possible words it could be. NUDGE isn't really a trap word, which makes it a "fair" puzzle in the eyes of the community.
To avoid future heartbreaks, try these specific tactics for the rest of the week:
- Ditch the "Perfect" Starter: If "ADIEU" isn't working for you, try "SLATE" or "CRANE." They’ve been mathematically proven to narrow down the options faster.
- The Second Guess Pivot: If your first guess is a total wash, don't try to use one of those letters again just to be sure. Switch to a word that uses five completely different letters.
- Watch the "G": People forget about the G. It appears in way more 5-letter words than you’d think, especially at the end or in the fourth position like in "NUDGE" or "JUDGE."
The best thing about Wordle is that there's always tomorrow. Whether you got it in two or barely scraped by in six, your streak is safe for another twenty-four hours.
Go grab another coffee. You earned it.
Practical Steps for Tomorrow
- Check your statistics page to see your most common guess count. If it's 5, consider changing your opening word.
- Try playing "Connections" or "Strands" right after Wordle; it helps prime your brain for the specific way the NYT editors think.
- If you're really serious, keep a small notebook of words that have already been used. The game won't repeat an answer for years, so "NUDGE" is officially off the table until at least 2029.