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ForbesToday’s word number 1286 with tips, hints and answers for Thursday, December 26thFrom Erik Cain

This is the scum of 2024, dearest Wordlers. The days between Christmas and New Year are a season in themselves, a strange liminal space between celebrations. The year is in its final stages and winter is beginning to unfold and stretch its limbs. I do think it’s a strange time to celebrate a new year. Shouldn’t it be the first day of spring and not somewhere in the early days of winter? Winter should be the last season of the year, spring the new beginning.

Granted, it’s not winter at all in the Southern Hemisphere, but then why shouldn’t we have different calendars for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres? Lots of reasons, I guess, but still. It’s strange to start the new year in the middle of winter. These are dark winter thoughts. Let’s put them aside and solve today’s Wordle!

How to solve today’s word

The note: You won’t find that on a keto diet.

The note: This wordle has two vowels in a row.

OK, Spoilers below!

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The answer:

Word analysis

Every day I look at Wordle Bot to analyze my guessing game. You can check your Wordles with Wordle Bot right here.

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DREAM was a pretty good opening tip, but then I messed something up. I should have just used all the new letters, or at least not the “R”, a second time. ARTSY dropped the score from 44 to 18, which isn’t great at all. I looked into CRANK at this point and brought the number down to 4. At this point I finally got lucky with GRAIN, which fortunately was today’s Wordle.

Competitive Wordle Score

I get 0 points for guessing four and -1 points for losing to the Wordle Bot who got that one out of three today.

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How to Play Competitive Wordle

• Guessing 1 is worth 3 points; guessing 2 is worth 2 points; guessing 3 is worth 1 point; guessing 4 is worth 0 points; guessing in 5 is -1 points; Guessing on 6 is -2 points and missing the wordle is -3 points.
• If you beat your opponent you get 1 point. If there is a tie you get 0 points. And if you lose to your opponent, you get -1 point. Add it up to get your score. Keep a daily running score or simply play for a new score every day.
• Fridays are 2XP, which means you double your points – positive or negative.
• You can keep a running list or just play day by day. Enjoy!

Today’s Wordle etymology

The word “grain” comes from the Latin word “grānum,” which means “seed.” This reflects its original and primary meaning: individual seeds of grain plants. The word entered Middle English via Old French and cemented its association with these crops. Today the term “grain” includes not only individual seeds, but also the entire grain plant. Its use has also expanded metaphorically, for example to describe the direction of wood fibers or the texture of a surface.

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