Looking for Wednesday’s Wordle hints, clues and answer? You can find them here:

ForbesToday’s ‘Wordle’ #1124 Hints, Clues And Answer For Wednesday, July 17thBy

It’s Thor’s Day and a very fine day, indeed. I’m back from vacation and it’s lovely and cloudy with rain in the forecast. My favorite time of year—monsoon season—is here at long last. Huzzah!

Since it’s the day of Thor (huzzah for thunder!) we need to take a peak at yesterday’s Wordle Wednesday puzzle. After that, I’ll share the answer and we can stop monkeying around.

Yesterday’s puzzle:

Five apes were eating oranges. The Orangutan finished eating before the Gorilla, but behind the Chimp. The Bonobo finished before the Gibbon, but behind the Gorilla. What was the finishing order?

Answer: Chimp, Orangutan, Gorilla, Bonobo, Gibbon

Congrats to those of you who messaged me the correct answer!

Okay, Wordle time! This one is interesting and has a pretty fascinating etymology (see below).

How To Solve Today’s Wordle

The Hint: People who play D&D, enjoy comic books, are academically gifted but maybe struggle with getting dates are often described this way.

The Clue: This Wordle ends with a letter that can be a vowel or a consonant.

Okay, spoilers below!

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The Answer:

Wordle Analysis

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

I think my clue was probably unfair or at least dated. After all, nerd culture is cool now. All the cool kids who hated nerds back in the day want to be a part of D&D and Marvel and Star Wars now, though I suspect a lot of bullies just want in so they can keep bullying the nerds. Anyways, I didn’t do bad today with my guessing game. STORE was super unlucky but that didn’t matter much since READY (as in READY PLAYER ONE, the nerdiest of books) slashed that number down to just one: NERDY for the win!

Competitive Wordle Score

I get 1 point for guessing in three, but that dweeb the Wordle Bot tied me so no points for a tie.

How To Play Competitive Wordle

• Guessing in 1 is worth 3 points; guessing in 2 is worth 2 points; guessing in 3 is worth 1 point; guessing in 4 is worth 0 points; guessing in 5 is -1 points; guessing in 6 is -2 points and missing the Wordle is -3 points.
• If you beat your opponent you get 1 point. If you 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 just play for a new score each day.
• Fridays are 2XP, meaning you double your points—positive or negative.
• You can keep a running tally or just play day-by-day. Enjoy!

Today’s Wordle Etymology

Note: This is super interesting as I actually never knew or even thought about where the word nerd came from!

The term “nerdy” is derived from the word “nerd,” which has a relatively recent origin in the English language. The word “nerd” first appeared in Dr. Seuss’s book “If I Ran the Zoo,” published in 1950. In this book, a “nerd” was one of the fantastical creatures collected by the protagonist, Gerald McGrew.

The word was subsequently adopted into slang, evolving to describe a person perceived as overly intellectual, obsessive, or lacking social skills. By the 1960s and 1970s, “nerd” had become a popular term in American youth culture, particularly in high schools and colleges, to describe someone who was academically inclined but socially awkward.

The adjective “nerdy” naturally followed from “nerd,” and it is used to describe attributes or behaviors characteristic of a nerd. Its exact first usage isn’t well-documented, but it gained prominence in the late 20th century along with the rise of “nerd culture” associated with computers, science fiction, and comic books.

Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle and Strands guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and I’ve started a book-themed Instagram page that’s just getting off the ground if anyone wants to follow me there.