Warning: The response to today’s loss is the fifth more difficult for all time – so be careful there

Bordle is a simple game in theory, but sometimes a very difficult game in practice, and today’s puzzle points out with force.

According to Wordlebot, the useful (although sarcastic) tool of the game, the puzzle n ° 1426 has an average score of 5.5 compared to the 40,000 people who have used it so far today. By this measure, it is Wordle’s hardest puzzle since January and the most difficult fifth of all time.

A quick navigation of Twitter / X tells the story of the day, with “ border 1426 x ‘trends directly at the top of the platform. And it was before most players in the United States even woke up.

So what is the problem? To answer what I should reveal the solution, then do not read this point if you have not yet played. Maybe some clues of my Nyt Bordle article today if you need it.

Spoilers for today’s losts, match n ° 426, Thursday, May 15, 2025 will follow.

Fifth harder of all time

** Final alert of the spoiler **

Okay, the last chance to stop reading before revealing the solution.

Today’s response is impatient, so yes it is a word of Erme. No surprise, right?

It is quite easy to get a list of the most difficult Wordles of all time, because Wordlebot records the average for each game that has been played.

In turn, I have kept a list of these averages since the launch of the “bot launched in April 2022, which means that I now have a calculation spreadsheet of 1,138 games per difficulty.

According to this measure, Eager is the hardest fifth of all time, behind only bet (match n ° 454, average score 6.3), mom (# 491, 5.8), Corer (# 1214, 5.7) and Rawer (# 1310, 5.6). It is also level with Jazzy (# 712).

Three of these six words end with ER, which is probably the most difficult type of game to solve – although personally, I have an even more hated lot format.

This theme continues when you go down the list; Of all the games with an average of 5.0 or more, of which there are now 28, a total of 13 ended the emergency. It is almost half of the most difficult games of all time (obviously).

Slide to scroll horizontally

The hardest puzzles to date
Game	Answer	Date	Average score	My score
454	Bet	Friday September 16, 2022	6.3	6
491	MUMMY	Sunday October 23, 2022	5.8	6
1214	Corer	Tuesday October 15, 2024	5.7	5
1310	ROWER	Sunday, January 19, 2025	5.6	6
712	Jazzy	Thursday June 1, 2023	5.5	4
1426	Eager	Thursday May 15, 2025	5.5	4
304	HEARTH	Tuesday April 19, 2022	5.4	4
613	More mature	Wednesday February 22, 2023	5.4	6
675	JOKER	Tuesday April 25, 2023	5.4	5
1037	CHEERFUL	Sunday April 21, 2024	5.4	5
1273	BOXER	Friday December 13, 2024	5.3	5
555	JUDGE	Monday, December 26, 2022	5.2	4
714	NANNY	Saturday June 3, 2023	5.2	5
980	PIPER	Saturday February 24, 2024	5.2	4
730	Kazoo	Monday June 19, 2023	5.1	4
795	VERVE	Wednesday August 23, 2023	5.1	5
990	PRESENTIMENT	Tuesday March 5, 2024	5.1	5
1065	COUPLING	Sunday, May 19, 2024	5.1	3
1350	VAGUE	Friday February 28, 2025	5.1	5
375	LEFT	Wednesday June 29, 2022	5	5
749	Curl up	Saturday July 8, 2023	5	5
878	INSOLENT	Tuesday, November 14, 2023	5	6
1039	VAGABOND	Tuesday April 23, 2024	5	6
1055	JERKY	Thursday May 9, 2024	5	4
1208	Mom	Wednesday October 9, 2024	5	5
1218	FIBER	Saturday October 19, 2024	5	6
1300	SLICE	Thursday January 9, 2025	5	6
1385	Krill	Friday April 4, 2025	5	4

Why are words ER so difficult to solve?

The problem with words ER is simply that there are so much. My analysis of each response to Wordle shows that 141 of the 2,309 original solutions of the game end with ER, which makes it from a distance the most likely end.

You might think that it would facilitate resolution, because these words are easy to identify – especially because E and R are both very common letters, and therefore played by many people in their word early.

However, the number of them can make it very difficult to then reduce the other three letters. And the problem is aggravated because almost all letters can appear in these first three slots.

Not all words are difficult, of course. Laser, for example, had a super low average of 3.3 in April 2024 (match n ° 1038). But it is because these three other letters were L, A and S – which are all very common in its own right, and which appear in many of the best words at the start of the lot.

On the other hand, the other letters in eager are an E, A and G. The fact that the E is repeated makes it much more difficult to identify, because people generally do not play twice unless they think there is a high probability that there is a repetition. Doing it early has the impression of throwing the chance to get information.

All this leads to what I call the too lively problem, where the solution differs only a letter of several other words. Today, Pager, Wager and Lager were all alternative answers and may have taken place in the minds of people before thinking of repeating this at the beginning.

This leads to the classic loss failure model, with four or five assumptions missing one or two letters in vertical lines:

Too many choices. # Bordle1426 Bordle 1426 x / 6 * ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩May 15, 2025

# Bordle # Bordle1426Wordle 1.426 x / 6🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩good morning pic.twitter.com/qxze5gtvlyMay 15, 2025

My advice on how to play these words

I played all the lands and that I only lost once, and my sequence is now technically at 1,228 – although the inability of the NYT to face the people playing in different time zones means that officially, it is 63 years old. And yes, it makes me angry.

Anyway, we don’t hope for me too arrogant to suggest that I know something or two about how to avoid losing this game. And the key is not to continue to guess blindly.

It is impossible if you play in difficult mode, of course, because there is no right to leave letters that have already become green.

This means that if you ended up with this model -A -Er from the start, you will only have two letters in which to try to reduce the solution.

On the other hand, I was able to play magic on my third supposition and exclude around forty possible responses in one time. This left me only four options: Pager, Wager, Impatient and Rager, according to Wordlebot.

I don’t think the last of these is a probable solution in reality, and I did not think about it myself. In my head, I had the choice of three words and three remaining assumptions – so I was now free to guess one of them.

I impatiently went and I had the chance to score a four, but if it was false, I might have played another word of narrowing next to me to guarantee me a six at worst. Not losing my unofficial sequence is more important to me than getting a high score, generally.

(Image credit: New York Times)

The other important thing I have done today was to identify the ER model as soon as possible. My starting word is chosen at random these days; I was always starting with the gaze, but I decided to make things happen by changing it daily.

This often leads to opening assumptions less than perfect for me, and today I had 777 options after my initial dust. But in this scenario, I always play a word and then in order to exclude (or in) this possibility as soon as possible. Today, this strategy has really borne fruit.

So you have it: Bordle has another entry into its most hated list. If you’ve lost your sequence today, I comed. But don’t worry – there are still 900 other Wordles to play, so there is a lot of time to start it again …

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