Wordle fans, today’s puzzle comes in on the gentler side—less about tricky letter patterns and more about finding the right word quickly. The good news: you’re not chasing repeated letters, and the answer clues are pretty clean once you lock onto the key shape.
Hints
1) No repeats. The answer uses distinct letters—no double letters to trip you up.
2) One vowel. You only need to place a single vowel somewhere in the word.
3) Starts with L. Your first letter is L.
4) Ends with H. The last letter is H, which narrows things fast.
5) Meaning. The word can refer to a fastening device used to hold a gate (or similar object) shut.
Once you’ve got L _ _ _ H and only one vowel to place, you should feel the solution snapping into place. If you’re also juggling Connections today, this is a great moment to use the same approach: isolate the “shape” first, then fill in confidently.
Answers
Wordle answer: LATCH
If you want a quick refresher on what came before: yesterday’s answer was RISER (May 4, No. 1780).
Seeing an easy Wordle after a harder stretch can feel almost unfair—in a good way. A helpful strategy for days like this is to treat the first and last letters as “anchors,” then test whether your remaining letters can satisfy the vowel requirement before committing to guesswork.
For puzzle enthusiasts who like cross-game momentum, a little Crossword-style discipline—sticking to constraints early—pairs nicely with both word games and puzzle solving help for Today’s NYT challenges.
