Wordle #1,707: A Stinky Challenge That Might Trip You Up
Wordle #1,707 has arrived, and it’s a bit of a stinker—quite literally. If you’re finding today’s puzzle more challenging than your morning coffee, you’re not alone. The combination of a common starting letter and an unusual ending is creating the perfect storm for a mid-week brain teaser. According to the New York Times’ own WordleBot, the average player is taking about 4.1 guesses to crack this one, whether they’re playing on easy or hard mode. That’s a solid indicator that we’re dealing with a puzzle that requires a bit more strategic thinking than your average five-letter fare.
Ready for some help? Below, you’ll find our trademark progressive hints, a full difficulty breakdown, and a step-by-step solving guide. But be warned: full spoilers for Wordle #1,707 lie ahead. If you want to solve it completely on your own, now’s the time to turn back!
Need a Nudge? Here Are Your Progressive Hints
Stuck somewhere between your second and third guess? Use these hints, escalating from gentle to direct, to guide you home without completely giving away the answer.
Hint Level 1: Gentle Nudges
Today’s answer can function as both a verb and a noun. It contains only one vowel. The general theme relates to a sensory experience, and not necessarily a pleasant one.
Hint Level 2: Getting Warmer
The word begins with the letter S. The single vowel is an A, and it is the second letter in the word. Think of a word often used informally to describe something that has a strong, unpleasant smell.
Hint Level 3: Almost There
The structure of the word is: S _ A _ _. A close synonym is “reeked.” It is the simple past tense of a more common verb for emitting a bad odor.
How Tough Is Wordle #1,707? Let’s Break It Down
| Factor | Level (Out of 10) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Common Letters | 8/10 | It uses four of the top ten most common letters (S, T, A, N), which is very high and usually helpful. |
| Patterns | 3/10 | The “-ANK” ending is less frequent than patterns like “-IGHT” or “-OUND,” making it tricky. |
| Vowels | 7/10 | Having only one vowel (A) simplifies options, but its fixed position is key. |
| Traps | 9/10 | Extremely high. Words like STAND, STAMP, STACK, and STALK are all likely dead-ends that will burn guesses. |
A Step-by-Step Solving Guide
Here’s how a strategic solve might play out, using optimal starting words.
First Guess (Recommended: SLATE or SPLAT): Starting with a word like SLATE is brilliant here. It would likely give you the ‘S’ in green, the ‘A’ in yellow or green, and the ‘T’ in yellow. WordleBot says this leaves only about 15 possible answers—a great start.
Second Guess (Strategic Elimination): Now, you want to test other common consonants and pin down the ‘A’. A word like STAIN is perfect. It places the ‘S’ and ‘T’ at the start, checks for ‘I’ and ‘N’, and moves the ‘A’ to its correct second position if it turns green. This guess would dramatically narrow the field.
The “Aha!” Moment: After STAIN, you might see: S and T green in positions 1 and 3, A green in position 2, and N yellow. Your brain will scream “STAND!” It’s a very common word. But if STAND fails, you have to think of less common endings. That’s when you land on the correct, phonetically similar answer.
Recommended Attempts: For most strategic players, 4 guesses is a very respectable score today. Guessing STAND before the answer is a common and forgivable detour.
Specific Strategies for Today’s Puzzle
If you got stuck with a green STA _ _, you hit the main trap. Your mind likely jumped to STAND or STAMP. The key is to remember that words ending with a ‘K’ are rare unless preceded by a ‘C’ (like STACK) or an ‘N’. Running through the alphabet—STAB, STAG, STAN, STAR—you exhaust the common ones and must consider the less common “STANK.”
Avoid the trap of fixating on ‘D’ or ‘M’ as the final letter. When you have STA _ _ locked in, actively brainstorm consonants that form less typical English endings. The ‘NK’ combination, as in “sank” or “tank,” is your clue.
By The Numbers: Fun Stats on Today’s Word
- Frequency: “Stank” is relatively uncommon in modern formal writing but persists strongly in informal and dialect use.
- Word List Rank: It ranks far below its present tense form, “stink,” in frequency lists.
- Comparison: This puzzle is reminiscent of past tricky words like “KNOLL” or “CYNIC,” where a familiar start leads to an uncommon ending.
- Success Rate: We estimate a higher-than-average number of streaks will break today, thanks to the STAND trap.
For the Truly Curious
The word “stank” has straightforward but old roots. It comes from Middle English stanken, which itself comes from Old English stincan, meaning to emit a smell—good or bad. Over time, it specialized to mean a bad smell. An interesting cultural note: its use skyrocketed in late 20th-century hip-hop and slang, often to describe something impressively bad or, ironically, good (“that beat stanks!”). In other languages, the past tense of “to stink” is often just as irregular and vivid, like the German stank (identical spelling) or the French puait.
Flashback: Yesterday’s Answer (Wordle #1,706)
Yesterday’s solution was HOIST. While not a super common word, it contained very common letters (H, O, I, S, T), making it a puzzle of pattern recognition rather than vocabulary. Compared to today’s “STANK,” HOIST was arguably more straightforward, with fewer plausible word-ending traps. The jump in difficulty from yesterday to today is a classic Wordle curveball!
3 General Wordle Tips to Take Forward
Today’s puzzle teaches valuable lessons for your future games:
- Beware the Common Word Trap: When you have a common opening like “STA,” your brain will offer the most frequent completion (STAND). Always force yourself to consider less common alternatives before guessing.
- Test Rare Endings: If you’re stuck, mentally run through consonant pairs for endings: -NK, -CK, -TCH, -GHT. Today was an “-NK” day.
- Use Your Yellow Letters Powerfully: A yellow ‘N’ at the end of your guess, as many had today, should immediately make you test it in the fourth position (STAN_) and, if that fails, the fifth (STA_N). Systematic testing beats random guessing every time.
There you have it! Whether you sailed through in three or sweated it out to guess six, we hope this guide helped. Remember, every tricky puzzle like today’s “STANK” makes you a better player. See you tomorrow for the next challenge!
