Wordle #1,707: A Stinky Situation
Welcome, word wizards, to another daily dose of lexical logic. Today’s Wordle, puzzle #1,707, has a certain… aroma to it. If your guesses are starting to smell a bit off, you’re not alone. This one has a tricky ending that can throw even seasoned players for a loop. According to the New York Times’ own WordleBot, the average player is taking about 4.1 moves to crack this case, 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 sniffing around than usual.
Ready for the answer? Scroll down for our full breakdown, complete with progressive hints, a difficulty analysis, and a step-by-step solving guide. But be warned: spoilers lie ahead for Wordle #1,707!
Need a Nudge? Here Are Your Progressive Hints
Stuck somewhere between your second and third guess? Don’t panic. Use these hints, from gentle to direct, to guide your way without completely giving away the game.
Level 1: Gentle Nudges
Word Type: It can be both a verb and a noun.
Number of Vowels: This word contains just one vowel.
General Theme: It’s often associated with a strong, unpleasant smell.
Level 2: Intermediate Clues
Starting Letter: The word begins with the letter S.
Vowel Position: The single vowel is an A, and it’s the second letter in the word.
Specific Context: It’s a simple past tense of a more common verb describing odor.
Level 3: Advanced Insights
Letter Structure: The pattern is S T A _ _.
Related Synonyms: Reeked, smelled bad, ponged.
Common Usage: “The garbage blank after sitting in the sun all day.”
Difficulty Breakdown: Why Today’s Wordle is Tough
Let’s break down the specific challenges of today’s puzzle with a quick visual guide.
| Factor | Level | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Common Letters | 8/10 | It uses four of the top ten most common letters (S, T, A, N), which is actually helpful. |
| Patterns | 3/10 | The “ST” start is common, but the “-ANK” ending is less frequent and can be a trap. |
| Vowels | 7/10 | Having only one vowel (A) limits possibilities but also makes the word feel unusual. |
| Red Herrings | 9/10 | Extremely high. Words like STAND, STAMP, STACK, and STALK are all plausible and dangerous distractions. |
How to Solve It: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough
Let’s walk through an optimal strategic solve. Imagine starting with a powerhouse opener like SLATE. This brilliant move would turn the ‘S’ and ‘T’ green and the ‘A’ yellow, immediately framing the puzzle: S _ A T _.
For your second guess, you need to test common consonants and pin down the ‘A’. A word like CHAIN is perfect. It places the ‘A’ in the correct second position (now you have S A _ _ _) and adds ‘N’ as a yellow letter. The board is shaping up.
The elimination process now gets intense. You know it starts with “STA.” Your brain will immediately offer STAND and STAMP. But that yellow ‘N’ from CHAIN is crucial—it must be somewhere in the last three slots. If you test STAND and it’s wrong, you’ve learned the ‘D’ is out and the ‘N’ isn’t in the fourth spot.
This is the “aha!” moment. With STAND eliminated, you consider other “STA” words with an ‘N’. STANK emerges as the frontrunner, especially given the thematic hint of smell. Playing it nets you the green squares in four or five thoughtful moves.
Specific Strategies for This Puzzle
If you get stuck with the pattern “S T A _ _,” avoid the rabbit hole of testing every consonant. The key is the ending. The “-NK” combination is rare without a ‘C’ (like in STACK). Remembering this quirk can steer you away from dead ends like STAF- or STAB-.
The major trap is the crowd of similar words. To avoid it, use your second or third guess to eliminate multiple common endings at once. A guess like CRWTH (yes, it’s a word) is silly, but a guess like PLUMB tests P, L, M, and B in common positions, clearing the field for N and K.
Today’s unique letter pattern is the hard ‘K’ at the end. In Wordle, a final ‘K’ is almost always preceded by a ‘C’ (BLOCK, TRACK) or an ‘N’ (BLANK, DRANK). Isolating this phonetic rule is your secret weapon.
By The Numbers: Fun Stats
How does today’s answer stack up? It’s not a word you use every day. In the grand corpus of English, STANK ranks well outside the top 10,000 most common words. Compared to yesterday’s more common HOIST, today’s puzzle is objectively more obscure. We estimate the player success rate to be slightly lower than the 90-day average, with more streaks likely broken by the tempting lure of STAND.
For the Curious Minds
Ever wondered about STANK? It’s the simple past tense of “stink,” which comes from the Old English *stincan*, meaning to emit a smell (good or bad). Its journey to exclusively meaning a bad smell is a classic case of linguistic pejoration.
A fun, lesser-known use is in the phrase “stank face”—that involuntary grimace you make when something smells powerfully bad or, in slang, when a music beat is so good it’s disgusting. Culturally, it had a moment in hip-hop and internet slang, adding a layer of modern flavor to this old word.
In other languages, this concept often gets more visceral: German uses *stank* (from *stinken*), while Spanish might say *apestaba* or *hedía*.
Flashback: Yesterday’s Answer (Wordle #1,706)
Just a quick reminder for those keeping score: yesterday’s answer was HOIST. A moderately challenging word that shared four common letters but had a less deceptive ending. Compared to today’s STANK, HOIST was a walk in the park, with fewer obvious red herrings waiting to sabotage your grid.
3 General Wordle Tips to Keep Your Streak Alive
Based on today’s puzzle, here are some universal takeaways:
- Beware the Word Family Trap: When you lock in a start like “STA,” your brain will list all common words that fit. Write them down mentally (STAND, STAMP, STACK, STALK, STANK) and use subsequent guesses to test multiple ending consonants, not just one.
- Respect the Phonetic Rules: English has patterns. A final ‘K’ sound is rarely just ‘K’; it’s usually ‘CK,’ ‘NK,’ or ‘LK.’ Use this knowledge to evaluate your guesses.
- Your Second Guess is a Scout: Don’t just try to find the word on guess two. Use it to probe dangerous letter groups. If you suspect a tricky ending, dedicate a guess to testing 3-4 of those potential letters.
That’s all for Wordle #1,707! Whether you solved it in three or needed all six, the important thing is the fun of the hunt. See you tomorrow for the next puzzle.
