Today's Wordle Answer #489 - October 21, 2022 Solution And Hints

Most players solved today's puzzle in five tries; we did it in three, and we want to help you crack the code even faster. We'll supply clues to nudge you toward the answer, and we'll also straight up reveal the answer in the second section for players who want to preserve their streak without thinking too hard.

Today's word, like yesterday's, is a noun. That's worth mentioning because Wordle answers are usually versatile words that can function as nouns, verbs, and/or adjectives — that alone could help you narrow down your answer options. Today's word has two vowels, "O" and "E," as the third and fifth letters, respectively, so you can probably guess that it's not an unusual letter combination. The answer describes a close planting or cluster of trees, and is usually added to street names the same way "Ave" or "-Ville" is.

The first letter is "G," and if you added the letter "O" as the fourth letter of the word, you'd create another word that describes an indentation or depression in hard material. If you replaced the second letter with an "L," you'd have a word that describes a protective covering for the hand. Get it? If you're still unsure and don't mind the spoiler, check out the answer in the section below.

The solution to today's Wordle puzzle ( #489 — October 21, 2022 ) is grove. A grove is a small plantation of closely-spaced trees without an undergrowth. It also describes "a road lined with houses and often trees, especially in a suburban area" (via Collins Dictionary), in which case that street would probably include "grove" in its name — for example, Palm Grove.

The word grove is from Old English's "graf," which means copse or small wood, similar to "græafa" of the same origin, meaning thicket (via Etymonline). You'll find the word in the title of what is considered to be the first academic novel, "The Groves of Academe" by American writer Mary McCarthy. Today, in our usual fashion, we ditched the recommended starter words and opted for a random word, guild, as an opening guess. It paid off, and after an even luckier second guess, groan, the answer was clear. We hope you solve the puzzle faster.