Today's Wordle Answer #606 - February 15, 2023 Solution And Hints

When we solved yesterday's Wordle puzzle and discovered the word wasn't themed for Valentine's, we decided to patiently wait for today's in case The New York Times was playing at being unpredictable. It turns out that today's word has nothing to do with chocolate or flowers, although it's something sensual and could even be romantic. WordleBot says it took most players five guesses to unravel the mystery word, and it's not difficult to see why. 

The word of the day isn't uncommon, but its letter combination is, especially for Wordle. It's the first word in a long time, or probably ever, that has two sets of repeated letters. To help you crack the code before you run out of attempts, we'll provide you with some hints that should point you toward the solution word. If you're pressed for time or would rather not do the head-scratching, you can skip ahead to the second section to see the answer, no teasers.

The word you're looking for is a noun that describes a Latin music genre that's a fast-paced blend of jazz, rock, and blues, and a dance of the same name. It only has one vowel, A, which is repeated as its second and last letter. It also describes a Mexican dish accompaniment that also serves as a chip dip or taco topping. The third letter is L, and the first letter is the same as the fourth. You could replace the first letter with a B and add M as a sixth letter, and you'd have the term for the oily or gummy resin secreted by some trees or shrubs.

The answer to today's Wordle puzzle (#606 — February 15, 2023) is salsa. It's a spicy sauce made of chopped tomatoes, onions, and peppers and usually served with Mexican food. We looked up the origin of the word, and it's the shortest etymology lesson we've ever had with a Wordle puzzle: today's answer is quite the record breaker. Salsa is the literal Spanish word for sauce, influenced by the Latin "salsus," which means salt or condiment, according to Etymonline.

We broke our three-try win streak today — it took four tries to solve the puzzle. Our first guess is WordleBot's current favorite and recommended starting word, slate. It turned out to be a particularly lucky choice today since it contained three out of the five letters we were hunting for. It also cut down the number of possible answers from the standard 2,315 to only nine, so it wasn't a bad start at all. The next guess, sally, further reduced potential answer words to just four, and after our third guess, salop, the answer was clear.